The initial small-scale tries at interaction received
positive feedback and encouraged the incorporation of
more opportunities, and the catalysts for even more
creative experiences are based both on watching what
other facilities are doing and having a knowledge of
what the facilities and animals on hand will allow.
Informal staff brainstorming sessions yielded several
new ideas – including interactive encounters with turtles
and sharks – and, Prior said, the incremental steps tend
to become more and more creative as they go.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as someone looking at turtles
and knowing that people are intrigued by them, so they
think, ‘Let’s find a way to get them in the water with
turtles,’” she said. “Little by little, we’re finding different
things and ways to get in with the animals. Sometimes it’s
just a light bulb going off when someone walks by a pool.
We’re getting more adventurous, little by little.”
Included in the price of park admission are the Marine
Gardens, Stingray Lagoon, Shark Shallows, Undersea
Observatory Tower, Touch Pool, Caribbean Reef
Encounter, Shark Shallows and Turtle Pool exhibits, as
well as scheduled feedings and animal presentations.
Offered in addition to admission are the Sea Lion
Encounter, Sea Lion Swim, Sea Trek, SNUBA, Turtle
Encounter and Shark Encounter. The latter activity
includes an orientation session with a guide that’s
followed by a chance to enter a pool with a variety of
juvenile sharks that inhabit local waters.
Next up, according to Prior, is the $6 million,
70,000-square-foot expansion that will offer visitors
a chance to interact with dolphins that were born
into human care. But first, Kellar says, comes the
“tremendous amount of work required” to clear
the behind-the-scenes hurdles that most guests are
unaware of.
The dolphin facility is expected to open in 2015. The
plans were approved by the Economic Development,
Agriculture and Planning Committee of the Virgin
Islands Legislature.
“Some of them are more difficult than others,” Kellar
said, “especially with dolphins, who are kind of lightning
rods from a public image standpoint. But it’s not just the
animals. There are clearly issues when you’re working
around a marine environment and there are a lot of
agencies out there whose mandate is to oversee any
coastal development.
“Being a territory of the United States, we have the
same hurdles as anyone else – the Army Corps of
Engineers, the EPA, the Coast Guard – and it eventually
comes down to a good, strong analytical look at the
work you’re going to do and being able to determine
what works and what doesn’t.”
