Two years ago James and Malcolm went to Marineland whilst Bridget went to the Picasso Museum (Matthew was a bump). This time we all went to see the antics of the dolphins, whales, seals and get frightenned by the sharks. The dolphins were on good form, with a racy display of acrobatics, summersaults, ball hitting and so on. One of the really clever jumping tricks was for the dolphin first to jump through a hoop held high by one of the trainers, and then to be followed by the other trainer pushed along underwater and projected through the hoop. You have to trust a dolphin before attempting that one. There's a new stadium and pools where the whales now perform, much bigger than the old one where the dolphins now hang out. There are about six whales but not all were performing. Not surprisingly they don't jump quite so high as the dolphins but the splash they make when they come back down is that much bigger! The front side of the pool is transparent, so you can see the whales swimming fast to build up the momentum for a jump. And you can see the trainers and whales playing together through the glass - "kissing" and the like. And now for one of the most risky tricks - for the trainer that is, the whale was in no danger at all. On a walkway high above the water, the trainer hangs out with a fish dangling from his mouth. The whale jumps, and grabs the fish from his mouth. So just imagine it, there you are, fish in mouth with several tons of whale leaping up directly at your head, mouth open..... You'd want to make sure you'd remembered the whale's lunch before going on. The penguins were on form in their ususal cuddly waddling way. Both James and Matthew enjoyed watching them, although Matthew was equally interested in the steps leading up to their enclosure. "Steps" is a word that Matthew likes saying a lot of the time, and it stands to reason he wants to practice going up and down them as well.