I thought I’d write a summary of my visit to Sea World Gold Coast today. Unfortunately, it seems I have lost all my photos (due to a memory card malfunction), so there won’t be any photos of this trip. Anyways, the trip to Sea World was worthwhile. The animal attractions were at times a bit disjointed and often located at random places (the joys of also being a theme park and resort).... However, some of the enclosures and exhibits at Sea World were simply outstanding and very well-thought-out (especially Polar Bear Shores and Shark Bay). Here are the animal attractions at Sea World Gold Coast in no particular order. Penguin Encounter- I quite liked this area. The indoor building begins with a series of quotes printed on the walls, interpretive signage and information regarding penguin species, threats in the wild and breeding (including a replica penguin rock nest), and Australia’s role in the Antarctic region. All very interesting. Past this educational display, you reach the large underwater viewing area for the penguins. From this point, visitors can only see the large (very deep) body of water. Around the corner and up a ramp, you reach the second viewing area which showcased the smallish land area and the water’s surface. Although Melbourne Aquarium’s penguin exhibit had a larger land area, I prefer Sea World’s exhibit due to such comprehensive visitor information, viewing opportunities and a larger body of water for the penguins. They currently hold King Penguins (16 individuals with a few penguins incubating eggs) and Gentoo Penguins (approximately 30 individuals). Sea Jellies Illuminated- Overall this area was a pleasant surprise and showcased a good variety of jellyfish species. This indoor building is divided into two levels; a jellyfish viewing area and a research laboratory run in partnership with a local university. The bottom level had a series of tanks for Moon Jellyfish, Upside Down Jellyfish, Blue Blubber, Lion’s Mane Jellyfish and an additional three species I fail to remember. Some of these tanks were circular and lighted with various colours, very much is the Sea Life fashion. Upstairs, the laboratory had large glass viewing windows, enabling visitors to look into the actual research area. This laboratory had additional tanks, showcasing more jellyfish species (about six species, I can only remember Mauve Stinger). This area also had a display demonstrating the life cycle of a jellyfish (very interesting). Sea World did a good job showcasing an often forgotten and maligned group of species. Polar Bear Shores – Absolutely brilliant. This area had two main enclosures (a smaller nursery area and the main exhibit) holding Australia’s only polar bears. The main enclosure can be seen from three perspectives (from a raised boardwalk, ground level with glass viewing and underwater viewing). The polar bears had access to a large and deep body of water with varying depths, shallow pools and small waterfalls. The entire area is planted with pine trees and featured wooden accents around the viewing areas. During my visit the polar bears were rolling in some ice and play fighting in one of the shallow pools. The nursery enclosure held one of Sea World’s males and the main exhibit had mother, ‘Lia’ (who has had two surviving offspring) and daughter, ‘Mishka’. Shark Bay- Another very effective exhibit. Before the actual ‘Shark Bay’ area, there was a netted ray pool. This large pool is divided into a main pool and a nursery pool. Species in this area included Blue-spotted Fantail Ray, Blue-spotted Stingray, Mangrove Ray, White-spotted Eagle Ray, Eastern Shovelnose Ray and a large unidentified brown ray species. Visitors were able to touch the rays. The actual ‘Shark Bay’ area began with a series of rocky touch pools with starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Past the touch pools, visitors could see the surface of the large lagoon/ coral reef. It was particularly interesting to see its inhabitants coming to the surface in the sunlight. The underwater viewing for this lagoon had four large viewing windows (the first with most of the reef fish). I often find oceanariums/ large aquarium exhibits are often very dark, however since this area received natural sunlight, the underwater viewing made for a very enjoyable experience. ‘Shark Bay’ held several shark and ray species (including a Bull Shark, reef sharks, whalers, shovelnose rays, guitarfish, eagle ray etc), cobia, mulloway, trevally and snapper species, sea turtles (a loggerhead and a green/ loggerhead hybrid) and reef fish (several species of tang, butterflyfish, triggerfish, damselfish, angelfish and Moorish Idol – some lovely specimens of the species). Penguin Point- This area had a standard, open-topped enclosure with a breeding colony (several chicks) of Little Penguins. These penguins were very active and had many burrowing opportunities. Interestingly, some of Sea World’s little penguins were used in the Australian movie, Oddball. Seals and Dolphins- I thought I’d condense these species into one section, since they lived in very similar conditions (sandy lagoons, boardwalks, medium-sized exhibits). The dolphin enclosures were all of an adequate size, however there was very little signage. ‘Seal Harbour’ was pretty standard (glass-fronted, sandy enclosures) and during my visit only Californian Sea Lions were on display (a bit disappointing as one sign indicated four species of seal lion/ fur seal on display). Seabird Aviary - This was an open-topped enclosure with a generous pool, holding several Australian Pelicans. It will be interesting to see where Sea World’s animal collection will head in the future. They seem to have additional space to expand, and hopefully their plans involve bringing in more animal attractions. As a facility with a unique and very successful attraction and business model (one of only two facilities in Australia which hold dolphins), Sea World should hopefully produce high-quality exhibits and visitor experiences in the future.
They were exhibited in a vertical cylindrical tank. They were quite impressive jellyfish, however I’m not 100% sure if they actually were this species, since the worker in this area wasn’t completely sure.
Good news! I managed to recover the photos of Sea World from my memory card. Hopefully, in the coming days/weeks I will upload some of them.
Great review! I believe your unidentified brown rays in the Ray pool would be cownose rays, as there are usually several individuals in that enclosure.
