Waimanalo, Hawai`i – Today started off with a walk around the neighborhood with my friends Randy and Lesley. But this was not a laid-back stroll. They were serious. The pace was a fast walk, like they were actually going somewhere. I loved the pace and was really happy to walk with someone else who likes to move at this speed. Lesley made a joke about our pace being compared to a type of march. Usually when I go on vacation, I wonder if I’ll be able to get in some exercise. No need to worry about that today. I hope I thanked Lesley and Randy for the walk.
Workout accomplished, it was time to drive over to Sea Life Park. I stopped to grab a few photos on the way.
Sea Life Park Hawai`i is a marine and wild animal park. It was easy for me to find since it is just down the street from the Makapu`u Point Lighthouse Trail where I was two days ago. Here is where I’d meet up with the Sledge family again.
While we waited outside, a resident, Mr. Sledge, and I started talking. The subject turned to Hawai`i’s history. Our resident friend gave us a brief rundown of King Kamehameha uniting the Hawaiian Islands, the arrival of the American sugar barons, and Hawai`i’s path to becoming the 50th U.S. state. Given what we just learned from our new friend, you have to wonder what would Hawai`i be like today if King Kamehameha had not been victorious in his battles against the other islands, and had he not subsequently united them.
Sea Life Park has several experiences where you can swim with dolphins, meet some reef dwellers up close, hang out with a sea lion, and if you really, really need to get your adrenaline fix, you can swim with the sharks inside the park’s 300,000-gallon aquarium. Even if you’re not brave enough to swim with the sharks, you can still see them by walking through what’s called Shark Cave, passing by and under viewing areas in certain places. There’s also a conservation center, educational programs, and bird sanctuary. Lots to see and do but we only had a limited amount of time here today.
Once we entered, we took a short tour of the park. When we walked through the Shark Cave, I got to see my first live hammerhead shark along with whitetip and blacktip sharks. There are other fish and stingrays cruising around in here. Sea Life Park did a great job recreating a reef-like environment inside the aquarium.
As I said, we had a limited amount of time; we had to head over to the changing area for the Sledges to get kitted up for their encounter with the dolphins.
The girls headed down the stairs into the dolphin pool. Here they joined a few others who signed up for the activity. Mom, Dad, and I headed up to the bleachers to watch the girls experience the Dolphin Encounter. During the encounter, the group gets to interact with dolphins by using hand signals, which the dolphins dutifully obeyed. Prompted by the group’s newly-learned hand signals, the dolphins splashed the members of the group, gave them kisses, danced a seaborne version of the hula with them, and received belly rubs. Then, while the group was still in the pool, the dolphins put on a small show for them. The dolphins ended the encounter by swimming by and giving a flipper wave.
For the Sledge girls, their time with the dolphins went by fast. Before I knew it, they were getting out of the pool. They posed for a few pictures with the ocean behind them, then rejoined Mom, Dad, and I for a final walk through the park.
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