A couple years ago we went down to South Florida and spent a few days visiting friends. One of our stop was Miami Seaquarium. The ironic part was we had lived down in South Florida for almost 10 years and we had never visited the aquarium before. Even after we had kids, we didn’t take any trip down there. Now that we live in Atlanta, we made sure that we included the aquarium on our trip.
The aquarium is located on beautiful Biscayne Bay area right by the beach. So we could actually plan a better trip and bring our picnic for a fun day at the beach. But we didn’t. Oh! well..
I had already a few attractions in mind that we would like to see. Knowing that we won’t be able to do the whole thing since we arrived a bit later than planned (which is no surprised here.. Have any family with kids ever be on time as they plan?)
I knew that there were several live-shows all throughout the day from Top Deck Dolphin Show, Killer Whale & Dolphin Show, Flipper Dolphin Show and Sea Lion Show. I mean there are more shows and exhibits than we could possibly finish that day. So I figured we would just do the major ones.
Once I got the show scheduled, we headed to the Top Deck Dolphin Show. We arrived a bit late so we didn’t have a place to sit. Mr. Rojo carried Mr. Z on his shoulder and I carried Miss J. Well, it was well-worth the wait and the trip to visit our chiropractor afterward. The show was entertaining. One warning, if you will stand next to the deck then get ready to be wet. We weren’t prepare for this so we didn’t have extra clothes. Needless to say it was a very yucky feeling for the rest of the day. Luckily the Miami heat (not the basketball team) dried our clothes rather quickly.
Our next stop was the Killer Whale and Dolphin Show. This time we were early. So we had to wait for about 10 mins for the stadium to open. Again, we should prepare with one of those hand-held fan. Urgg.. It was hot. But we made it and got a great seat. The show was fun. It was my favorite. I was amazed by the trainers who interacted with the whale and dolphin. The tricks that they performed weren’t easy but they executed it perfectly!
The last stop for our live-show marathon was the Flipper Dolphin show. The site for this show was right next to the beach so not only we had a great show but a great view of the Atlantic ocean to boot. The kids loved running up and down and checked out sea gulls on the beach. Once the show started, they were entertaining enough to captivate them for the length of the show. By that time, we had run out of our energy so it was time to pack it up.
Overall, the aquarium was a great visit for family with kids. It wasn’t as big as other aquarium but packed full with shows and exhibit. It will be great for family with small kids as well. Due to size it makes it more manageable for parents to stroll around with kids.
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OH, I need a vacation! My daughter would LOVE this…
I’ve seen the pirate ship but never made it to the aquarium. Looks like it’s a decent size to walk around in during the heat of the day. Does it get really crowded I wonder?
sounds like a really fun day!
Looks like a cool place!
Looks like fun, I have only been to the Seattle Aquarium and it was pretty cool too!
Impressive pictures. I always have trouble catching the water shows. Excellent work.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes we live so close to an attraction and never make it. Sounds like you had a great day.
What an awesome place. We don’t have anythign even remotely similar here in Guatemala or Costa Rica.
Thos Dolphin show wouldn’t be top of my list but the children really seem to love them – we enjoyed our Dolphin show in Valencia – in fact it was the highlight of the trip for the kids
http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/loceanographic-in-valencia/
Agreed, great photos. Looks like you are having a fun summer1
Great pictures. I used to want to be Shamu’s trainer at Sea World! :-) The Seaquarium looks like a great place for the kids!
Looks like a fab day…I’m not so sure about the heat, though :lol:
After I saw the movie “The Cove”, I felt so sorry about the plight of dolphins. I don’t know if you’ve seen it but you’ll probably feel like not going to aquatic parks that involve captive dolphins – even the original trainer of the “Flipper” series felt guilty he’s now turned into a dolphin activist.
we’ve posted several events for the miami seaquarium on our site – it looks like a fantastic place! thanks for sharing this…
Miami Seaquarium isn’t actually a “great” place if you love animals. Their killer whale, Lolita, has been kept in that same small concrete tank since August 1970 when she was captured from her family in Puget Sound, Washington. She hasn’t seen another whale since 1980, when her mate Hugo died, even though wild killer whales stay with their families for life. Her tank is very tiny – it reminds me of the pool at our community center, in fact. It is 35 ft wide and 12 ft deep when Lolita is 21 feet long! Also, she has little protection from shade and hurricanes. Seaquarium has had more than 70 dolphins and 65 sea lions die there. For such a small aquarium, they have a high death rate! My family and I often go to FL but we boycott Miami Seaquarium for their poor care of marine animals. We prefer visiting the Everglades, the many beaches, or the Miami Museum of Art.
I live in west palm beach, and sad to say I have never been there. I will definitely have to plan a day trip down there to see it. It looks like so much fun. Now that the weather is suppose to get cooler later this week, I’ll have to come down. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been going to the Miami Seaquarium since I was little because our beach house is about five minutes away.! But recently, I discovered a newsweek article on Lolita that changed my opinion on the place. Turns out, Lolita the killer whale was captured from the wild, and her tank is illegal by USDA standards! I researched it more and found alot of disturbing stuff, I’m not going back! I suggest anyone planning on going to research this place.
Here’s the article: http://www.newsweek.com/2008/01/22/free-lolita-a-whale-story.html
Well, for the record, I LOVE the Miami Seaquarium! It is one of the world’s first oceanariums and had so many highlights throughout the years like the capture of “Carolina Snowball” – the albino dolphin – filming of the “Flipper” series, the first oceanarium in Florida (or the East coast, for that matter) to exhibit a killer whale . . . Read about how well the Seaquarium has taken care of “Lolita” at: http://florida-backroads-travel.com/lolita-the-killer-whale-miami-seaquariums-little-girl.html.
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The shows have stayed the same but they have added a swim with the dolphin program. You want to try that program the next time you come to South Florida, Click Here to find out about the dolphin swim program if you are interested. http://dolphinworld.org/dolphin_swim_miami.htm