Beluga Whales

Seaworld had a great Beluga whale exhibit. I didn't know anything about them, including the fact that they were white. Beluga means "white" in Russian. This was another exhibit where we could see the creatures from above and below the water.

This creepy looking fish was swimming with the manatees.

Manatees

We were surprised to see that San Diego SeaWorld had a manatee exhibit. Injured manatees from Florida are flown to San Diego for rehabilitation. When healthy, they are returned to Florida and the wild. In the lower two pictures you can see the white scars from propellers on one of the manatees. In the middle picture, the scar is in the lower right corner of the picture. It was a massive scar; only a little is shown in the picture. It was awe inspiring to see these incredible creatures float gently through the water like giant balloons.

Sea Turtles and Shamu

It took us awhile, but we finally found the sea turtles. There about seven or eight that we could see, and they weren't all the same kind, it did not appear. This one's shell was overlapping plates, like a suit of armor.

We were going to attend the Shamu show, but the noon show was cancelled due to "technical difficulties." Ahh, those killer whales are so hard to mike up, aren't they?
We did go to Shamu enclosure to see them. You could go to a lower level and watch them underwater. As this one circled, these two kids would race it along the glass.

Goodbye to SeaWorld

When we entered SeaWorld, a Penguin greeted us. As we left, this Walrus waved good-bye.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

--Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

Good-bye to Seaworld

When we arrived at Seaworld, a Penguin greeted us. Now, as we left after a very satisfying day, this mournful Walrus was at the gate waving goodbye. I guess the handler was there to keep him from mauling anyone, LOL!

Good Morning!

No words necessary.

Hot Tub on a cool day

Fred and I decided to enjoy the hot tub for a bit this morning.

Catching up on posts

As we traveled cross country, we didn't always have internet access (though we had it more often than previous years, even in small towns). I didn't get some posts made that I really wanted to make, so I'm going to do catch up this week. I'll leave these "catchup" posts at the head of the blog for a few days and then move them to their proper date. Be sure to page down to catch the San Diego posts that I made this week!

Montgomery, Alabama

We left Birmingham and drove down to Montgomery, getting there just in time to go into the Southern Poverty Law Center to see Montgomery's Civil Rights Memorial. Below, the state capitol.

Montgonery's Civil Rights Memorial was designed by Maya Lin, who designed Washington, DC's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. It is as beautiful and poignant as the Vietnam Memorial. There is a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. on the wall; the cone-shaped fountain has a flat surface with the names of those martyred during the fight for civil rights. See http://ww.splcenter.org/crm/memorial.jsp for more information.

Birmingham, Alabama

Sixteenth Street Baptist. This is the church that was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963, killing four little girls and injuring 22 people, including a four-year old girl. It was undergoing major restoration while we were there.

The sanctuary of the church. The windows on the right were damaged in the 1963 bombing.


One of the stained glass windows. This window essentially survived the explosion except for the face of Jesus, which was blown out, and a very small bit of his red robe. Pictures after the explosion show the oval hole where the face used to be. Eerie.

As in more recent events, the world reacted to the horrific act. An artist in Wales designed this window, with a black Jesus being crucified, for the church after a dream. It replaced a window destroyed in the bombing. School children from Wales sent money to help in the restoration of the church.

Birmingham: Kelly Ingram Park

More pictures from the Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham.

These children are turning their backs to the water cannon.

There's a memorial to the people who had the dogs set on them.

Several homeless men hang out in the park and give tours for a donation. They were very good.

Pelagic Trip to Los Coronados, Mexico

Fred and I took a Pelagic Birding Trip as part of the San Diego Birding Festival. To Fred's dismay and regret, the bus left at 6AM. According to Webster's pelagic means "of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea." With birds, it means birds which spend the greater part of their time at sea. The albatross is an example of a pelagic bird.

Here we are waiting for the boat at Harbor Island. Fred is by the tree, with the blue cap.

A black crowned night heron watches us dubiously. There were five or six of these, that we saw, as we walked onto the dock.

Downtown San Diego, from the boat, through the fog. The sun is trying to burn the fog off, and eventually succeeded. We had a beautiful day despite the earlier dismal forecasts.

Sea lion. Our guides told us that the sea lions do this to cool off. Looks like fun.

Pelagic Trip to Los Coronados Islands, Mexico

The view of the old Pt Loma Lighthouse from the boat. The fog is burning off.

The new Point Loma Lighthouse. It was still pretty foggy at water level.

Three of a whole flight of pelicans.

Dolphins swam with the boat. These were common dolphins.

Pelagic Trip to Mexico's Los Coronados Islands

An America's Cup yacht goes by as we leave the harbor. The harbor near Shelter Island is "America's Cup Harbor."

The highlight of the trip was this Blue-Footed Booby. A very rare bird indeed for Los Coronados Islands.

Pat Coe of California spotted the Blue-Footed Booby. She was the star of the trip.

Los Coronados as we pull away from them.