Day 1, Seaworld

What a great trip! Spent the first day at Seaworld (after the Conference, that is) and managed to have a close encounter with the polar bears!! I took a "Behind-the-scenes" tour and had a look at the set up behind the polar bear exhibit. When I paid for the tour, I was told there was no guarantee I'd get to see the polar bears up close as they were allowed to come and go as they please from the exhibit side to their sleeping quarters in the back. But I got to see Hudson and Nelson really close. I got face to face with Hudson and Nelson, one at a time as they came up to the wire mesh that separated me from them. I put my face right up to the wire mesh (we weren't allowed to put our fingers through the wire mesh for obvious reasons) and almost got licked by the bears as their long black tongues flicked through the wire mesh!

Anyway, I have some great photos to share (unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos on the behind the scenes tour, but still got some really good shots from the exhibit area). All in all, I took 309 photos (mostly polar bears, of course)!! I can't share all of them, but here's a pick of the best.

Here's the view from my hotel room across the busy highway looking at the Conrad Jupiters which was where the conference was held.

SEAWORLD
My first glimpse of the polar bear.


Shark Bay. The sharks here ranged from small to large. There were stingrays and plenty of interesting fish.

Underwater viewing area.
Up close and personal with a shark in the underwater viewing area.



Interesting star fish in a shallow pool. We were allowed to touch them, but not allowed to move them.


The Imagine Dolphin show is new. Pretty amazing show.




I kept going back to the polar bear exhibit, of course.
Hudson and Nelson were play fighting, as they like to do.



Australian sea birds.

I rode The Corkscrew FOUR times! There wasn't a line up as it was a week day, which was great.

Here's me back at the polar bear exhibit again.

Isn't he just adorable?

This polar bear swam towards the glass underwater viewing area and then flipped back before coming back again. Over and over again.

Waiting at the polar bear exhibit entrance for the "Behind-the-scenes" tour. Note the white bracelet on my left wrist.


I took this after coming out of the Behind-the-scenes tour, and since both Hudson and Nelson were in the back, this must be Lia, the female polar bear from Russia. She's 6 or 7 years old, older than Hudson and Nelson who are almost 4. And yet both Hudson and Nelson are almost the same size as Lia now. Male bears are generally bigger. They can grow up to 700-800kg.

Zooming out. Polar bear exhibit with The Seaworld Eye in the background.

My beautiful bear.