The Jacobs Clan: Sea Life Park and Lanikai Beach -- '12-28-12

Views on our way to Sea Life Park

Friday the 28th of December was pretty awesome. Ever since Tralee knew we were heading back to Hawaii, she wanted to see a dolphin up close. When we were in Maui her mission was to see a hula girl, on Oahu she was on a quest for sea life.

I found a few options for us, and decided on Sea Life Park. Although I found mixed reviews online for this park, I also found a few deals that I thought would make it worth it. The reviews stated that if you're looking or a Sea World experience, look elsewhere. Sea Life Park is on the smaller scale, but there were some details that made it the perfect fit for us.

1. It was on the smaller scale (other's negative. Our positive). Perfect for tiny legs that get tired of walking.
2. The Dolphin show sounded intriguing (everyday at 12:30 I believe) and since we've never seen a Wolphin (part whale part dolphin) I thought, "now's our chance." Also, it gave Stinks her chance to see dolphins up close.

3. Parts of 50 First Dates were filmed here (love that movie).
4. AND The main reason we choose Sea Life Park was because they had a "feed the hungry" special going on that if you brought cans of food you could get half-off admission. Good for our karma and our pocketbook. YIPPEE!

We arrived at Sea Life Park shortly after it opened, bag of canned foods in hand, and as we walked in a nice Japanese man flagged us down and handed us a $10 off VIP voucher he wasn't going to use. We wondered if the admissions office would accept it along with our half-off admission, and THEY DID! SCORE! Our total price to get into the park for a day o' fun was $40. YIPPEE!

Our time spent at Sea Life Park was great. We saw sharks, dolphins, starfish, penguins, a wolphin, sea lions, and more. The reviews were right on the money. This is not a large park, but perfect for our little family. There was even a fun pirate themed playground that the kids had a blast on. The highlight was the dolphin show. It was so fun to see Tralee's face light up when she saw them swimming in their pool.

While playing on this playground, Hunter climbed up to the highest spot where the only way to get down was going down a slide. Guess who refused to go down the slide and was stuck up top crying? Guess who had to climb up and rescue him? Awesome.

"Look! Look! Look! I saw a dolphin!!" She exclaimed as we took our seats for the show.

Waiting for the dolphin show to start

The show was nice as we got to watch our new bottle-nosed friends show off their tricks. Tralee was mesmerized. Hunter thought it was alright. He was getting hungry at this point, so his enthusiasm quickly faded, but he still appreciated it I think.

This is the wolphin jumping over its trainer.

After the show, we bought some over-priced park food, ate, and then went to one more sea life show. Tralee was able to see dolphins really close, along with sea lions, and penguins. She loved it.

Waiting for daddy to get us some park food

Waiting for the second show to start

I like Hunty's face here. Not sure what the hell kind of "duck face" I'm pulling here.

Over all, Sea Life Park was worth the $40 we spent on admission. I'm not sure I would have paid full price, so I'll be looking for deals if we head in that direction again. Also, the main dolphin show is only once-a-day and that was the highlight. I saw hoards of tourists walking in as we were walking out and I thought, "They missed all the good stuff!" Maybe they had a special activity planned I didn't know about. But, I would definitely get to Sea Life Park early and leave early than later.

After playing with our ocean friends, we climbed back in our rental van, and made our way to Lanikai to play at the beach. We were told this was the beach to be at. It was BEAUTIFUL! So beautiful we saw another couple getting married with the ocean as their backdrop. I also believe the sand there was the softest sand my feet have ever walked on. Seriously powdery. Lovely.

We played for a bit, built a sandman, and then made our way home. I think we took Jim to our favorite noodle place this night as well. Delish!