I don’t remember exactly when I began my love affair with killer whales. I only know that it has been long and passionate.
Like many Floridians, my family made annual sojourns to Walt Disney World and Sea World. My parents would pack the wood paneled station wagon full of their ever numbering daughters to make the three hour trip to Orlando. Dad always did the driving and Mom would do the over-packing. My Mother’s priorities when it came to traveling with her family seem a little funny to me now. We HAD to wear flip flops every step when walking around in the hotel room and even had to wear them into the shower…lest we catch Athletes Foot. (We even called them “shower shoes”)
Like many Floridians, my family made annual sojourns to Walt Disney World and Sea World. My parents would pack the wood paneled station wagon full of their ever numbering daughters to make the three hour trip to Orlando. Dad always did the driving and Mom would do the over-packing. My Mother’s priorities when it came to traveling with her family seem a little funny to me now. We HAD to wear flip flops every step when walking around in the hotel room and even had to wear them into the shower…lest we catch Athletes Foot. (We even called them “shower shoes”)
However, for breakfast we were served crackers with Cheese Whiz on them…so that we could save money by not eating in a touristy, expensive restaurant. While I understand the logic behind both, it just seems like such a juxtaposition to save a child’s soles in the evening while rotting her gut the next morning.
While I always enjoyed Disney, The Happiest Place on Earth and eagerly awaited riding on my favorite rides, it was the trips to Sea World that fed my junior soul.
The sea lions; how cute they were and how they could bark on cue. Huge and humorous looking because of their considerable girth, they could always make me laugh.
The sharks; how deadly they looked gliding through the water. To me their movement compared to the other fish looked like the aquatic version of the purposeful march of a blood-thirsty soldier next to the ambling walk of a civilian.
Once the new exhibitions at the park later opened I also loved the penguins, especially the ones with the adorable orange plumes on their heads (Rockhoppers), and the Moray Eels. The serpentine Morays were languid and mysterious…to this day scientists are unsure of some of their most private habits, like how they mate and bear young.
Of course there are the dolphins; the perennial crowd favorite. Lightly leaping, smiling and cavorting with their trainers. As much as they seemed to be everyone’s favorite sea mammal, they seemed just a tad too pedestrian to me. They lacked an edge.
Then, there are my favorite, the majestic, striking looking and awe-inspiring Killer Whales. Orcinus orca. Sea World has built their parks around this unlikely captive animal.
The Orca is actually the largest of the dolphin family. As such, they are not only very intelligent animals but also very social ones. In the wild, they typically reside in pods dominated by a matriarch and can live to be 90 years old. Their diet, depending on their social structure can be anything from fish to other marine mammals. They communicate…vociferously. They can plot and plan. And they are HUGE. An adult male can weigh in excess of 6 tons.
I felt a special bond when I learned during a trip to Sea World when I was just a few days past my 16th birthday that the first “Baby Shamu” had been born, just one day after my own. (It was only when confirming dates for this blog posting that I learned that it was the only captive Orca baby to survive longer than a few days.)
Later, when I lived in the Orlando area in my early twenties, I had a season pass to Sea World. I got to tour the exhibits at my leisure. I took in many ‘Shamu Shows.’ Back then, the park employees ignored you if you stayed in the stadium to watch the beautiful whales.
I remember, with great clarity, going up to the glass at the front of the empty stadium…where I caught the eye of one of the Orcas doing her laps. I raised my left arm and bent to my right. She did the same. (Well, actually her ‘arm’ was a fin) Next lap around she hesitated and did a “spy hop,” looking at me, a good portion of her bulk out of the water and over the glass. She settled and kind of slid back in and did another lap.
This time, when she came back around and stopped again, I was ready. Armed with the memory of the movements I had witnessed the trainers doing, I spun around and she copied me. We moved closer to each other and I saw the playfulness mixed with the intelligence in her eyes. I backed away and she did the same. I dipped my head down and then threw it back…then, I was completely doused with a mixture of salt water and whale spit. (I had asked for it!) She dove back into the water.
This close encounter coupled with my burgeoning knowledge of this amazing species served to turn me into a total Orca Whale groupie.
I have become a devotee of a certain artists, including the renowned Whaling Wall one, Wyland. I actually scheduled a vacation around watching him create his 13th mural in as many weeks in Key West in the early 90’s. I still love and covet his work today, even though I cannot afford it.
I belong to groups on Facebook who support and track our beautiful Orca whales in the wild. Lately, there have been many controversial posts about Tillicum, the Orca that has now been involved with 3 human deaths. (My opinions on that would be another whole post)
I have decorated my home with photos, mementos and bric-a-brac that all contain the ocean to some degree and more specifically, Orcas.
As some of my readers may know, I am Matron of Honor for a wedding this June. And, my MOH gift was a crystal rendition of my favorite marine mammal, in sparkling black and white.
More permanently, when I chose to ink my almost 40 year old aging body with a tattoo, it was with the image of an Orca and her baby, as a representation of myself and my daughter – done creatively by Mike Haugh, tattoo artist extraordinaire in Key West (well, Stock Island), FL. (The image in the beginning of this post)
Being an Orca lover has become part of me over the years…it is part of who I am.
Going to Victoria BC to see them is my number one fantasy destination.
At the end of the day, one of the things that resonates the most with me is something I read quite awhile ago.
All mammals originated in the ocean. Then they all crawled onto land. A few went back into the sea. The rest stayed.
Now I ask you, who was the wiser species?
While I always enjoyed Disney, The Happiest Place on Earth and eagerly awaited riding on my favorite rides, it was the trips to Sea World that fed my junior soul.
The sea lions; how cute they were and how they could bark on cue. Huge and humorous looking because of their considerable girth, they could always make me laugh.
The sharks; how deadly they looked gliding through the water. To me their movement compared to the other fish looked like the aquatic version of the purposeful march of a blood-thirsty soldier next to the ambling walk of a civilian.
Once the new exhibitions at the park later opened I also loved the penguins, especially the ones with the adorable orange plumes on their heads (Rockhoppers), and the Moray Eels. The serpentine Morays were languid and mysterious…to this day scientists are unsure of some of their most private habits, like how they mate and bear young.
Of course there are the dolphins; the perennial crowd favorite. Lightly leaping, smiling and cavorting with their trainers. As much as they seemed to be everyone’s favorite sea mammal, they seemed just a tad too pedestrian to me. They lacked an edge.
Then, there are my favorite, the majestic, striking looking and awe-inspiring Killer Whales. Orcinus orca. Sea World has built their parks around this unlikely captive animal.
The Orca is actually the largest of the dolphin family. As such, they are not only very intelligent animals but also very social ones. In the wild, they typically reside in pods dominated by a matriarch and can live to be 90 years old. Their diet, depending on their social structure can be anything from fish to other marine mammals. They communicate…vociferously. They can plot and plan. And they are HUGE. An adult male can weigh in excess of 6 tons.
I felt a special bond when I learned during a trip to Sea World when I was just a few days past my 16th birthday that the first “Baby Shamu” had been born, just one day after my own. (It was only when confirming dates for this blog posting that I learned that it was the only captive Orca baby to survive longer than a few days.)
Later, when I lived in the Orlando area in my early twenties, I had a season pass to Sea World. I got to tour the exhibits at my leisure. I took in many ‘Shamu Shows.’ Back then, the park employees ignored you if you stayed in the stadium to watch the beautiful whales.
I remember, with great clarity, going up to the glass at the front of the empty stadium…where I caught the eye of one of the Orcas doing her laps. I raised my left arm and bent to my right. She did the same. (Well, actually her ‘arm’ was a fin) Next lap around she hesitated and did a “spy hop,” looking at me, a good portion of her bulk out of the water and over the glass. She settled and kind of slid back in and did another lap.
This time, when she came back around and stopped again, I was ready. Armed with the memory of the movements I had witnessed the trainers doing, I spun around and she copied me. We moved closer to each other and I saw the playfulness mixed with the intelligence in her eyes. I backed away and she did the same. I dipped my head down and then threw it back…then, I was completely doused with a mixture of salt water and whale spit. (I had asked for it!) She dove back into the water.
This close encounter coupled with my burgeoning knowledge of this amazing species served to turn me into a total Orca Whale groupie.
I have become a devotee of a certain artists, including the renowned Whaling Wall one, Wyland. I actually scheduled a vacation around watching him create his 13th mural in as many weeks in Key West in the early 90’s. I still love and covet his work today, even though I cannot afford it.
I belong to groups on Facebook who support and track our beautiful Orca whales in the wild. Lately, there have been many controversial posts about Tillicum, the Orca that has now been involved with 3 human deaths. (My opinions on that would be another whole post)
I have decorated my home with photos, mementos and bric-a-brac that all contain the ocean to some degree and more specifically, Orcas.
As some of my readers may know, I am Matron of Honor for a wedding this June. And, my MOH gift was a crystal rendition of my favorite marine mammal, in sparkling black and white.
More permanently, when I chose to ink my almost 40 year old aging body with a tattoo, it was with the image of an Orca and her baby, as a representation of myself and my daughter – done creatively by Mike Haugh, tattoo artist extraordinaire in Key West (well, Stock Island), FL. (The image in the beginning of this post)
Being an Orca lover has become part of me over the years…it is part of who I am.
Going to Victoria BC to see them is my number one fantasy destination.
At the end of the day, one of the things that resonates the most with me is something I read quite awhile ago.
All mammals originated in the ocean. Then they all crawled onto land. A few went back into the sea. The rest stayed.
Now I ask you, who was the wiser species?
1 comment:
I didn't know how you developed your love of the Orca - I just knew you loved them!
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