The Beluga Encounter

Before we could go into the Beluga Encounter, we had to put on some of the hotness that you see above. They were comfortable out of the water, but once we got in the suctioned to your legs and torso so tightly that for me, it hurt where the boot hit the fabric. It was a very weird feeling, but to be honest....you stopped thinking about it. I mean, come on! We were inches away from this guy....

Isn't she sweet? I have to say, these massive animals are pretty intimidating at first. We walked into encounter area and right away some of the belugas came in and were checking us out - just like you see above. It was the craziest thing....they would actually make eye contact with you and think about you for a sec. Right away it was obvious that this was going to be a magical experience.

We walked into the water...slowly, carefully and allowing the 50 degree water to chill our bones to the core. And then, the littlest baby Miki came right up to the trainer and started nudging her legs. WOW. Miki was very curious about us, and you could see her momma Mauyak checking us out slowly but surely. And then, the big momma Puiji came in. And I mean biiiiiig momma. She is pregnant and due any day now, along with one of the other females, Naya, I think. Each female is about 11 feet long and around 1500lbs. They are so huge, especially when you put a 5 foot long, 100lb calf in their tummy. Puiji was just huge, but gentle and calm and peaceful.

When it came time to interact with them, the trainers were great with how open they were to questions and how much they showed us. We learned some of their hand signals and got to use them on our own with the animal. We did melon touches and bumps, which was neat. The melon is the lumpy thing on top of their head, which really felt like a hard boiled egg, smooshy but hard. Another CRAZY thing that they did, was that they could move their melon! It would react to touching or other stimulation with flinches, scrunches and other reactions. One trainer could even give a hand signal to have the whale move their melon in a wave motion...it was SO COOL. We also were able to have the whale give us kisses, vocalize, come up out of the water and we also got to pet Puiji's tounge! It was such a neat experience.

(PS - please ignore my crazy  double chin in these pictures. I guess I looked a little more scared than I was!)

{dad dancing with Puiji! I forgot about this one. So cute}

{Puiji was LOUD when she vocalized. I was just a little surprised!}

We were spilt up into 2 groups with 3 people in each group. Dad and I had a...well....let's just get it out there, shall we? Some other seriously, seriously ditzy dumb girl in our group.

I mean, people. PEOPLE.

There was a ledge that we were standing on. Past the ledge was deep ass water. The trainer says, 'Don't walk past me. You won't be able to stand and you will be in open water.' What does the girl do? She walks past the trainer and grabs onto her almost pulling her in as well. DUMB ASS. Pay attention! She also tried to get the beluga to do an activity, one which I forget now, but her hand signal was wrong or the beluga could tell she was an idiot and she didn't like her either so Puiji took a mouth full of water and unloaded it on the girl. Ha! It was funny. One of those things where the trainer was laughing so hard but trying not to....hehe. Oh, also...incase you're wondering why I have my hands holding my straps or holding eachother, we were told not to gesture because a lot of their hand signals are similar to normal gestures and we didn't want to confuse the animal. And seriously, for someone that talks with her hands more than anyone else I know...I was nervous!

Anywho....

If you happen to go to the Beluga Encounter. Trust me on this one thing. DO NOT GET SPLASHED BY THE BELUGA. Seriously. Think logically for a moment. The Beluga is huge. The Beluga's mouth is huge. Which means it holds a lot of water. A.LOT.OF.WATER. Coming at you. Cold, cold water. At your face.

{Call me a baby, but I held on to my Daddy.}

{This is my OH.SHIT. face}

{We got very, very wet. Cold and wet. Very cold. Very wet.}

{But we were happy. Cold, wet and happy. But cold.}

The encounter itself was about 2 hours long, which was awesome for the people in it. However, if you go with a group like we did, they will get a little bored. Which is why it is good that the Field Museum is right next door! My mom, Hubby, Mac and Eddie all went over to the Field Museum to kill some time. Hubby made sure to take lots of pictures for me.

{Eddie admiring Sue's beauty}

And then they came back to spy on us...

{Eddie was very excited}

I was so, so happy that they came back to see us. When we came out I spotted them right away and was SO excited that they got to see us in all of our sausagey glory. Plus they were able to snap some quick pictures of us, which was nice. My mom still says we both had the biggest smiles on our faces, to which the appropriate response is DUH! Of course we did! The Beluga Encounter is awesome and I am so thankful to have been able to experience this not only on my own, but it was made even better by having my Dad there with me. If you can go, do it. If you can bring someone with you, DO IT. Thank you Mom and Dad for getting me an awesome birthday present. I was able to take part in a once in a lifetime experience that I will never, ever forget. Thank you.

Gah!!! I almost forgot this one. We were wet and needed a change of clothes. Thankfully, the Shedd gives you some shirts for the encounter. Some dorky, dorky shirts. We rocked 'em.

Dad even wore his all through dinner. Tiffany blue is his color, let me tell you! I got a sweatshirt from the gift shop. I may wear sausage waiters and make dorky faces, but I still have my dignity. :)