St Thomas 2020
Day 6: Friday, July 24
CORAL WORLD: Sea Trek and Kayaking with dolphins, and of course pool time
Up bright and early for me again and Mr Eeerka was outside my window. It looked like it could possibly rain and had rained over night. Each morning I would wake up to wet cushions and have to do the flip on them to sit. This had become my morning ritual. Cushion flip, Mr Eeerka, watch the iguana's strolling on the beach and people out in the water at 6-6:30am snorkeling already! The hubby was mocking Mr Eeerka and Sakari was laughing. I guess the first time he did it, it caught Mr Eeerka off guard and he made some weird gobble sounds and was shaking his head. I wished I would have caught that on video.
We had decided to go to Coral World today and hadn't scheduled any parasailing. We figured we'd try again this weekend and it had taken up too much of our time wasted on waiting to go and getting at little frustrating.
I spent awhile trying to figure out how to coordinate and book several different "experiences" there. We knew we wanted to do the SeaTrek there (we had so much fun in Aruba and I wanted Kendra to experience it too. I thought maybe she'd do better at that then scuba since she struggles with it. Kendra had also mentioned wanting to try snuba. I let her know that it's kinda the same as scuba except you just don't have the tank on your back. Sakari was interested in that as well. Then we wanted to do the dolphin kayaking because Kendra wanted to make sure that Kam got to do something exciting too.
Trying to coordinate all these times was getting tricky. I also didn't understand a section on their website that said "activity add on ($30)". I thought maybe if you booked an activity and wanted to do another, you could add it on for only $30. I mean what else could that be and it was on the check out page. However, it wouldn't let me pick an activity.
I really didn't want to book the activities without knowing if this $30 was for a second activity. I wanted to save the money, especially with such a large group.
That meant I'd have to wait until 10am, when they opened, to ask the question. Once they opened, their reply to me was they didn't know what that was and they didn't give a discount for doing multiple activities. They said they had never seen that on the website. Weird!
We ended up booking the Sea Trek to start off with and then also booked the dolphin kayaking. The dolphins only had 1 timeslot for us to go each day...maybe because of the swims and shows.
Now Coral World is right down the street from Sapphire and takes no time to get there. Once you turn off the main road and head down into a neighborhood, the driveability gets worse because so many cars are parked along the sides, on the road, next to the water, in no parking zones...up and down the hill. It's just ridiculous! Thank goodness Coral World has their own parking next door (as long as you get there at a decent hour).
Upon entry, we told them about our booking. They gave us receipts for each event and said we would need to hand those to the people in the areas that we were doing activities. I thought this was a little weird that I had to hang on to a rolled up receipt. I was really hoping that I didn't lose it. We had to fill out waiver forms and then were told where to go for our SeaTrek adventure.
Walking in, I remember this area...it was where we did our first scuba with all of us together. This is where they held the classes at. Ahhh, sweet moment!
We headed to the big dome. Anyone who has ever been to St Thomas should know about this dome and Coral World.
Along the way, we could see different animal areas and I loved the set up there.
At the counter we handed the lady our paid
receipts. We were told to head around the
round building to the area that said SeaTrek
on it and wait for the instructor. We didn't wait long before our instructor arrived and gave us a little "class" about the helmets and how things were going to work along with the hand signals (just like when diving). He told us to keep our feet planted on the ground at all times.
I did tell him about my foot/leg and they said we'd take it nice and slow and I should do alright. I knew I'd be fine because I had done it before, however...they did tell me that getting in and out of the water is using a ladder. This really worried me. I had the hubby install steps for me to get in and out of our pool because I couldn't do the ladder. But, I'm a trooper and I wasn't about to miss out on this!
We were told to leave our things in a trunk and it would be locked up. They did not mention me having my camera on my wrist. So everything went in the trunk but it. You were also required to wear crocs during the walk (they provided) or if you had water shoes you could wear those. I have them, but they were back at the condo. Oops.
We all headed down on the deck. He decided that Kendra would be the first to go in. Then Brayden went. Then Sakari. Then it was my turn. Then he said those dreaded words. No camera's allowed!!! This really sucks! They said they would have someone with them to take pictures and we could buy them...which I don't have a problem with. BUT, I can guarantee that whoever is taking the pictures would NEVER take the same one's that I would be getting if I could take my camera. I turned around and handed my camera to Billy and told him YOU BETTER TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES!!! He said he would and I knew to him this meant maybe 10. Him and Kam headed down to the observatory armed with my camera.
So now I have to navigate this ladder. I slowly started stepping down. You get to the water line with your face and they put the heavy helmet on. I hung on for dear life and really hoped that I didn't slip or anything. We were immediately greeted by HUGE Tarpon (they can reach up to 8' long and live 30-50 years!!) and Horse-Eye Jacks (which is a schooling fish and reaches up to 3.5 feet and weigh up to 25 pounds!!). These fish were big and there were a lot of them. They looked kind of intimidating as they stare at you. I was so relieved once I hit the sea floor. You are down about 20'. Next was the hubby.
The kids were already having fun and bouncing around. I gave the mom/mamaw glare to stop. We were told to keep our feet planted on the ground.
Then off we went...holding onto the bar and watching all the fish swim right next to us.
Billy and Kam were at the windows watching us and taking pictures. We waved (well most of us...someone...ahem the hubs...gave Billy a bird even though we were under water and there were no birds there).
Then we turned around and headed out.
Of course at that point, Billys job was done...or so he thought. He handed off the camera to Kam and she would be my photographer for the rest of the journey. I have to say, for 6 years old, she really didn't do a bad job at all. You have to remember all of these pictures are taken through really thick windows and I made the mistake of not knowing that even though they weren't "under water" with us...they really were and I should have put the camera on the underwater setting. That would have helped out a lot. I didn't discover this until I personally went in the dome to take pictures.
While we were out and away from the dome, Kam took pictures as if she was me. Snap, Snap, Snap (repeating just like her actually). She took a lot of photos. I'm only showing a select few.
Along the way there was a scuba diver with us. He was armed with a GoPro, which he was using for our pictures. He would swim by and take pictures (which I would later find out it was a video most of the time) and also he would find "creatures" for us to hold. We held two brittle starfishes (which we had one of these in our saltwater tank) and also a Arrow Crab which are the weirdest crabs ever. The only other time we have ever seen one and held it was scuba diving at Coki next door.
So while B was trying to hold the brittle star, it kept trying to get away (from all of us actually) and it landed on his shirt and started crawling up into his helmet. It was funny. The diver quickly got it out before it went all the way up.
When he passed around the arrow crab, B only held it for a minute and gave it back. They tried to hand it back to him but he had this look on his face and kept shaking his head no. Maybe the blue claws scared him?
We continued to walk around in a square shape holding onto the railing. The kids were jumping up and down and making their legs bend up and come back down in slow motion. Then they would stop and do one of their many fornite dances. Then they have a special "hand shake clap" and they were doing that. They were pretty hilarious and having a good time...but they were NOT keeping their feet planted on the ground.
I seen the instructor come up to them. Oh no, they are about to get kicked out of the ocean or scolded. But instead....he took their hand (one by one) and told them to jump!!! So B jumped and went up about a foot or so and slowly came down. Then it was Sakari's turn. She jumped and went up a little higher than B did. The smiles on their faces were priceless. Then he took my hand..... wait, what? I was going to do this too? Well, I would give it a try. I crouched down with one leg up in front of me like I was the karate kid, then gave it my all with my good leg and up I went and went and went and before long my feet were almost above everyone's head! I flew up! I couldn't believe it. The kids were laughing uncontrollable. I floated back down to the ground. It was a neat experience.
Here is a video that the scuba diver/photographer took of us. I was so excited to get home and see my pictures and videos only to find out that he only took 11 pictures (2 of which were fish) and 7 video's (2 of which were fish). And most importantly ...HE DIDN'T EVEN CATCH MY JUMP!!!! (or any of the others). He was watching...I seen him. Why didn't he have the camera on? That was the highlight of the excursion.
Since the hubby and I were at the end of the line and the instructor at the front, we really couldn't tell what was going on. We would notice at various times that we would all crouch down and look under the rail. I had absolutely no idea why but we'd do what everyone else was doing. I thought maybe he was showing them something but us crouching down back where we were would do absolutely no good. LOL But, we still followed the leader. (After we got out, I asked Kendra why we were doing that and was he showing her something and she was like "I have no idea why he was having us do that" and thought it was strange. LOL Maybe him and the diver had a bet going on to see how many people he could get to do that out of every group. Who knows.
So once we were getting back into Kam's little port hole and she could see us, she started taking more pictures and waving at us.
Here are the pictures the diver took of us...gosh I was really missing my camera and all the great pictures I could have gotten. Kam did a great job, but that blue-green color and blurry glass. :(
Once we were done and gathered our things, we decided to head out to the van to eat some lunch and get some drinks. It was hot out and we were all trying to find shade or sitting in the doorway to the van on the opposite side of the sun, then Kendra has a bright moment and just grabs the key and starts the van with the a/c on. Duh...Why didn't I think of that?
Outside in the parking there was a flower that was absolutely gorgeous! It was the only one there and Sakari and I knew we had to get a picture.
After a quick lunch, we headed back in. This time Billy and Kam was stopped because they didn't have a bracelet on. But they never gave any of us a bracelet when we first came in so I was confused. We showed them our receipts again and then in we went.
They have numerous exhibits to view in different areas. Up and down steps we would go exploring. They did have a sign up saying to not touch any of the animals in the touch tank. :/ But they did allow people into the bird house.
The Rainbow Lorikeets habitat. They are such beautiful birds. They are usually pretty talkative and like to mimic but they weren't saying much while we were there. Did you know that they mate for life? They usually live 30-40 years.
Notice the lizard above what feasting on a bug? We watched him catch it. He was chasing it around for a minute and was fast.
I decided that I wanted to go back over to the dome where we did our SeaTrek walk and go down in the dome to take pictures. Kendra really didn't want to and said "mom, there's a lot of stairs" and implied that I shouldn't go. But, I was determined. I would just take it step by step and slowly. It really wasn't that bad. The stair steps are winding in a circle.
It was pretty neat under there and you could see a lot of things we didn't see on our walk. On the other side of where they had the walk was a lot of coral and other fish. Then it was pretty cool over by the bridge window where the Tarpon hang out at. They had signs with information on the different fish you'll find in the area. There were plenty of tiny schools of fish in the area and we would watch several rather large trumpet fish gulp them down for lunch. I never wanted to leave the area. I could have literally stayed here all day.
Notice how the pictures all have the blue green color like Kam's? And the very last picture was actually blue in color? THAT is when it dawned on me to try the underwater setting! Dangit! It was my very last picture and I just discovered this! I'll know next time I walk into an underwater setting for pics.
We headed back up the winding staircase (there's actually a down way and an up way which was pretty cool how they intertwine with each other...and of course we didn't realize this until after we were half way up in the "down" direction...oops).
At the top, I stopped to ask the person at the desk about the pictures. They told me I would have to go to the gift shop to purchase them and that was at the entrance. Ugh. So much walking.
On the way back, we stopped at the shark tank. We had seen them from above last time but there was a viewing area below that you could see them from the side. I hear a man with his young son having a conversation and he said "See son, this is real life. You never know who to trust and it's a man eat man world out there. The weak will never survive and you always have to watch your back and trust no one" Um...ok. What a thing to be teaching your young child. So much for love and peace and helping others.
As they moved away from the tank, I could see what brought this conversation up. There was a baby shark that was in the tank and one of the bigger sharks just decided to attack him and kill him. Then the nurse sharks were grabbing him and shaking it like a rag doll. Blood was going everywhere. People were starring in utter shock. This was all happening right before their eyes. We told one of the shark tank workers and she freaked out saying "oh my! This never happens! This is not supposed to happen! I have to go get the head of the park" Then off she went. Now I didn't originally see which type of shark in the tank did the actual kill. I just know that it was the nurse sharks doing the damage and tearing it apart. We have swam with nurse sharks. They are usually pretty calm from what I've read and seen, but this is food for them I guess? Now it makes me a little nervous after watching them violently shaking the baby shark.
The sign on the shark tank states this is their "head-start" program that allows young sharks to grow up in safety until they can be released. So much for safety! This shark was bullied on the playground!
Also, this shark tank is the tank that they do their "Swim with the sharks"!!!! We did see a couple in there when we had first arrived. Kam swore she wanted to do this LOL Not anymore.
Once in the gift shop, we asked the people about our pictures and they said it was $39. I didn't have a problem with that and it came on a memory stick. They said that if for any reason we get home and there was nothing on it or the pictures were messed up or we lost it or whatever, as long as we had the receipt they would give us another.
I then ask them about the kayaing with the dolphins and are the pictures the same price. She said there was no photographer with the kayaking and we could use our own camera's for that. I was relieved to hear this and excited.
Kendra had said that she had went over and watched the dolphins when we were in the fish dome and they had told her that there was a sealion show going on prior to our dolphin excursion that we could watch and then head over. The show was at 2pm and our dolphin kayaking was at 2:15pm. By the time I hobbled up to the place where the show was, the doors were closed. Kendra managed to talk them into letting us in if we just stood and they did. It lasted all of my 5 minutes and honestly it was really hard to hear what they were saying at times. But hey, the kids got a few laughs at the things the sealion was doing.
In blink of a moment, it was over and we were off to go for our adventure. It was a long walk, for me, down to where the building was.
They led us to a "classroom" and told us to have a seat. They explained the experience and then told everyone they had totes to put our things in and NOTHING was allowed out for the kayaking. And by nothing I mean no cameras!!! Wait what??? NO! We were told that we are allowed to have our camera's with us because there wasn't a photographer for this event! She said that was correct, no photographer, but also no camera's. There was another person there with her teenager daughter that was highly upset as well. She had also been told that they could have a camera. I seriously complained. She got her "manager" who also denied that we would be able to use our camera's. She said the "vet" would not allow it because it could potentially pose a harm to the dolphins if the camera was to drop in the dolphin pen and they ate it. Seriously? I can prove to you that my camera isn't going anywhere off my arm. There's absolutely no way for it to "fall" off and what do you think happens when people are swimming, snorkeling or scuba diving and they are around animals in the ocean and even dolphins? This was a crock of crap reason! I mean that's the whole reason we (and the other people) booked. For the memories and proof of it! Finally they said that if we wanted to cancel we could. We went around and around about it and finally said "whatever" and I can tell you that I did have an attitude after that and I did voice my opinion about employees telling people that they CAN use it and then others saying we can't.
We were also told that we HAD to wear our masks during the experience because it wasn't proven that the dolphins cannot get COVID. Seriously? We would also be so social distancing that there's no way.
At the end of our "training" the other people decided they would just get a refund. Honestly, we should have too. They would have lost a lot of money that day. But, we put on our life jackets, put on our crocs, carried our paddles and headed down to the kayaking area.
Getting down into the kayak from the dock was quite challenging for me. The kayak was rocking back and forth and stepping down into was hard. Then getting myself turned around and actually sitting down...ooowee!
Once in the kayak we started paddling out toward the middle and there was a trainer on another dock who had fish for the dolphins and would send them out to us. They would do tricks like wave and zoom by us and so on. Then return to get their fish. They would also talk. There was 2 of them, both girls: Sunny and I can't remember the other name. We spent quite some time in the water with them swimming by. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned with this tour but might have been worth it if I would have had my camera.
Kendra noticed that the people who had backed out where now with us and came late. Then she also noticed that the worker at the gift shop where we purchased our other pictures from and the one that told us all that we could take pictures was now on this long dock that went alongside the entire dolphin area. She had a phone and she was taking pictures of those people with it!!!! They must have went back to complain and get a refund and she agreed to take pics for them! Like seriously wtf! That pissed me off even more. We really should have just went back and requested our money. Maybe we would have pictures ourselves after that.
After our kayak, the park was already closed (they close at 3pm and it was now 3:15pm). We had to let ourselves out of the gates and all.
Here's a small compiled video that I took that day.
Now my plans was to head over to Coki to do a little bit of snorkeling for the rest of the day. Of course the kids were a party pooper and just wanted to go back to the condo and swim. I was really bummed. Like seriously. We already had a parking spot and didn't have to worry about that and we were right there! What is wrong with my family? So, we decided we'd do it the day we came back to do the snuba. So back to the condo we went for swimming. #rollseyes
Kam, "mamaw, will you swim with me?" "Mamaw, will you swim with me?" "Mamaw" Kam has recently got herself attached to me and wants us to swim all the time. So, it was time to teach her more things like jumping off the bench in the water and swimming to me. It took awhile and little by little she started doing it with each jump...I backed up more and more. Before long she was actually swimming across the pool to me. I was so proud of my little Kam! She wanted to take pics and video's. But, I didn't have my wide angle lens on the camera so the pictures she took mostly cut my head off. LOL Notice how her mask is too big for her face. It goes all the way down and covers her upper lip. We've tried to get her to wear a smaller mask but she refuses.
After hours of playing with her in the pool...I succumbed to my water logged self and told Kam that play time was over for me. Sakari and B decided they wanted one of the camera's and took A LOT of pics and here's just a few.
I decided to walk along the beach in hunt of some more seaglass. It ended up being a successful day and I came back with a bag of my prized possessions. Kendra headed out with her bag in hand shortly after that and came back with quite a few pieces herself.
Sakari was out of the water now and taking other pictures.
She really likes the macro function on the camera, but she didn't have the newer camera (which does a lot better on macro) and here's her pictures.
Sakari came back with the camera and showed me her pics and I sat there, worn out, and tried a few of the "weird" functions on the camera while I waited for everyone to get out of the water and gather their things so we could go back to the condo for dinner.
Here's a short video of our pool time. Sakari is always practicing making her ring bubbles that she learned to do in scuba class.
I really didn't feel like cooking so the hubs threw a few pizza's in the oven and we called it a night. A little bit of Scared and Naked and then we were off to bed.
