Kristine's Birthday Part One

Kenneth trying to be Shamu

Howard the Penguin

Kenneth petting Howard

Yesterday was Kristine's 22nd Birthday. One of the things that Kristine wanted to do was to go to Seaworld and pet a penguin. On prior trips to Seaworld, we discovered that they have extra little tours that you can get once you enter the park. One of Seaworld's "World of Discoveries" is called the Polar Expedition Tour. This tour lasted about an hour during which, we got to go to the backstage area and see the new beluga whale that just recently joined the exhibit as well as a few seals and a polar bear. The tour was actually filled with a lot of good information and was relatively entertaining. The climax of the tour was that we actually got to pet a Magellean Penguin.

One of the things they warn you about before you go in is that you have to stand to the side of the penguin otherwise they may be startled or scared. The problem with them being scared is not that it upsets the penguin, but rather, penguins are known to be projectile poopers. When they get scared, they can project poop up to 6 feet. Fortunately, none of us got pooped on and we managed to get some really cute pictures.

To be honest, it was definitely worth it to get to touch a penguin and experience something new at Seaworld. It was a great morning/afternoon.