Encountering J.J. the Whale
By Leah
n Sunday, February 8, 1998, my dad, my uncle
Bruce, my cousin Amelia and I arrived at SeaWorld. Our
mission: learn more about J.J. the whale. My uncle Bruce
knows a man named Dr. Tom Reidarson, who is a
veterinarian at SeaWorld, and Tom got us in for free!
I thought that we were just going
to look at J.J., ask questions to Tom and leave, but boy
was I wrong. First, Tom took us "behind the
scenes" to a "staff only" place. We saw
lots of ill animals that had been stranded and rescued.
There were sea lions, seals, and dolphins. We also got to
pet some dolphins while we were there. After that we went
over to see J.J.
The first time we saw her, we were
in the public viewing place. The second time, though, we
were on a "Trainers Only" bridge. The bridge
goes right over where J.J. likes to stay the most, so we
got a very good look at her. She was very big, a little
smelly, and very pretty. She stayed in one place the
whole time. She would come up for air every few minutes.
After we observed her for awhile, we arranged a place to
meet Tom, then we met Robin Kendall. Robin also works at
SeaWorld. Robin took us to old classrooms where we saw
whale bones, old baleen, and some Commerson's Dolphins
(see glossary). Afterwards we said good-bye to Robin and
met Tom at an Italian restaurant for lunch. Then we went
to Tom's office and watched a video of J.J.'s rescue.
After that? Well, since we had some
time to spare, we decided to have some fun on Wild
Arctic. Then we drove home and remembered our wonderful
day at SeaWorld where we met J.J. the Whale.
