Our last big outing in Spain was to Mundomar in Benidorm. Mundomar translates to "sea world" and, though I have never been to one of the Sea Worlds in the US, I imagine it is similar to that, only ALL about the animals (no rides) and without Shamoo or other killer whales.
Marika is not an animal lover and elected to stay home while the rest of us got an "early" (by Spanish standards) start at 9:00 so we could be there when they opened.
It was about a 40 minute drive from El Campello. Rio was particularly tired on the drive and I kept asking him if he felt alright He assured me that he was just sleepy--which is pretty common before a growth spurt, so I didn't worry too much about it.
The entry areas, and much of the park, had some Christmas decor up (snow? In southern Spain? lol)
We paid for tickets (I had found some discount coupons at the El Campello gas station that brought the price down to 12 Euro each), and headed up the shaded, parrot lined walkway into the park:
The park is really well laid out so that you can work your way from front to back and see every show in succession with a little time in between for exhibits, but not a lot of waiting around or back tracking. This was very nice. Here are some photos of the various exhibits, buildings, the Sea Lion show, etc:
At MANY of the exhibits, you could wait in line and have your photo taken with the animals. We saw this with seals, sea lions, lemurs and parrots as well as others. Rio and I jumped in the short line to hang out with the parrots (yes, one is eating my hat).
We saw a sea lion show, a bird show and a song and dance show about the holidays--as well as several smaller exhibits. All of the exhibits seemed to be well set up, clean, large and with animals that looked to my amateur eye to be well cared for. They were all a miss of English and Spanish and easy for either group to understand The bird and dance shows were both held in a central building with tables in the audience area. The park's counter service restaurant was adjacent, so it was designed to have a meal or snack while you watched, which really worked out nicely. We had a drink during the first show and a nice little lunch of sandwiches on fresh baguettes and fries during the second one. Here is the building--I liked the style:
Towards the end of the lunch time show, Rio started to feel really cold. Sure enough, he was running a fever! I guess he wasn't just tired with an upcoming growth spurt. We debated heading straight home, or holding out to see the dolphin show in 20 minutes. That is the BIG show, and the main thing (along with otters, whose exhibit is on the trail out of the park) that Rio had wanted to see. In the end, we opted to throw some tylenol at Rio and sit through the show and then hightail it out and back home.
The theatre that the dolphin show is in, is set up to have lovely views of the nearby hills as well as the ocean. It really was a perfect location--and the show was wonderful. Even feeling sick Rio enjoyed it--and so did David and I. It had a bit of a Christmas feel and opened with one of the three kings ziplining over the dolphin pool--which was pretty comical (note: in Spain family gifts are given on the 24th or 25th of December. Santa does not come, and the three kings, or wise men, bring gifts on January 6th).
Since the otter exhibit was right on our way out, and Rio loves them so much, we did stop for a few minutes to look at them.
As I was snapping that last photo, Rio was telling me to turn around and look at something. Almost simultaneously, I felt something touching my backside. I turned around to find the culprit was the little guy who had somehow managed to escape!
Yes, I was groped by an otter! lol As we exited I told the staff in the gift shop that there was an otter on the loose. It is a good thing I had taken a photo, I don't think they believed me until they saw it--then they were suddenly radioing frantically.
And so ended our, cut short, day at Mundomar. It was a really nice place and I hope we can take Rio back when he is feeling healthy. It was certainly worth a return visit.
Here's hoping you have a nice, otter-harassment-free day.
Hadley
No comments:
Post a Comment