the depths of discovery

Bear with me, this is going to get long!

I must admit that while a portion of our time at Seaworld was spent discussing the controversy of the park, you can't help but get sucked into an exceptional admiration for what these animals can do.

I won't waste my time arguing the fors and againts of a place like this, there are far more coherent arguments on either side than what I could put forth, yet I am still filled with amazement when seeing such incredible creatures in real life.

However, let's start at the beginning of the day. First stop: new rollercoaster 'Mako', claimed to be the "longest, tallest and fastest hyper coaster in Orlando" featuring drops of 200ft. What on earth had I let myself in for?

After riding what I now refer to as "the near death experience", it was time to see some animals.

We arrived at feeding time for the seals and sea lions and my god they can bark.

This guy though.

~strike a pose~

As all good days end, we went home via IHOP.

The next day was pretty much the only planned day we have had here- Discovery Cove.

I can't say that we've been greeted into any of the other parks by a sloth.

SO funny!!

Wetsuit donned, I was ready for a fun day. After the all inclusive breakfast, lunch, snacks and bevs of course.

We had a little while before our dolphin swim which I used to learn how to proficiently snorkel with the help of Alice's snorkel school. Very proud of myself, I have learned something productive in the 3 years since I last visited. Excluding the degree of course...

I went snorkelling in the Grand Reef swimming up close to schools of fish, exotic fish and rays of all sizes. I'm talking up to like 10m- okay that was an educated guess. But again, I wasn't really brave enough to do this last time I came so I was once again impressed with myself. Well done me.

The dolphin swim was only short but the dolphin experience and training tutorial was one of a kind.

Meet Clipper. She is such a funny girl, she cracked our whole group up for the entire time. 

It was a really good day, not just because of the unlimited Mac and cheese either.

Thanks to my Dad for taking us on this experience.

And to Alice for plaiting my hair and teaching me to snorkel.

There'll be another update soon!

Em x