The Success Chain

Wednesday morning, my wife and I scrubbed the decks of our rented sail boat and changed the oil on the port engine before we headed into Valencia to the Arts and Science Center. It’s a beautiful, large series of modern buildings, a Hemisphere building, which is home to IMAX movies, Science Museum, which is home to hands on exhibits for kids and adults alike, a traveling Marvel comics exhibit and many other science shows. The Oceanarium, where we started our day, is a series of 10 aquariums dispaying different habitats and marine life like penguins, sea lions, to the belugas ans walruses of the arctic to many sharks, stingrays, fish of the Caribbean to the biggest dolphin pools in all of Europe. We watched the most amazing dolphin show. We thought that after seeing them swim off our bow most days while we were at sea, it was really amazing to see them showing just how smart they really are. Jumping, singing, performing, tossing their trainers almost 15 feet into the air right on cue. Although, I often approach zoos with an ambivalent feeling, you know, torn between the awe of seeing the animals and all the sadness that goes along with their caged existence, but here, with the dolphin show, all that feeling was absent. Maybe it’s because I know that theses shows may secure their presevation by educating more and more people every day to the beauty and wonder of this very bright and intelligent creature.
 
We didn’t get to explore all the the Science Center, so we decided to get a room at one of the Valencia Hotels and not go back to our boat. The next morning, we were sporting very sore knees. I guess scrubbing the decks and walking all day can really do a number on one’s knees. So, instead of completing our tour of the Science Center, we headed back to our boat after picking up water and a few last provisions. Later that evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner and stowed all our gear in anticipation on an early departure and headed to bed.