“Bob is right. We have dolphins, orcas, belugas, and penguins to see,” Timothy said, smiling at me. “But to get you into the mood, you’ll have to change into something more appropriate.”
I glanced down at my zoo sweatshirt and glanced at Timothy puzzledly, but Timothy was already pouncing over to a bag stuck in the closet.
“Here,” he said. “A Sea World rescue tee and another hoodie in case it gets cold. I’m afraid the website only had one cap without children’s characters. We all get a Mako shark, which I believe is from SeaWorld Orlando, but we’ll have to make do.”
The men topped their heads with the caps, and I went into the bathroom to change into Sea World clothes. I actually liked my zoo sweatshirt and tee better, but I didn’t tell Timothy that. He was like a little boy with how cute he acted when he had gifts to hand out.
The same limo driver was waiting for us in front of the hotel. (Mr. Peters was not sitting on one of the fancy couches anticipating our entry into the lobby, which pleased everyone. Terry seemed so happy about it that he cocked a full-lipped smile, a rarity for him.)
I discovered that our driver’s name was Alan. He gave us a quick good morning, then headed directly towards Sea World. The vistas on the way were gorgeous, all ocean scenes. Bob said he saw dolphins out in the bay, but the rest of us missed them — if there were any.
A bit later, we arrived at the entrance to Sea World and marched ourselves to guest services, which was right next to the restrooms, for all the people who drank too much coffee while munching on breakfast muffins. Thankfully.
Timothy had signed us up for the Ultimate VIP Tour (of course.) So, we were met by a middle-aged man with a fringe of white hair on both sides of his head. The man, Frank, he told us to call him, was wearing a cool, dark blue official shirt, jeans, and a fleece jacket that informed us that he was a staff member, even though his badge hanging on a lanyard around his neck had already assured us of that.
Frank said we’d be starting our visit that day with the sea lions, so we all piled into the little cart he was driving and headed off about as fast as a toddler on his tricycle, which was a good thing since there were a lot of people not paying attention. Frank had to beep at them to move sometimes, because the visitors often seemed completely oblivious to the occasional vehicles heading down the path where they were walking.
But even though it seemed at times that we were only making a snail’s passage, Frank putted us forward. He seemed extremely skillful at dodging kids darting out in front of him and people ambling about without looking before they rushed to one side of the path or the other. Thankfully, there were no crushed pedestrians on the way to see the beautiful black circus seals.