We had lunch at Conch Republic (our favorite restaurant that we tried) and also checked out Reddington Beach for future beach trips. We really liked it better than Treasure Island simply because the beach wasn't so wide. Next stop was Clearwater Marine Aquarium!
We really didn't know what to expect when we got to the aquarium, but I surely didn't expect most of the exhibits to be OUTSIDE---IN THE HEAT! And boy was it hot. Let me give you the background- CMA was a nonprofit research center that helped Winter recover from her accident. It was small, and not really made for large amounts of people. That being sad, it feels small and unorganized. But the kids loved, we are glad we went, even if we don't go back.
The coolest part of the aquarium was getting to "meet" Winter and hear her story. Since I have never seen the movie, I only knew bits and pieces of what happened to her. She was just a baby when her tail got tangled in a crab trap. Some fisherman saw it, called for help, and she ended up at CMA. After cutting the rope from her tail, the tissue from the tail started dying. They didn't amputate (which I thought they did)-it just died. So anyway, poor Winter couldn't swim so the researchers had to "help" her swim and come up for air. They began physical therapy to teach her how to use her body to swim instead of her tail. Then, some company heard about Winter and made a prosthetic tail for her! She doesn't use it all the time, as she can swim without it. But they do use it for physical therapy. Cool huh? She goes through 4-5 "tails" a year since she is still growing- she is only 300ish pounds and will be around 700 when she is full grown.
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| Bennett holding Winter's "tail" |
We ended the trip with an ice cream treat and then headed back to Treasure Island to say good-bye to Mimi and Papa.
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