A bottlenose dolphin skims through the blue water of Rocky Point Preserve at Sea World of California, on San Diego's Mission Bay, approaching humans on the pool's periphery close enough that they can reach out and almost touch the sleek animal; sometimes they do. Another dolphin rises upright in the water and "stands" there, seemingly grinning, bobbing his great gray head at the people 6 to 8 feet away.
A man with a camera watches off to the side, trying to train his long lens on the interaction between animals and people, pretty much oblivious to a jokester dolphin that has been doing bellyflops. The dolphin sees his chance - and hits his target, on purpose (if not on porpoise) with a well-aimed splash.Television programs from "Nature" to "National Geographic Explorer" and the documentaries of PBS and the Discovery Channel, not to mention fictional series like "Flipper" and "seaQuest," enthrall millions. But Sea World - part school, part show, part aquarium-zoo, part sanctuary - is nature up close and personal, as if the couch potatoes and incipient couch potatoes of the TV generation could crawl into the television set and find themselves in Jacques Cousteau's world.
Participation is planned but real, whether it be braving the "splash zone" - the first several rows of seating - in the various amphitheaters or serving as an "honorary trainer" (victim?) at the Shamu show. At the whale and dolphin extravaganza, kids stand right by the plexiglass to get soaked by the waves stirred up by the speedy animals swimming on the other side.
Sea World is always looking for fresh ways to involve visitors, says Fred Jacobs, the park's public relations manager.
Rocky Point, with its friendly dolphins, is a good example. Another approach is "Mission: Bermuda Triangle," new last year, which simulates a submersible dive, "what we call a motion-based theater experience," Jacobs said.
Outside, lines - sometimes quite long ones - form beneath racks of TV monitors playing an introductory program about undersea exploration, narrated by Hugh Downs. Escorted into a holding area in groups of about 60, large doors open and people are funneled into rows of seats with a large screen before them. They are in "the Neptune," about to dive into the watery gorge known as the Puerto Rico Trench, "to observe and document sea life." As the Neptune tilts and turns, they pass over the wreck of the USS Cyclops, see dolphins and a humpback whale and her calf, and then experience an undersea quake that causes the vessel to lose power. The riders get sprayed by pressurized water but return safely to the "surface."
New this year is Shamu's Happy Harbor, a centrally located 21/2-acre play area Jacobs describes as "Rube Goldberg-esque." Children get to climb aboard a pirate ship; explore tubes and tunnels; clamber along nets suspended over a shallow pool; and test their skills with water cannons. "It's designed so parents and older siblings can play along," he said.
"Shamu's Happy Harbor was designed for all of our park guests," including those who are disabled or in wheelchairs, DonLudwig, vice president of entertainment and operations, has noted. "This new attraction promises to be one of the park's brightest, wildest, wettest and most exciting. Everyone will feel like a child again."
Most theme parks cater to teenagers . . . and those who are teenagers at heart. Not Sea World. "We cater to families," Jacobs says.
This is obvious throughout a day at the park.
Upon arriving, visitors are given a handy color map and information guide, a recent innovation. A computer prints out times for upcoming shows in cartoon-like bubbles that point out their locations. Summarized at the bottom left is "Your recommended schedule." "People like to go from one show to the next, so that computerized show schedule and map helps them plan their day most efficiently," Jacobs says.
Just through the gate, visitors can acquire strollers and wheelchairs if needed. Scattered throughout the park, and marked upon the map, are the many cafes and cafeterias, restrooms, drinking fountains, telephones and diaper-changing stations.
The opportunities for up-close introductions - some are called "interactive" - to mammals, fishes and birds are many, from Rocky Point and its dolphins to the Penguin Encounter and a central enclave for walruses, seals and sea lions. There's also a fascinating Shark Encounter, featuring sharks of all sizes, and freshwater, marine and sea aquariums with fish and other sea creatures of all colors, shapes and sizes.
But the live shows, in several different stadiums and amphitheaters, are the highlight, with trained animals performing all kinds of natural and anthropomorphic antics.
The sea lion and otter show, for instance, is subtitled "The Story of Clyde and Seamore's Island Adventure," and is sort of a hybrid of "Gilligan's Island" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," filled with humor and puns. (A microwave? Clever little Opie the Asian river otter stands on his hind legs and waves at the audience.) At the "One World" show, dolphins and small - well, smallish - whales dazzle with their leaps, speed and grace.
At the bird show, "Wings of the World," spectators sit in a stadium that looks like a movie set: across from them is the Bluebird Cafe, and signs advertise Roadrunner athletic shoes and Condor Condos. A jet that looks like a killer whale says "Fly Shamu." (Southwest Airlines has three planes painted that way, Jacobs points out.) On cue, hawks and falcons dive from a white balloon tethered far overhead, while trainers on the central plaza introduce everyone to parrots, macaws, a pair of East African crowned cranes (Lilith and Fraser!), and Thurston Owl III.
A brand new water-ski show will have a " `Baywatch' at Sea World" theme. Actor David Hasselhof is scheduled to participate in the premiere on May 25.
But the show of shows, "Shamu: World Focus," features Shamu and Namu, the sleek black-and-white killer whales, and friends. The audience is treated to a quiz on a "Shamu Vision" Jumbotron at the back of a huge performance tank, and actress Jane Seymour narrates a mini-documentary about the killer whales, "the fastest of all sea mammals," which weigh up to 10,000 pounds.
The trainers, male and female, then put the killer whales through a repertoire of 20 to 30 behaviors: swimming, leaping, skimming in synchronized duos and trios onto a shallow platform right at center stage.
The Shamu show is newly revised this year, Jacobs says. "The length of the show and the construction of the show are the same, but a lot of the behavior you see is different, some of it very different, so if you came to the Shamu show a year ago and came today, it would be vastly different."
Honorary trainers get close to the water, only to get splashed upon; a young girl is lifted close to a whale and gets to pet its soft, sensitive skin; an acrobatic trainer rides and is propelled high into the air by a killer whale.
"As trainers," says one young woman, "we have the best job in the world. We add to the knowledge of killer whales every day. But best of all, we get to jump in the water with Shamu!"
In 1996 the general public will get a chance to get to know the killer whales even better, Jacobs adds. Sea World plans a new addition to the facility, enlarging it to 6.7 million gallons, "making it the largest marine mammal habitat ever built" - though actually it will tie the size of the sister facility in Orlando.
"We haven't decided on a name yet," he says. "But it will have some really great guest interaction for the first time" with killer whales. "They will touch, help train them and participate in games with the trainers."
Jacobs is aware of peripheral criticism of zoos and aquariums, about the capture of such creatures and the training of them. Complaints, however, are rare, he says. "We don't get very much of it. Sea World parks set an incredibly high standard of care." At the park the animals have cleaner water than in the wild, the food is better and they get weekly veterinary treatment, he says. And their showmanship is anthropomorphic "only in the sense that we are entertained by them, fascinated by them. These are all behaviors or extensions of behavior they show in the wild."
And, he believes, we humans benefit from such park-sanctuaries.
"Sea World is an important educational tool. We get to see how sophisticated and highly evolved they (the animals) are - and they are capable of learning these amazing things."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If you go . . .
Admission to Sea World of California in San Diego is $28.95 for adults; $24.60 for senior citizens; $20.95 for children 3-11. Children under 3 are admitted free. Group and AAA rates and discount packages are available, and consumer partners like Pepsi sometimes advertise discounts. There is also a parking fee, $5 for autos, $7 for RVs.
The park is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., depending upon the day; summer hours begin in June, keeping it open until dusk, with fireworks every night and special shows.
For more information, call the sales office, 1-619-226-3668, or information center, 1-619-226-3901.