Swimming with the dolphins

Ever since she was young, Sarah, my youngest step-daughter, has wanted to swim with dolphins. So, when we asked her a few months ago what she wanted to do for her 21st, she didn't say she wanted a party, she said she wanted to swim with the dolphins at Seaworld.

Well, yesterday was the big day and as you can see from the picture below, she got her wish.



That's Sarah at the top right of the picture. Going clockwise from Sarah, the others are Jess, my oldest stepdaughter, Michael, Olivia and Jenn, Sarah's friends, and Roy, Jenn's brother. All but Jess work together.

The swim lasted about 45 minutes all up. It was split into a deep water part and a shallow water part. The picture above is of the deep water part, where they got the dolphin to respond to different commands. Here, they're all swimming round in circles. The shallow water part was where they had their photos taken with the dolphin.

After the swim we spent a few hours checking out the rest of Seaworld. Donna and I found the animals the most interesting, including the window cleaners in one of the tanks. The two of us did go on one ride though. As we'll be in London soon, and London has the 135 metre tall London Eye, we thought we'd try out the Seaworld Eye, which is only 60 metres tall. Neither of us are that keen on heights, even though I'm a pilot, and if you go right back to one of my very first blog entries, you'll find a picture of me sitting on my parent's roof. We thought we'd try out the Seaworld Eye and if we enjoyed that we'd go on the London Eye.

I don't think we'll be going on the London Eye. The view was great, but every time the ride stops, the pod you're sitting in swings, especially if you're right at the top. I've seen pictures of the London Eye that suggest to me that the pods on that don't swing, because of the way they're fitted, so I'm not absolutely sure that I won't go up in it. I'll probably need a lot of encouragement though.

If anyone has been in the London Eye, leave a comment and let me know what it's like. I know one of my regular readers lives in London (or at least has their internet access through there), but I don't know who they are.

Anyway, getting back to Seaworld, if you want to see more of the day, have a look here. There's even a pic of the window cleaners.

If you ever visit Seaworld on the Gold Coast and want to swim with the dolphins, or the sea lions or sharks for that matter, check out their website here. The dolphin adventure costs $175 per person and your entry into the park is about $65. If you do the family dolphin adventure it works out a lot cheaper. Oh, and the price includes one photo of you and the dolphin.