ZooApollo
Well-Known Member
For SWO at least, I've heard that the whales were afraid to do behaviors in the pool.
SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego News
- Thread starter gerenuk
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For SWO at least, I've heard that the whales were afraid to do behaviors in the pool.
I wouldn't be surprised with this answer - I've heard countless stories of orcas at Seaworld chewing anything they can within their pools, including the painting.
Local_Shark
Well-Known Member
This is excellent news, at least! Tragic about the emperors, I really do need to get down there asap and get another look at them before they cross the country, but Shark Encounter legitimately has needed a remodel desperately since I was visiting as a preteen at least. I really, really hope that a long closure would also lead to them potentially bringing in a new species or two to highlight the change/for the marketing push haha.
BlobfishBoy
Well-Known Member
What do the markers say?
@King of Komodo Dragons thanks for the update
They are arrows and numbers for construction staging
They have been trying to build a restaurant on the old freshwater aquarium plot for over a decade, I’d bet that’s what’s coming.
Should be less than a decade - the aquarium was open in Dec 2017 on my visit. I thought it closed somewhere around 2020?
No it would have closed 2018-2019 because it was closed for my summer 2019 visit, but they’ve proposed the idea of putting in a restaurant since before it closed. There was one plan while it was open and another after it had closed, one of them had permits already pulled.
With arrows and numbers it is most likely underground utility locations as it is federal law to call in a locate before digging, but it also helps identify where to tie into existing utilities for a designer.
Arrows to indicate direction of the lines and numbers usually correspond to the size of the utility. These are then color coded on utility type, red=electrical, yellow=gas, orange=telecommunications, blue=water, green=sewer, pink=survey/construction information.
Have a question from my visit Friday: when I was watching the Belugas, I could have sworn I briefly saw a seal in the tank, for a couple of seconds near the back before it moved into the darkness. I never saw it again and thought maybe I had just hallucinated it, but reading through posts now... was it the park's Ringed Seal I saw?
I have never seen the ringed seal in the beluga habitat, but harbor seals are sometimes in the beluga habitat with the whales. Depends on the whales, sometimes they are skittish around the seals.
When Wild Arctic first opened the beluga habitat was shared with seals which is partially why the exhibit has a fair amount of land space. I’ve been told they were initially removed due to aggression from the belugas, but that would have been years ago, and they have attempted mixing pinnipeds since then. However when Natchek was last on exhibit he was with a group of harbor seals, and there was a harp seal mixed with the Arctic pinnipeds in San Diego about a year ago. If you didn’t see any signage or get a proper ID I would say err towards no, but the exhibit is equipped for seals and there is every chance that they have chosen to mostly stick to the bts pool.
Thanks. Doing some cursory research it seems like a few different seal species have been mixed in there at different points - and I only saw it for a second or two - so might never know what it was... but glad to know I'm not crazy and it probably was an actual seal
The Penguin Encounter topic was getting a bit long, so I've split it to here: Penguin Encounter closing? [SeaWorld San Diego]
Any idea of what is happening to the tide pool exhibits in the back of the park? They have been closed since 2023, when they demolished the ride and the next-door aquarium. They seem to be intact, just sitting there empty behind construction walls. Also, are there any plans for anything in the old aquarium or ride plot?
I paid Sea World a visit late in the day today, hoping to see the Emperor Penguins one last time in light of their rumored departure. But they were off exhibit, along with the majority of the Macaroni Penguins. Couldn’t help but feel pretty sad. Some Chinstrap Penguins had taken over that high perch that I always associated with the majestic Emperor Penguins. I’ll include a photo. Feels like the end of an era
In other news, the Beluga pool was completely drained and it looks like they are doing some maintenance.
In other news, the Beluga pool was completely drained and it looks like they are doing some maintenance.
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Local_Shark
Well-Known Member
Allegedly (per some park employees that I spoke to last time I was there) there is going to be some form of renovation of that area, but TBD as to exactly what. At least one individual I spoke to seemed to think that it would be a different version of a similar type of tidepool/coastal exhibit but take that with as much salt as you like.