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A whale of a time 25 July 2006 ~ 14:55 On Sunday July 23rd while on a break in Nice, Mum & I went to visit Marineland near Antibes. It�s just a few stops by train from Nice at Biot and is a bit like Sea World in Florida. It has over one million visitors per year, is the biggest marine life attraction in Europe and the most popular paid-for attraction in the south of France.It was an absolutely scorching day and we had to keep paddling in the fountain to cool our feet. We first visited the ray pool but the rays weren�t active, and I don�t blame them in such weather. So we went to see the dolphins and the whales and noted the times of the next performances: 2.15pm for the dolphins and 3.30pm for the whales. We went shopping in the souvenir shop and by the time we headed to the dolphin pool again, the world and his brother seemed to be headed there. The entire main block of seating, which was under the shade, was full and we were forced to sit on the side block in the searing heat. My feet were burning and I ended up putting a paper bag over my head to protect my scalp from sunstroke. First a group of tumblers came out, jumping over each other, doing somersaults etc. Can you imagine being asked what you do for a living and having to reply �I�m the warm-up act for a group of dolphins!� They were good though but God knows how they had the energy in that heat. Then the dolphin trainers came out to many cheers. The music was great throughout the performance, The dolphins leapt through hoops, threw balls out at the audience, let the trainers ride on them, pushed them up out of the water, �walked� backwards in the water and my personal favourite, danced together in pairs accompanied by Sting�s �Fields of Gold.� We just had time for a drink and an ice-cream in the shade before it was over to the whale arena to see the black-and-white giants perform. Their pool is huge and deep but fortunately the whole seating area was shaded so we felt much cooler. It is obvious the rapport the whales have with their trainers and so cute to see them come and line up for their rewards after each trick (five fish each as opposed to the one the smaller dolphins get). The best bits included the giant simultaneous leaps of all four whales, and the whales going along splashing the kids (who had lined up around the rim of the tank) with their tails. The relationship between animal and trainer seemed more like that of friends than servant and master and the whales and dolphins seemed to genuinely enjoy doing the performances. The dolphins even continued playing with the balls after the show had ended! Marineland also has sea lion shows, penguins and a shark tunnel, which we didn�t have time to see on this visit. We very much hope to go again on our next trip to Nice, and we want to persuade Mark to come too.  -  |
