Miami Seaquarium

Reviews 3

LA

Laila Jivraj

Religious Discrimination at the Dolphin Odyssey (Dolphin Swim). I was at the miami sea aquarium in miami on july 25th 2015. I had paid to go for the dolphin odyssey also known as a dolphin swim. I asked a lady named Laura if i could go in the pool with my headscarf she said, "No we can give you a cap" so I asked if i could go in with my Burqini (Muslim swim suit). The lady said okay. After I had changed into my Muslim Swim suit (burqini), 5 minutes later the same lady Laura comes back to me and says their trainer needs to approve my swim suit. She then directs me to a room where they have a video about dolphins. A lady (trainner) in black swim shorts and a black swim top walks in starts training us about our dolphin swim and then she comes towards me and says in a loud tone where people around me can hear, can you put on our wetsuit? I say no the wet suits are short and do not cover my hair. Her tone was rude she then says, "Can you put it on top of your swim suit?" I felt intimidated and uncomfortable, so I just said, Okay. They provided me with a different color wet suit that dis not match my swim suit at all. I saw the material of the swim suit and the wet suit were the same. So I asked to speak to a manager as I did not want to look like a cartoon and the fact that there was no much difference between my swim suit which luks like a dive suit and their wet suit. The lady named laura looked at me having their wet suit on top of my burquni suit and started laughing at me while i was told to wait on the side while the rest of the people in my group were permitted to go into the pool. The other lady who told me to wait came back and said it will take 15 to 20 mins and that i have to wait. I got upset and told her you people are harrasing me and discriminating against me because I am a muslim. There is nothing wrong with my burqini swim suit its fully covered. I have been to dives with it and many other resorts and told her i will bring their discriminating behaviour in the light of the media. She immeadiately went and told something to the trainer then came back to me and said you could go for your dolphin swim. I noted the trainers were just wearing regular swim suits and not wet suits. When i did get into the water they were cold and tried to make fun of me. 2 trainers were opposite each other. One told me come here i will tell you what to do then the other one said no come here so i went to that trainer they did that twice thrice having a laugh at me. They did not direct me to stand in a position where the dolphin would jump so I could have good pictures. I had very few pictures of me taken. And then they segregated me and and put me in a group with kids aged 5 to 10 and kept all the adults in one group. When I asked why I was put in a group with kids the trainer named Sarah who initially lied to me about her name being Christina told me in a very rude tone. "Well that just how it turned out!". They harassed me by segragating me, intimidated me and discriminated me based on my Religious right (wearing a Burkini (Muslim Swim wear resembling a dive suit). I also spoke to their operations Manger after all of this and she was biased and just talked about a refund! this place and the people are not worth your precious time!!

A

A Private User

Never have I felt sad bad for spending 23.95. First of all it is the dirtiest park that I have ever been to, and Ive been all over the United States. When I walked in I looked at my boyfriend and asked him "Are they serious?" it Is that bad. From that moment on things continued to get worse. Once you stroll around the paths coming off the entrance you get to the whale "stadium" its more like a whale bathtub. I could not believe how small this tank was, it blew my mind. I found an employee walking around the tank and asked her "why is the tank so small?" and she responded "because it was built for when she was a baby." Then I asked her if they had plans to build another tank and she replied "no we dont have the funds, and shes been in this tank a long time shes fine." I later saw her during the whale show and she was Lolitas trainer. I could not believe my ears.I later learned that the whale tank is the oldest in the world and illegal by government standards for housing an orca. To make matters even worse Lolita the orca shared that tank with a pacific white sided dolphin as well. Her show was tear jerking and left me infuriated that I had actually contributed my money to this horrible establishment. Her tank was only a little over twice as long as her and when she did her jumps she often hit herself off the bottom because it was so shallow. Other than that the coral reef tank had salt water leaks coming from the viewing windows that formed algae on the glass where you looked in so you could hardly see anything on the inside. It was really scary when we were walking out of that building and you get wet because of a big leak squirting on you from the top of the tank by the exit. I actually thought it was a sprinkler to cool us off before we went outside, until I asked another employee about it and he said it was a leak. The sea lions had a small tank and 2 out of the 4 we saw had absinthes on their face and were really cut up on their face. It looked like it was from rubbing their faces on the side of their concrete enclosure. The dolphins had a normal style stadium that actually was in the best shape out of anything there, but they had so many dolphins jammed into it. The food was expensive,nasty, and reheated. We ate at a small Cafe and spent about $30 on 2 mini pizzas and 2 waters. Trash was floating all over the grounds because the trash cans were over flowing and the wind was blowing it out. They sold beer to me when I was only 20 without asking for ID. You would be way better off driving an extra 40 minutes to Key Largo and going on a wild dolphin watching tour or driving to Marathon and visiting the dolphin research center where they actually take care of their animals and grounds. I LEFT THE SEAQUARIUM DISAPPOINTED AND UPSET, and the only people who dont have no morals and are trash.

BR

Brooke Ptaszek

Miami Seaquarim is a great place to visit if you want to pay upwards of forty dollars per person to put you and your family at risk and expose your kids to the atrocities of which humans are capable. All sarcasm aside – under no circumstances should you relinquish a single dime to this horrific establishment. Upon entering it is immediately apparent that there has been little or no upkeep in quite some time. Paint (I imagine lead) is chipping off virtually every surface it covers, the concrete on walls and above your very head is cracked and crumbling in places. It seems the only time they use paint is to put some lipstick and rouge on the compromised foundations of the tanks. The place is dilapidated. It is literally frightening at times. Allowing your child to explore with their senses in this environment, touching and investigating their surroundings would be only slightly less disgusting than doing so in a Porti Potti at the state fair after it has been used all week in the smoldering heat of summer. On to the “food.” All I can say is, remember public high school cafeteria lunches? Before anyone cared about mechanically separated meats and high levels of laboratory engineered preservatives? If you would find pleasure in paying six dollars for the novelty of eating a pre-packaged beef-like burger topped with cheese product, go for it. Apparently the health department is not required to investigate this place, or there is some sort of “arrangement” because there are more critical health violations than tiny packages of salt and pepper. Finally, on to the biggest issue – Lolita. She is the Orca they have had captive for FORTY years. Do a little research, inform yourself. Google “Lolita Miami Seaquarim” and I would bet you will not pay to support her captivity. Her mother and the rest of her pod are still alive in the wild. She lives in the same tank in which she “performs”. It is twice as big as she is. It is worse than prison because she has done nothing wrong, in fact, she wasn’t even accused of anything. Orcas are social creatures and she hasn’t seen another one in THIRTY years - since her companion at Miami Seaquarim bashed his head against the wall of the tank until he killed himself. Even prisoners get to interact with other prisoners. The primary instinct of wild animals is survival; imagine how horrible conditions must be for them to abandon that instinct for suicide. Teach your kids that treating animals like this is wrong, not that it is entertainment or even education. Avoid this place. As for the rest of the marine life there, get a couple masks and snorkels and go have a real entertaining, educational adventure with your children. That will make you a hero, that and boycotting Miami Seaquarim.

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