Ocean World

Jill's Journal: This is Billy, a marine animal trainer, getting a big smooch from a California Sea Lion named Cora. The girls have declared Billy’s act with Cora and two Harbor Seals the “greatest thing ever.”

The girls and I almost skipped Ocean World in Crescent City today. It looks pretty cheesy on the outside, but the downfall of children who can read is that they knew it was a place they could pet a shark and they've desperately wanted to go all week. What a nice surprise it was.

Ocean World is a small, privately-owned aquarium originally opened in 1964 on a barge in the harbor. The barge has since been moved to dry land (and added onto). The only way to see it is via one of their guided tours, which turned out to be one of the most wonderfully interactive and entertaining tours we’ve ever been on. We started with the touch tidepools.

Then it was on to the shark and bat ray tanks.

After a few timid moments, the girls finally got to pet those sharks…

Again and again and again.

And then the best part – the seal and sea lion show. This is Marina, an ancient seal who was so old 13 years ago when she was rescued from a shark attack that she’d already lost all her teeth, and Skully, who is blind but doesn’t let it stop him. The girls laughed hysterically at all their antics and their hilarious “conversations” with Billy.

But Cora is the real star of the show. The 3-year-old sea lion can imitate dolphins, sharks, and Billy’s crabby, coffee-addicted boss. She break dances, plays ball, “talks,” plays fetch, you name it. The girls loved it, I loved it, and every other person on the tour also looked like they were having a ball. The girls haven’t been to Sea World yet, so they don’t have anything major league to compare it to, but they’re going to remember this a long time. For just pure fun, it was a home run.