May 14, 2015. Clearwater Aquarium and The Beach.

Today was the day we set aside for Clearwater Aquarium, the home of Winter the dolphin who lost her tail, portrayed in the movie "Dolphin Tale". In addition to dolphins there are many other rescued marine animals at the Aquarium. We listened to a talk about Winter and her tail, then looked in the stingray pool but did not feed them.

 

We watched them measure Winter and take her vital signs.

There is a new rescued dolphin named Hope at the Aquarium now. We watched as one of the workers played games with her and squirted her with water. She did tricks when the worker waved her arms around.

Delia got to hold one of Winter's tails, and we all got to feel the very soft rubberized sock that is used to cushion the tail when it is attached. We did not get to see Winter swim with her tail attached--she only does that a couple of hours a day (as physical therapy).

We looked at the sharks up close and personal (through the glass) and Delia and I went to the animal hospital. She was very interested in it all, and wondered why some guests got to feed the dolphins (they paid to spend the day shadowing the trainers).

 

 

When we paid admission they took photos against a green wall, telling us to look scared, look up, hold our arms a certain way... On the way out we got our photos, no longer against a green wall!

 

We left the aquarium and headed to the beach. We drove right by Clearwater Beach because there were no parking places and it was really crowded. We stopped at Sand Key Park, where we swam and played in the sand for hours.

I played shark with Delia, chasing her around for a while, then went out to swim while Dianne tried to teach her to float. When I came back to shore, a man was giving Delia some shells he had picked up on his walk. He also told me that he saw a small (3-4 foot) shark swimming near me when I was further out! I'm sure glad I didn't see it!

We went to Crabby Bill's for a late lunch--this was also on Delia's list, maybe because I brought her back a tee shirt from here last year. We sat outside and enjoyed our lunch as well as the kitschy décor.