Hawaii Day 3 Continued: A Dolphin Dream Come True!

On Monday afternoon, Annika's wish was granted: swimming with dolphins!  From the moment she learned that the wish wizard could grant her a wish, this is what she dreamed  (Well, right after riding a leopard in the Amazon rainforest.)   Make-a-Wish arranged for our entire family to visit Sea Life Park, and it was magical!

Thanks to the generosity of many, our whole family got to interact with the dolphins from a waist-deep platform in their pool.  Because I'm frugal, I normally I would opt to be the spectator and let the kids have all the fun.  In retrospect, I'm so glad that we all got to take part.  Being so close to the dolphins was amazing!  I think Brooklyn was just as excited as Annika.  When she was a young girl, she likewise LOVED dolphins and longed to be a dolphin trainer.  I'm pretty sure a piece of that dream lives on.

When the trainer asked for a volunteer to interact with the dolphins, Annika's hand was the very first to shoot up.  She took both of her photos with Kawilikai, who is three quarters bottle-nose dolphin, one quarter false killer whale.  The told us that Kawilikai was born December 23, 2004, making her almost exactly Brooklyn's age.  December 23rd is also the date of Annika's "blip", so there's a special connection there as well.

Everybody got to pose with a dolphin twice: once while holding the dolphin's head and once while "dancing."  Actually, many of us posed with a "wholphin"--half false killer whale, half bottlenose dolphin.  Apparently the only known wholphins to survive are at Sea Life Park.  I believe this is Kekaimalu, Kawilikai's mother.  The wholphins are darker and larger than their bottlenose counterparts.

Brooklyn, you're about to get a kiss!  I think the wholphin likes you--she's grinning.

And now for the dances!  All kudos to the dolphins for leading the way.

Sea Life Park gave Annika a complimentary photo package containing her digital picture and two printed 8x10s.  While the pictures weren't free for the rest of us, they were still heavily discounted.  I'm so glad to have these special souvenirs!  However, interacting with the dolphins was more fun than posing.  Our family got to cue the dolphin to wiggle its tongue by shaking an upside down peace sign.  Someone else encouraged it to do the hula, while another cued it to talk.  My favorite part was getting to feel the rubbery skin as the dolphins swam by.  

After our dolphin encounter, we took some time to visit a few of the other animals at Sea Life Park.  Should we ever visit again, I would come earlier to allow more time to see the other exhibits.  The Hale Manu aviary was particularly fun!

How many bird pictures are too many?  I guess we'll find out.

Just be careful!  Apparently they like eating both phones and birdseed.

 

We finished up our day with the Aloha Nai'a Presentation at the dolphin lagoon.  Annika was so intrigued that she left our family to go sit by herself front and center.

These animals were incredible!  I hope that somehow they could sense our appreciation.

We certainly appreciated the stunning setting.

Make-a-Wish and Sea Life Park, thank you so much for partnering to make Annika's wish come true!