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As you may remember, for my birthday gift, Chris added another stop to our Florida itinerary: an evening at Discovery Cove, Sea World's sister park where you get to go in the water with the animals. Our reservation came with complimentary admission to Sea World, which we used Friday morning before going over to Discovery Cove.
Despite my madness for all things marine, Sea World really wasn't as thrilling for me as I'd expected. There were a few neat things to do, but I honestly find Mystic Aquarium over in Connecticut to be more entertaining.
We went to the dolphin feeding, where we bought a tray of fish to hand feed to the dolphins. It's awfully clever of them to charge guests, who've already paid for admission, for fish that are going to be fed to their dolphins... I wish I could come up with a racket like that! It was really cool to be so close to the dolphins, and to watch Chris and the other guests get to feed and pet them, but I was disappointed that the wall you have to reach over was too wide for me. It was the same thing at the stingray pool, where you get to pet the stingrays... I couldn't reach them.  My only solace was knowing that I would be getting much closer to more of the same animals later that evening.
The Shamu show was really cool, too (literally!). We sat in the fourth row back, right at the center of the tank - the heart of the "soak zone". It was actually fortunate that the batteries in the camera died right at the beginning of the show, prompting us to put it away, because no warning is given before the soaking begins. That surprised me, really. I was sure there would be some kind of warning, considering how many people would be there with cameras and other electronic gadgets. And we did indeed get very soaked, and it felt wonderful. I had tolerated the Florida heat pretty well up to that day, mostly because I'd been sitting in my wheelchair and not really exerting myself. But we left the chair in the hotel room on this day, mostly because we knew it would be useless at Discovery Cove (which is almost all sand).
After Chris sampled some free beer, we stopped to see the Budweiser Clydesdales - a strange attraction for a marine park, but it is owned by Anheuser-Busch after all. My sister Dana loves these horses, so we had to get our picture taken with one. We also had a laugh at one particularly immodest male... Chris did take a picture but you will not find it in the gallery here, because, well... that's just so wrong. 
Next, I had my final moment of Florida insanity, and decided to ride Journey to Atlantis. It's a ride similar to Splash Mountain, with a boat on a track that drops down a ridiculously steep hill into ice cold water. Though I had passed up Splash Mountain just a few days before, I agreed to go on this one for one reason only. I was freaking hot and willing to do anything to get wet. This was another ride where an automatic camera snaps a picture of the unsuspecting riders as they are freaking out and pissing their pants, and I have to say their timing was much better than it was on Tower of Terror.
I've pointed out before that bathroom issues seem to plague me wherever I go. Amazingly, for most of the week in Florida, it wasn't an issue at all. Disney has plenty of companion-assisted restrooms throughout their parks, and Sea World and Discovery Cove are equipped with them as well. We were always able to get right in without waiting, until Sea World. When we reached the one at Sea World, there was one family in line ahead of us with a young daughter in a wheelchair, and someone already in the bathroom. After waiting close to twenty minutes, the other family gave up. A few minutes later, a couple around our age, perfectly able-bodied, emerged from the companion restroom. Upon being confronted with the fact that the restroom is intended for disabled guests who need assistance, their response was, "It's okay, we had an accident we needed to take care of." Yeah, well the "accident" involved a condom wrapper being left in plain view at the top of the trash. Come on... at Sea World? With a line of gimpy bladders waiting to get in and be emptied? Is that really necessary?
After finally being allowed to pee, we made our way out of Sea World and over to the shuttle that would take us to Discovery Cove. After checking in at the Cove and getting our cute little photo IDs made that we would wear around our necks, we got a tour of the park that left us more lost than we would have been if they had just sent us out on our own. And then, no sooner had we changed into our bathing suits and lovely park-issued swim vests (required for visibility to the lifeguards), in rolled a good ol' Florida thunderstorm.
While everyone huddled tightly under the shelters over the snack bar and lockers, I took the opportunity to put a little something into my stomach. I hadn't drank nearly enough water and the only thing I'd eaten all day was part of a cheese danish. I ordered a slushie, to be spoon fed because straws aren't allowed at animal/marine parks. And that's when something - the heat, dehydration, low blood sugar... something - caught up with me. I started to feel lightheaded and told Chris I needed to sit down somewhere... now. I spent the next fifteen or twenty minutes sitting on a bench near our locker, barely conscious, clinging tightly to Chris to keep from falling if I should pass out completely, and continuing to take bites of the slushie whenever I was awake enough to swallow. I knew if I could just continue getting that frozen sugar water into my system, whatever it was would have to pass eventually. And it did, about the same time the storm did. For good measure I grabbed a bottle of water and some cookies from the snack bar, and we walked on the beach for a few minutes to get my blood flowing again. After a few minutes on my feet and about half of the water bottle, I was good as new. Throughout the whole thing I kept picturing myself stuck in the first aid station while Chris enjoyed our dolphin interaction without me, which he assured me was exactly what he would have done. Nice guy, huh? 
There are four main activities to partake in at Discovery Cove. The first is snorkeling in the coral reef. I had no interest in this one due to having issues with my face being underwater. I told Chris I would wait on a beach chair if he wanted to go in, but he opted to just stay with me (heh... maybe he was feeling guilty for saying he'd have done the dolphin interaction without me).
The next activity is the stingray lagoon. Unlike at Sea World where you only get to reach in and pet them, here you actually wade into the freezing cold water where the rays swim all around you. This was my first time stepping into any of the waterways, and it was here that I discovered I was going to have great difficulty walking underwater in my water socks. With each step, the water would catch my foot and bend my knee all the way back, and it took forever to get my foot back down, and when it did go back down, it was only a couple of inches ahead of where I'd picked it up. I slowly but surely made my way in, though. Between the ice cold water and my general lack of balance, I couldn't bend down far enough to pet the stingrays as they swam by, but I did finally get to touch one when it swam right up against my leg. Wow. Not too long ago I would have been completely freaked out about it. In fact I know the aquarium in Mystic allows the opportunity to pet them just like Sea World does, and I have never taken them up on the offer. I don't really know what it was that suddenly made me feel so comfortable being right in the water with them.
Our next activity was the leisure pool and lazy river, which takes you all the way around the park and empties back into the pool again. The water here was much warmer, thank God. Discovery Cove allows only their own, non-inflatable, flotation devices to keep things safe for the animals. So, we tucked a couple of "noodles" under my arms, and set out floating down the river. It was fun, and pretty relaxing, until I realized I had to pass under a waterfall (remember the thing about my face and water?). There really wasn't any getting out of it, as the current only flows one way, so after making Chris promise to stop and wipe the water off my face on the other side, I closed my eyes, held my breath, and kicked my way through as fast as possible. Well, that wasn't so bad. Once through, we figured out that we were in the aviary (oops, so there's five). There was a spot where you could get out of the river and walk around, but since we're not really that into birds, we just kept on floating. And then there was the realization that there would be another waterfall to get back out of the aviary. I don't know what happened this time, whether I just forgot to kick or what, but I could not hold my breath long enough to get through. And on the other side, we couldn't find a place where Chris could let go of me and wipe my face without the current carrying us away. Since I can't open my eyes when they're wet, I was floating blind while he towed me along, until he finally found a spot where he could grip the rocks with his feet to keep from floating away from me. We finally got my face wiped off, chatted for a minute or two with the lifeguard who was perched on the same rocks, then continued on the last stretch of the river before exiting back into the pool.
By now it was just about time for our dolphin interaction, so we grabbed another drink, met our "class" in the cabana, and mentally prepared ourselves to go back into cold water after spending so much time in that wonderfully warm water in the river and pool. They split us into small groups of six to eight and assigned each group to a trainer. In the water, we got to meet two of the dolphins: Capricorn, a sweet old timer who gave us kisses and posed for pictures with us, and a younger, more boisterous dolphin, Rascal. The trainer showed us how to signal the dolphins to perform some of their tricks and natural behaviors, and secretly cued the dolphins to react, sometimes quite humorously, to their interactions with each of us (one guy got a raspberry from Capricorn after his kiss, and after a kiss from Chris, he rolled onto his back like he'd fallen in love). We spent thirty minutes in the water with these beautiful animals, and it was absolutely amazing.
After the dolphin interaction, we were pretty fatigued from all the swimming, so we decided to go ahead and get dressed, and walk around taking pictures around the park until dinnertime. We found a steel drum band playing on the beach, and there were guides scattered around the park carrying some other, non-aquatic tropical animals for guests to interact with. We saw a few birds, an anteater, and a sloth. I can now say that I have petted an anteater.  I didn't get a chance to touch the sloth, but he was adorable. He sat so contentedly in the guide's arms, with his arms hooked over her shoulders, and stared straight up into the sky like he was mesmerized by the clouds.
Dinner was pretty good, although just not quite as good as all that Disney fare we'd been eating all week. But it was all-you-can-eat, booze included, so no complaints there. There was a live band, and a dance floor, but unfortunately we had to get moving after we ate to catch our ride back to the hotel.
The whole week in Florida was just awesome, and our evening at Discovery Cove was the perfect way to end our last full day there. I would definitely do it again if we ever have the chance.
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