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Today was the day we had planned to visit Sea World’s water park, Aquatica. However, it was chilly this morning. OK, chilly by Florida’s standards (I know I’m not getting any sympathy from those of you who experienced the “wintery mix” yesterday). It was 53 degrees this morning when we set out.
The locals were bundled up in hoodies and long pants like it was cold. We had on our bathing suits & shorts. Luckily, we had some jackets stashed in the car because it sure was breezy when we arrived at the park.
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Since we were not particularly anxious to get wet when we first arrived we decided to scope out some of the animal attractions. Damian won some dolphin tattoos by correctly identifying some animal skulls. ( Isn’t that how Jeffery Dahmer started? I’d better keep my eye on him.) They had several macaws hanging out by the beach where we claimed our spot.
We paid many visits to the large tortoises. We even got to see them being fed. I was amazed at how much they consumed and how quickly. Their menu today consisted of what appeared to be a salad of spring mix, cucumber, carrot and kale. Don was quick to comment that it looked like one of my lunches.
There were a type of dolphin I’ve never seen or heard of before that looks like very small Orca whales.
Finally, we could contain Damian no longer so we consented to letting him hit this crazy water works thing while we continued to wait for the sun to provide some warmth.
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Eventually, it became warm enough for even Don & I to get wet. We had a fun time in a rapids simulation pool. It traverses the park and the jets in it propel you through. Don & Damian were a little more adventurous and tackled a big water slide.
Occassionaly, Don & I would beg for a few minutes to dry off and warm up but Damian was pretty relentless. We hit the wave pool and some horrible thing where I was sitting in a giant tube with the both of them then I was flying down some flume-like object backwards, . . . screaming.
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But, the best of all was the Dolphin Plunge. In this tube ride you start down a tube lying on your back with your legs and arms crossed. The tube is dark except for small pinpoint lights that illuminate it. Then you fly through an area where the tube is totally clear and translucent. You look around and you are plummeting through the dolphin tank! I looked to my left and there was a dolphin swimming right outside my tube. It made me laugh out loud, it was such a joyous experience.
It continued to be windy and some clouds were rolling in making the sun exposure less frequent. Don & I were done since he was beginning to resemble a cooked lobster. It was convincing Damian to leave that was the hard part.
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After one more round in the water works thing, he agreed to leave. All in all a ‘cold’, windy day in Florida is better than a ‘wintery mix’ elsewhere.
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