The Best Sidetrack at Sea World

A while ago, Jeff and I took Caleb to Sea World (having passes is so great 'cuz we go on a whim and for just a couple of hours :) We had just left the penguin exhibit and were right next to the sharks. I asked Caleb, "Do you want to see the sharks?" I knew full well that the answer would be, "No" because he was scared of them.

But before I could hear his answer, a man in a Sea World uniform came up to us and said, "You guys wanna see something cool?" Jeff and I took a quick look at each other and said, "Sure." The man introduced himself as Tim, the curator of yada yada (basically he was in charge of the sharks), and thought there was something in his "office" that Caleb would enjoy.

Tim took us into a room that was wall-to-wall tanks. There were shark pods where you could see the tiny baby sharks moving around before they hatched, tanks with baby sharks, and some baby rays. In the center of the room was a shallow, open tank with some sharks swimming around in it. Tim got a stool out for Caleb, was teaching him what kind they were (I wish I could remember), and before we knew it we were all petting the sharks (obviously small ones that wouldn't bite). After petting the sharks for a while, Tim started showing Caleb a bunch of different sets of teeth, the most impressive being the set of Great White jaws

It was pretty cool to have Caleb go from being afraid to look at sharks to petting them within a matter of minutes. This was a brief encounter that we will all remember. Below are a few pictures from the experience. Enjoy!