My kids are fans of the movie Dolphin Tale. I finally watched it with them earlier this summer and as soon as the movie ended I got online to find out where Winter, the dolphin the movie was about, lived. I was happily surprised to learn that she lived in Clearwater, near enough to where my in-laws live in Tampa.
This weekend we traveled to Tampa for our belated anniversary date, but the kids didn't have school today so Kevin took a day off work to make it a long weekend and we visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium before driving home this afternoon.
Hi, Winter!
This is Winter, swimming in her tank without her prosthetic tale. Apparently she only wears it about 4 hours a day. She can do more with it on, and it reinforces how she's supposed to swim, but it's heavy and gives her a workout. I never saw her with it on while we were there, but she got around just fine. What a fighter!
CMA also houses sea turtles, rays, sharks, otters, and more. For the most part it's a rescue site that works to rehabilitate sea animals to return them to the wild or become their new home if they can't be returned to the wild (as in Winter's case).
The boys in front of the shark tank.
It looks like Toby is trying to give the sting rays a high five.
Playing around.
Toby in the turtle crawl.
After spending time at the aquarium we took the ferry shuttle (included in the price but doesn't run as often as the trolley) to the Dolphin Tale Museum (also part of the entry fee).
Blue. Oh Blue. When we got on the ferry we let the boys have a snack. Blue asked if he could eat his lunch (we'd packed pb and j's) and I said, "No, I'm not even sure if we're supposed to be eating on the ferry." So before we take off the captain gives his spiel and then asks if there's any questions. One hand shoots up. Yes, Blue's. What's his question? "Can we eat on the ferry?" The captain answers yes, just don't make a mess, so guess who then turned to me... THAT KID.
The museum is filled with movie props, a hurricane simulation, screens showing clips from the movie, and movie stills.
Then we took the trolley back to the aquarium.
Toby looked very confused. I wondered if he wondered why he wasn't in a car seat, but he got over it and started singing The Wheels on the Bus.
THAT kid. Too cute.
Back at the CMA.
Toby had moments of high maintenence, but overall it was a fun way to spend the day and the boys loved seeing the site they'd seen in the movie so many times and now Kevin even wants to watch the movie, so I guess our next movie night is planned.
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