We bought two day passes and asked about booking a behind the scenes tour that ended with meeting a penguin. We thought we'd have to do it on our second visit but they'd put on extra tours for today. We had two hours before the tour so we decided to find the main penguin attraction - Antarctica, Empire of the Penguins. Being towards the back of the park meant that by the time we got there we felt as though we were in a blast furnace. This is now the only way of seeing the penguins so we had no choice but to join a really long queue which was supposedly a 20 minute wait. There were a couple of large umbrellas and some 'rocky' outcrops offering miminal protection but part of the queue was directly in the sun. Our total wait ended up around half an hour and by then we were very glad to get into the air conditioned building. Many of the staff were wearing thick coats whereas we welcomed the cold environment. The attraction started with a short film followed by a journey with Puck the penguin chick. Our journey ended by stepping into the penguin enclosure. Harrison was grinning from ear to ear - so many penguins to watch! Unfortunately, it was only a very short time before the 32F air temperature became too much for him. Even with my jacket on he was shivering quite violently. He'd waited so long for this experience, it was a shame that he was too cold to really enjoy it. It was a good job that there weren't any tickets left for the extra 45 minute penguin encounter tour that we'd seen advertised on the website!
As is usual with every attraction in the theme parks, you're directed out through the gift shop. Harrison enjoyed choosing a new addition to his penguin collection.
After this we headed back through the park to the meeting place for our behind the scenes tour. It was literally that - seeing areas of the park that guests with only general admission never see. Our tour guide, Alma, started with the hospital area where they care for the rescued animals. For obvious reasons we didn't go into the hospital but we did see and learn about six rescued manatee calves in an outside pool. We also saw some of the rescue and transport vehicles.
We got on the open sided bus and were taken to the shark building. There we were offered the opportunity of touching a small shark. All three of us declined! Next stop was the polar bear enclosure which was empty. However, we learned about the techniques used to train him so that he could cooperate with the staff to monitor his well-being. Johnny (the polar bear) is the only animal in the park that staff don't have close contact with. He stands at over eleven feet tall on his hind legs and would consider any human a tasty snack!
Saving the best till last, we were taken to the penguin rehabilitation building. We were met by the keeper who told us about Newman, the female penguin we were going to meet. They can't tell the gender of the penguin initially; it takes a DNA test to determine it and by then the penguins have usually been named. In addition to Newman, they have Fred and Mario who are also females and Julie who's male!
Fortunately for Harrison, this room was nowhere near as cold as the main exhibit so he was able to enjoy a much longer encounter with his favourite animals and spend some (almost) one-to-one time with Newman.
This experience concluded our tour and we entered back into the main park opposite the dolphin theatre.
Given the weather over the past few days we decided that we should go on the Sky Tower before any possible storms. To get there, Harrison wanted to go over the wooden bridge spanning the lake:
The Sky Tower gave us a fabulous 360 degree view of the park although the photographs didn't come out very well because there was a black mesh covering all of the windows.
The Blue Horizons show in the dolphin theatre was the last attraction that Harrison could manage today. Although the heat was subsiding by now 16:30), he'd had enough (or had another agenda that he wasn't telling us about!) and wanted to head back to the villa after the show. The show was very good and lasted for over 20 minutes. It was a mixture of dancers, aerial acrobats, dolphin tricks and birds. Not so keen on the last component so I kept my head down as they flew through the auditorium! We were seated right up the back under cover which gave us a great view, not only of the performance area but also the holding pools behind the scenery.
After an obligatory stop in the shop, we headed home. I'm very relieved to report that there were no thunder storms here today. We arrived back at about 19:30 and Harrison immediately ran himself a bath. Once again he couldn't be convinced to try the pool so I went in by myself and swam 10 lengths. That might sound impressive but it only takes about 5 strokes to reach the other end! The water was the warmest it's been all holiday, so evening is definitely the best time to swim. Problem is that we're not usually around then.
Carrying on with the water theme, we decided that we should do some more washing as we were starting to run out of clothes again. It's very quick to do here as the machine only takes about half an hour and then hanging the clothes in our other double oven (aka the garage), they're virtually dry again within an hour.
We'll be heading back to SeaWorld again tomorrow to attempt to fit in all of the attractions that we didn't have time for today. We won't go until the afternoon though, to allow the worst of the heat to subside. We brought the park map home with us so that we can make a proper plan rather than wandering aimlessly and finding ourselves running out of time.
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