Clearwater Beach - Mar 12-13

Well, after leaving the fantasy world of Disney, real life hit quickly. Less than an hour out of Orlando, we had a tire blowout on the freeway.  We limped off at the nearby exit and into the Love’s truck stop.  Then we sat in the back lot with the big rigs for over 4 hours in 90 degree weather waiting for AAA to send a tow truck to change the tire. Turns out that the AAA dispatcher screwed up and never closed the loop with the towing service. We found another nearby service and they had the tire changed within 15 minutes of arriving. Made arrangements to have the tire replaced on the day we were planning to leave Clearwater. That makes two.  Hmmm….

We went to Clearwater to see Winter and Hope at the Clearwater Aquarium. They are the stars of Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2. The aquarium has experienced great popularity as a result of the movies – the parking is totally inadequate – we were vectored over to a local church parking lot along with lots of other vehicles.  And the facility was pretty crowded and difficult to get around.

The aquarium is actually a repurposed sewage treatment plant.  They’ve done a good job converting it and making it interesting for public visits, but it is small. Lots of educational displays and exhibits highlighted animal rescue and the risks sea life face in Florida. I particularly liked the exhibits of Winter’s prostheses and how they evolved over time.

This was a short stay, just one day. We stopped at the Goodyear shop on our way out and had a new tire put on the trailer. There is some residual damage to the trailer – nothing structural, thank goodness.  Now we start our journey out of Florida.  Next stop Crystal River and the manatees.



There's no repairing this tire. Just grateful Russ was able to get the rig off the freeway safely.




These are the tanks that Winter and Dolphin live in. Side tanks hold turtles and other sealife.



The rescued sea life are treated and released, if possible.  This particular sea turtle cannot submerge, something wrong with its air bladder.  So it is a permanent resident.



Winter was pretty quiet while we were there, just chilling out.
 



Winter doesn't wear her prosthesis all the time, she can swim ok without it.  They use it for physical therapy to help her spine and skeletal structure stay straight and healthy.




Hope was pretty peppy during our visit. She was having a good time swimming fast and causing large waves in the pool.




This turtle has vision problems, he can't swim without touching the tank walls.





If you watched the movie, you will recognize this as the houseboat that Harry Connick Jr and his daughter lived in.