Marineland France - 9th April 2013

Donc ;) We went to Marineland! Train strike meant we caught the bus instead.
Me and Ma did the VIP thing for the first time. Lol it was such a weird experience, because of the people in our group. Everyone was French but barely spoke, and the trainer translating into English only every looked/talked to mum and not me lol!
We had croissants for breakfast next to the Penguin exhibit. The penguins were giving me jokes, belly flopping into the water :P
We then saw the other South American Penguins at their outdoor exhibit. Then the Sea Lions, who had a baby amongst them :). Saw the AMAZING Stellar Sea Lions. The males are like 700kg, dayum!
Went to the new aquarium - cute turtles flopping around infront of the glass :).
We saw the Polar Bears. One was in the water, then got out and rolled down the hill and got really dirty hahaa. Looked like it was engaging in some sterotypy though :/.
We then did out first Sea Lion encounter. That was with was blind South African Sea Lion, bless her. We fed her a fish, stroked her, then got her to hold her flipper out and fed her again. When she did the behavior well, we said "Bien!".
Then we got into waders and saw the dolphins! There was a male called Eclair, and a smaller female - Nala? We stroked Eclair and gave them both signals. J'adore dauphins!
Then was the killer whale encounter! Just before the dolphins, I saw Wikie and Moana in a backpool butting their noses on a target, it was so cute. Especially seeing Wikie still has play in her :D. But yeah, we watched the show from the side at a different view point. The show was pretty lame in all honesty. The worst we've seen, barely any jumping, it was slow moving and not very entertaining :/
After the show, we had our photos taken with Valentin who came up on the slideout behind us to pose. Loove Val :). That was the end of the VIP tour. Me and mum got food then went back to the turtles and walked around the Dinosaur bit lol.
We saw the Dolphin Show, found it alot better than the Orcas. Think there may have been 2 little ones in the back pool? Saw the Stella Sea Lion show after. Lots of flopping around!
We then went and saw the Orca Show again. It was better second time round, more action and there was even a rebellion by Inouk and Moana! Actually hilarious, they just decided not to perform anymore, so they switched them out for Freya and Valentin, cheeky things!
I went round to ma dolphins again at the interaction pool. I held my stuffie orca to the glass and threw it about and walked along the glass. They were curious, but splashed me shortly after. Gutted to learn that splashing is a sign of dislike :(. They must've saw it as teasing.

Loro Parque - 16th April 2012

We went to Loro Parque again. The weather was not the greatest though :(.
We went in and got the Discovery Tour passes for later. Went to see the Dolphins, first checking the Orcas. The dolphin show was quite amusing, because there were only 5 in the pool, it seemed 2 had decided not to perform, and baby wasn't in it much.
Then the orcas. No one was in the show pool. But yeah, all 4 adults were in the show, picked up that alot of emphasis seems to be on Skyla - 'Skyla y familia'.
We then got lunch and went on the Discovery Tour. It was alright. Didn't exactly see anything backstage of the animals. With the gorillas we saw their beds and food, and the penguins was their water purifers lol. And the 'backstage' orca part was just us in the show area for 5 minutes. Skyla did do some cheeky slideouts and we were told some good facts about the other animals.

Loro Parque - 12th April 2012

So today was Loro Parque day :D. Shooted on over to the dolphin stadium. Ran up top to get my first glimpse of the orcas. Saw bubby Adan and Morgan in the med pool :). Keto, Kohana and Tekoa were together and Skyla was in the show pool.
We then watched the dolphin show. There were 7 dolphins and the highlight was the baby. The baby wasn't involved in the show, just swimming around getting in the way every now and then, bless it x3.
After the show I ran on round to the Orca stadium to grab a seat by the slideout. Skyla was in the show pool being a 'show off' as Mum put it :P. She was pretty much non-stop sliding out. All the adults were in the show but not at the same time, and they did a feature for Morgan at the beginning.
After the show we then checked out all the other animals - parrots, sloths, chimps and the tree tops which had a fun bouncy bridge lol. We ate and then saw the penguinis. The rockhoppers were jumping through the water which was pretty cool :). There were lots of lizards running around the park which I loved!
Also saw the Gorillas and Sea Lion show, then to the aquarium, saw weeny tortoises and the white tigers.
Watched the Orca Show again. It was the Skyla Show for most of it! But I think the other three did appear (maybe not Kohana?). On the walk back we saw 2 weeny baby marmosets on the back of mamma, so cute! And there was also a sloth hugging another one, awww!

SeaWorld Texas - 27th December 2011

Yeahh, so SeaWorld, woot :D! We got to the park when it opened at 12. Pretty much went straight round to the meet point for our 1pm Dine :).
Yeahh, so did our Dine With Shamu. Oh man I was slacking majorly with my orca knowledge. Thought there were only 5 (forgot about Keet!) and didn't realise it was Unna's 15th today! But yeah in the main pool was Tuar and Ky. In the med pool, Keet was chilling and Takara and Sakari were going in and out of pools, causing a splash. Think Unna was in the show pool the whole time.
But yeah, so we had a buffet and then the trainers talked a bit. They didn't get Tuar and Ky to do much, just some slideouts, head shakes, tail waves and pec waves, not really any show behaviours.
Afterwards checked out the conservation center. Saw a very active albino python and mousebird! Saw the penguins and a very baby chinstrap chick, awwh. Was gunna go to the Azul Show but it was packed out so skipped that.
Then it was onto my Beluga dip! Watched a vid and got suited up. First Luga we had was Emac, a 23 year old. Did the standard rub down, touched his melon, fed him and got him to 'jump', wave and splash. Then we had Martha, an older girl. She doesn't like rub downs but we got to touch her melon and feed her. I instructed her to a speed swim and wiggle her melon. We got photos with her, and then at the end got splashed by the girls. We literally werent in the water for long which sucked, like 20 mins :(.
After the Lugas we went round the rest of the park and checked out the Sea Lions, Dolphins and aquarium.. argh I really hate Dolphin Feeding pools. Some morons kept teasing them >:/.
We went to the Azul Christmas Show and Miracles Show. Eh it was average,  pretty sure the same as 2 years ago, but Sakari was too adorable. When they got her to dive around the pool alone, she looked tiny, but when she did a slideout she actually looked quite big! Bless her. Pretty sure all 6 were used in the show, at one point 5 were in the pool!

Marineland France - 3rd June 2011

Went up to Marineland in the morning again! Headed straight to the dolphins, but it was flooded by the viewing area, so I didn't get to interact with them at the glass, gutted :(
So spent most of the time watching Wikie and Moana. Caught the 12pm orca show. Same as last time really. Watched Wikie and Moana some more. Moana was mostly in the back pool by herself. Sometimes Wikie would come in, and I really think she was trying to lead Moana through the gate into the other pool, but she just wouldnt, bless her.

Marineland - 1st June 2011

Woo, so today was Marineland Antibes day!
Went to the Sea Lion Show first - that was dreadful. Then saw the Dolphin Show. Managed to catch a bit of Freya's, Val's and Inouk's training session. Omg, Inouk is tiny! I really can't believe it. He's practically 10 years old, and still has a baby dorsal, fins and flukes, aw!
We then saw the new polar bears. Very cool. And finally saw little baby Moana! Aww, she's so cute! And so orange! And wow, I couldn't believe how independent she is! Was swimming off away from Wikie alot! And little Moana was playing with a leaf on her nose, aww.
Me and mum then went and ate. There were some cute cats on the roof of the cafe, awh. After eating, went to see the polars again. Then caught the orca show. No water works :/ but atleast they had the birth video.
Me and ma then wondered around the rest of the park - saw the penguins, sharks, aquarium and massive Stellar Sea Lions. After seeing the dolphin show, went to watch Moana again. This time she was with Inouk and Wikie. Freya and Valentin were doing another training session. Inouk and Wikie were separated from Moana to be fed, so a trainer played with her. I then went round to the dolphins at the glass. Omg it was the best time ever. No one was around, so I got out my orca stuffy. There were 4 in the pool, and I managed to get them all to come over. I held the stuffy to the glass and the dolphins were looking at it, had their mouths open and blew bubbles. It was so damn cute! One swam away, but the other 3 were pretty interested. I managed to get them to shake their heads too :) Haha one of them was even interested in the paper bag lol. I also got them to follow the orca along the glass and change windows. So cool. I interacted with them for atl east 10 minutes, before we went! And the reason for that was because they started splashing us, lmao cheeky dolphins!

SeaWorld Texas - 23rd October 2010

So went down to SeaWorld!
Went to the Azul Show. After we went to the Shamu Stadium. Takara and Sakari were in the show pool, and Takara was at the glass spitting on kids and Sakari was copying her, aww x3
We watched something new called The Shamu Story, which told the story of Namu and the original Shamu which was really cool. Ky and Tuar were in the show, and they actually told everyone their actual name, when their birthday is and how big they are! I was impressed!
We went round all the exhibits and watched the Beluga story, Sea Lion show, and Halloween Killer Whale Show. I was kinda bummed it was just Tuar and Ky in the show again, no baby Sakari :(. But they played Bring Me to Life which was rad hahaa.

SeaWorld Texas Career Camp - July 2010

5th July 2010 - Killer Whales
-We got let into the stadium before the Orca show. Ky and Tuar were just logging whilst the trainers talked and they were then called to the glass and we got a group pic with them :). A target session was then done with Ky, to get him to unlearn opening his mouth to the target. Sakari and Takara were then let in. Aw she's so cute x3. Ah yeah, and we got splashed/soaked by the boys hahaa.
We then watched the show, left stadium side, infront of the slide out. We were on Shamucam pre-show :). Show was okay. But Sakari was in it, d'aww.

8th July 2010
-We then all got led to Shamu Rocks. That was SO good. 100x better than Believe. So much energy etc. And ahh Sakari, freaking love her x3.

Trip Report and Beluga Interaction Programme - SeaWorld Texas - 30th December 2009

Wuhay. We went to SeaWorld today. Finally done all the SeaWorld's!
Hm, this one had the least there tbh. There's a dolphin feeding pool. God, there was this really fat dolphin, t'was huge! But there was a Wolphin! That was pretty rad. A false killer whale/dolphin hybrid I presume. But yeah, I hate the whole feeding concept. I didn't participate.
Yeah, there's also sea lions, horses, alligators, otters, penguins, fish and rollar coasters. The beluga habitat was under construction apparently, so no show.
The only show there really was, was Shamu stadium. Me, mum and Dave got a seat right infront of the right slide out. The show was Miracles rather than Believe. Lool there were all these pre-show carol singers.
Yeah, so in the show were Unna, Tuar, Keet and Kyuquot. Weirdly no Takara. Tuar mostly and Keet were used on our side of the slide out. I noticed Tuar had what looked like a new cut across his right eyepatch. And there looked like blood came out of his mouth, at the start of the show. Weird huh? Maybe it was fish...?
Huh, the show was alright. Thankfully we didn't get wet :P. So after the Shamu show I did a Beluga Interaction Programme :). We went round the back of the Viva stadium and saw the Pacific White Sided Dolphins. There was a really young calf too, so cute! So we got wet suited up, there was a group of 4 of us, and we got divided into 2's. I was weith a girl called Kristen. Our 'luga's were Oliver, Sikku and Luna. Sikku was Oliver's mom, Oliver was only about 2 and Luna was 9. OMG the water was freezing! Lol.
We got to do plenty of rub downs and tossing fish. It was alot of fun, we got to make them wave, sing, splash, find tickle spots, 'walk like a dolphin' and 'cat walk' and photo opportunities - like a kiss from a 'luga, holding their fin and posing. There was also a few in-water encounters. I had to step off the ledge, hold on to Sikku's pecs and she spun me around. It was rad :). And I layed on my front and back and kicked and the 'luga coped too.
At the end, both groups combined to say bye and the 'lugas completely soaked us lol. And there was this young baby, Keano?, having his own session and kept knocking around a bit lol.
Yeah so after the encounter, I got dressed, picked up the photos and then left!

Dolphin Watching - Galveston - 2nd August 2009

Place: Galveston, Texas
Date: 2nd August 2009
Boat name: Harbour Tour
Who was on trip: Me, Mum, Dave
Wildlife seen: Bottlenose Dolphins, Pelicans, Seabirds

At 3pm, we went on the Harbour Tour. Tis a boat that show recks and oil cranes about the harbour. But we saw dolphins =)! There was a long crater ship, that we were riding alongside and in the bow wave of the crater was roughly 3 bottlenose dolphins =). A few did some leaps which was cool.
The boat then took us away from the crater, back into the Harbour.

Pics here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/575561615qFIzLV