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Schools

Whale watchers

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published March 15, 2007

I consider 7 a.m. a very good time to be in bed. But instead, I recently found myself driving toward Lecanto with my son, Luke, the two of us munching on the only breakfast I could manage at that hour and still be at CREST School by 7:30: Egg McMuffins.

For some reason, I had volunteered to be a chaperone for the big trip to SeaWorld in Orlando. The school's cafeteria was atwitter with anticipation as 58 students and about 25 or 26 adults (teachers, aides and parents) readied to board the three school buses. It was hard to tell who was more excited, the students or the chaperones.

We were loaded onto the surprisingly not-too-uncomfortable and air-conditioned vehicles and organizers Darla Croft and Lisa Jones, both teachers at the special education school, had us motoring down the turnpike in no time.

Upon our arrival, with promises to meet at the entrance at 4 p.m., we divided into groups and disappeared into the park with our own agendas. At first my group wandered around looking at ducks and rays, but soon determined the Shamu show to be a priority and, because we had just missed the chance to attend the immediate show, we decided to have lunch.

Since Luke is 16 and hungry most of the time, this seemed like a good idea. That Egg McMuffin had been a long time ago.

After a chicken lunch, which for the kids was served in Shamu-shaped bowls/carrying cases (possibly helping to explain the price of the food), we broke into smaller groups.

When we started out, our crew consisted of most of Luke's class, but as the kids and aides and other parents decided on different destinations, it soon dwindled to me, Luke, his teacher, Debra Carroll and Luke's classmate Ashley Brown.

Luke and Ashley are the same age and appear to have a love/hate relationship. On this particular day it leaned toward the love side, so that was good. They also had one-on-one chaperones, which was also good. We headed to the killer whale show, where we learned a little about whales in a video while we waited. We also learned water in the whale tank is "a refreshing 52 degrees."

Ms. Carroll did not want to get wet. I wasn't keen on it, either, so we managed to find a relatively safe seat at the very top of the splash zone. And it's a good thing we did.

That whale purposely goes along the edge of the tank smacking the water with its fluke, showering the splash zone with refreshing 52-degree water. Although we saw drop marks on the shirt of a guy in the row in front of us, we stayed as dry as tea cakes.

Ashley and Luke enjoyed the show a lot. Their excitement was fun to watch. The biggest problem I faced after the show was Luke's insistence that he go swimming with killer whales.

We headed toward the aquarium and the sharks. This was nice. It was cool and low-lit, a good combination for subduing two excited kids who had just seen a giant animal shooting out of the water.

Ashley was delighted. Luke kept telling me he wanted to swim with whales.

We took the moving walkway under the canopy of sharks and other fish before heading out to find the penguins. I didn't really like seeing penguins in captivity, but I convinced myself that these birds, at least, had a life free from killer whales (I hope no one has told them there are several of them as good as next door) and leopard and fur seals.

The afternoon was winding down (or so we thought) as we visited the sea turtles and got another look at the park's flock of flamingos (a big hit with Ashley, whose favorite color is pink) and cooled down with ice cream.

It was time to return to the bus. This gave me a chance to see what some of the others did all day.

I talked to senior Jeremy Kay, 18, asking him what his favorite part of the park was. He liked Shamu.

Senior Walter Bickleman, 19, said he learned he likes dolphins "too much." He also learned what a lot of us who have had more experience with theme parks already know. It was a good place to "spend money."

Travis Dukeman, 13, is an eighth-grader who determined, after watching Shamu leap out of the water, that whales can fly.

Senior Elyse Buccino, 19, was talkative than some of her classmates. When I asked her how she liked the trip, she had plenty to say:

"It was awesome, and it was cool, and it was amazing, and I saw a lot of whales. Shamu was totally awesome. I have learned that they have babies, baby whales. It's just the coolest park in history, especially for me."

Eighth-grader Janie Sharpe, 14, also enjoyed Shamu and how he "goes up and down." Janie, though, is a little shopper and she took advantage of the trip to get something for her little sister, Dominque, who she was sorry couldn't go with her.

She said, "(I) bought my little sister a whale." She bought herself a little hand-held fan.

This should have been the end of the story, but (sigh), it wasn't. One of the buses - my bus - wouldn't start. Dead battery. We had a bus full of hot, tired, hungry kids and adults. As we waited to be rescued by the Orange County School District (Thank you, Orange County!), chaperones and parents dug through their bags and pulled out crackers, raisins and marshmallows.

We survived.

One of the buses had left. The other stayed with us to follow us home and by about 6:15 p.m. we were on the road. We pulled into the CREST parking lot just around 8. Luke and I dragged ourselves to our car, pulled through a drive-through, of course, for a couple of cheeseburgers (Luke ate, no, inhaled, both of them), stumbled into the house and fell into bed.

It was a good day.

[Last modified March 15, 2007, 06:41:32]