Vaca 2020 - Day 12 - Swimming With The Dolphins

On this fine day, we were off to Marineland Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine, FL.  for a swim with a couple of dolphins.  

My wife, my sister Dianne and myself swam with dolphins back in 2004 at Discovery Cove in Orlando and still have very fond memories of that, so when Mama was planning vacation and found this little place, it seemed like something that we wanted to have the boys experience now, and if they find it amazing, maybe they'll take their own families there sometime down the road...  

This experience was a LOT different than our 2004 trip and I would say that the dolphin time was 1000 times better!  The thing that made Discovery Cove better was the snorkeling around the pools with tropical fish, the ray pools and so on.  

Lets get on with some pictures.

This is the Google.com/maps aerial view of the Marineland park and the pool that we're going to be in for the next hour.

We were there about 35 minutes early, so we walked around the tanks (out of the first picture to the South) and headed over to the dolphin area as we had no idea how anything was supposed to work.  The dolphin statue had mist shooting out of it's mouth to keep the waiting peeps cool.

Rob struck up a little closer friendship with the statue after reluctantly agreeing to have his pic taken. 

While waiting our turn to receive instructions on how everything is going to work, we watched the trainers playing with the dolphins.  It was obvious how much these workers loved the dolphins that they work with everyday, similar to how the backwoods dude at the swamp boat tour loved his gators and was sad they have to build up the trust again after the Covid21 - 2.

So we have obviously received our instructions and our flotation devices and are in the tank with this pair of lovely Cetacea.  After learning about the critters, they announce that one of the fams can get in the pool with the dolphins.  The instructions were to pretty much lay on the water with your arms out in front of you like Superman flying and the dolphins will "fly" you back to the perch that we're standing on (about knee deep). The dolphins put their noses on the arch of your feet and push you back...  realy quickly!!!   Well I can assure you that I was NOT going to be the first person in the water.  I'm no a fan of water much less any critter other than dogs.  We three boys decided to offer up mom first.  LOL!   This is the start of her short journey back.

Picking up steam...

By this point, you feel like the dolphins are going to slam yourself and them into the concrete wall of the tank.  You are MOVING!!!

The big splash happens when you begin to slow down, and thusly, sinking.

And then everything starts to settle down again.  This is where the boys started getting excited and I was wondering what the h3!! I'd gotten myself into again...  lol!

I don't remember exactly what happened here, but Caleb was starting to get used to being around the varmints and enjoying himself mightily!

They had the dolphins all come up to shake hands/fins with each of us.

And do tricks.

The second "ride" that you get is where you lay on the top of the water with your arms out, sort of in a 'T' formation and the dolphins swim by you and line up the dorsal fin with your hands and blast off back towards the platform.  Caleb went first with this one.  

The tow ropes attached to both critters, now it's off to the races!

Safe to say, he's having fun!

This was another bit of learning about dolphins in general.  The trainers (one of which is slightly visible in this pic) had the dolphins swim by normally to feel the texture of their backs and then swim by again upside down to feel the underbellies, along with a few other tricks.

Rob's turn for the dorsal twin trip!

Salt water up the nose isn't all that pleasant...

Salt water in an eye or two as well...

These dolphins wondered what the heck they signed up for when they started swimming myself, the Incredible Bulk, back to "shore"...

I had to laugh a bit when you realize how fast you "think" you're going!

The dolphins survived their first go-round with me!

Robby getting his time with his new buddy.

All four of in the tank now for the dolphins to come out and do tricks for all of us.

They had each boy give commands to the varmints for tricks.  When you debate doing something like this due to the cost, and then see pictures like this, it makes it worth it!  Not one of us is guaranteed a tomorrow so go do fun stuff and make memories that will outlast us all!!!

The dolphins both tried to flee when they saw me swimming back out, knowing that dealing with me was definitely above their pay grade, but realizing that they were indeed contained by thick concrete walls, they eventually saddled up and shoved me back to safety.

Note that I do not get anywhere near the air that Caleb will get a few pics down from this!

Caleb up for the Superman flight!

Picking up speed.

Getting there...

LIFT OFF!!!

 

...and crash landing.

Mama for the last and final cruise.  

Clearly enjoying her second ride!

One of the critters hamming it up on our behalf.

My rotund self getting some dolphin love!

Rob bringing it home and nearing the end of our time with his own Superman flight.

Good form.

Sticking the landing.

If you have a chance to have this experience with your kiddos, I would highly recommend it!!  I was a bit doubtful at first but you can tell from the smiles in the pics that they're having a great time.  And better yet, when they walked by and saw me writing this blog post, they both got excited to see the pictures and were wicked excited all over again!  

Can't beat that!

Sunbathing In Freezing Temperatures

 

Juno loves a spot in the sun more than just about anything in life!  Caleb set her up yesterday with a double-chair and soft blanket rig.  She was a happy hound for a LONG time!

Steve's Unquenchable desire to receive a tummy rub

When you get close...

 

And when you start passing by him without recognition!  LOL!!

Valentines Day 2021... 2021!!!!

I am, hands-down, the worlds worst giver of gifts.  I'm terrible, pure and simple.  I'm occasionally good at something slightly arsty and was much better when Rob was a wee lad.  This year, I had the idea to start low on the hill in the driveway with little hearts that would grow in size as Mama Chaos would drive up to, and into, her garage stall.  Well, it was cold.  Not just cold, but REALLY FRIGGIN' COLD!!!  Only one heart got "painted" and enlarged after I realized the original idea had been frozen out.

 

The Past Meets the Present!

Caleb discovering what an old 4-track cassette recorder looked and acted like!  So fascinating to watch!

 

Vaca 2020 - Day 11 - Castillo de San Marcon

So roughly 10, 11, 19 days into vaca at this point and we're all a little frazzled. Whenever something doesn't go smoothly, which rarely happens on a vacation, one of us is more miffed than the others and expresses their personal displeasure. 

We were all at a somewhat stable place when we "arroved" at the grand fort, or Castillo. This reminded me of a soap opera in the late '80's / early '90's where there was a Castillo, maybe a Bo & Hope... Victor Curiaucis (sp???), ALF and perhaps some others. 

No matter, here we are at the "Castillo" ready for as much of the tour as we can do because, you see, apparently the 'Rona is inside the fort/castillo and everybody who has entered the aforementioned has perished but those who remain just on the other side of the walls are safe, so for the outsiders sake, they closed the inners... 

It was still a pretty cool thing to see, and as such, we shall take you on the 'Rona safe self-guided-tour that we self-guided ourselves on. Let's go!

Cannons.  I need a cannon.  And when you see the "oven" later on, you'll see what kind of a cannon I want/need!

One of the few family pics from this vaca as you didn't just walk up to strangers and hand them your obviously 'Rona afflicted phone and demand a pic.  Mama Chaos, who plans our treks, is obviously still in fine form even though she's likely been berated by all of the boys at this point for something that she "obviously misplanned" or whatever,  Caleb appears to still have his wits about him but Rob and I appear to appear like we're pretty much ready to be back home.  I really like home.  Vacations are cool, but this is dragging on a bit at this point. 

This is the wall that fortifies the fort from the ocean waters.  I'm not exactly sure what it's made of, but it was crazy looking!

The previous photo is what Mama and Calebber are standing on here.  Caleb lost a tooth shortly before this so, as a bit of tradition, we like to have the kids throw teeth into the ocean.  If you don't like that, I don't care... move on.  So I believe that we have kids' teeth off the coast of Maine, Hawaii, Oregon? and now Florida.

Ah, the Castillo!  Really a pretty cool thing to see!  We're in the moat.

Speaking of the moat, click on the pic to make it bigger and read a bit about it.

I need a house with a moat around it.  But it needs a straight driveway, not a driveway like we have now where people, unwisely, try to back down and slide off into the ditches.   Here they would slide off into my gator infested moat and then I would not be able to help get them out.  They would be on their own.

This is a close-up of the stone from the wall of the fort/castillo.  Crazy stuff.

Hmmmmmm...  looks like their outdoor cooking space, aka oven!

So if I get a cannon for my birthday, I will need to build one of these where I can get my cannon balls up to red hot but also be able to smoke meat when I'm not in need to send red hot cannon balls at my enemies.  This seems justified.

The Chinese lad on the other side of the "castillo" but still in the moat.

And what does that pic look like from a different angle?  A bit like this!  Mama and Rob were faster than Calebber and myself, so that's how this happened.  I'm not gonna lie as that would be unbecoming, but there was a dad/scout master/something of authority who had four teenaged boys with him.  He was trying to teach the 4 lads about the rocks that were used and everything else about the fort. The boys, being teenaged boys, were paying attention about 10% of the time and not heeding the bosses commands. At first he calmly stated, "Please, do not touch the monument.". He started ramping up to, "C'mon guys, DON'T TOUCH the monument!", until he finally flipped his lid when Caleb and I heard, "GET THE F--- OFF OF THE F------ MONUMENT!!!!!". I giggled and we made it a point to put a bit more distance betwixt our party and theirs. LOL!

Here we see the entry bridge that we saw from the other side earlier in the post.  I'm beginning to think that we really need a castle!

And it seems our visit has concluded and we were back on the road heading up the road to Jacksonville.