Sea Life Park & polynesian Cultural Center

With the Go Oahu card we get free entrance to Sea Life Park and we can do the dolphin encounter. The reviews on trip advisor and else where are not really complimentary of this venue although there are a few who really enjoyed themselves. So we decided to give it a go. 
Okay so yes if you've been to the big one in San Diego then there is no comparison, but if you take it as a small venue geared for a day out with the kids then it is fine although a bit pricy, but you can find discounts if you try.
We arrive early and are ushered in to sign a waiver, get in your swim suit, stow any jewelry, watches, hats ect and get a life jacket. As'with most tours we have had here, directions are in Japanese and English with the Japanese tourists making up the largest group. I must say that watching the tourists react to things is sometimes more entertaining than what we signed up to view. 
We are in a group of about 15 and we are lined up in the water along the side of the pool. The water hits about a meter and a bit. The trainer is a Zoologist and she talks to is about dolphins. Ours is a male age 27, older than he would have been had he lived in the  wild. (Should we have animals in captivity...I have mixed feelings here )
There is another group in the pool who have paid $250 to swim with the dolphins, it looks cool, but too pricy for us. 
The relationship between the trainer and the dolphin is good, she talks to him constantly as you would to your dog. She explains that there are days when they don't feel like participating, in that case they just swim away and another dolphin takes over. We are not to touch his face but at times are able to feel his smooth belly, flippers, back and flukes. At one point he takes off to join another group, but returns in a moment. We give hand signals for him to rise up and kiss our cheek, we can then kiss him before signal ing him to come up out of the water and dance with us. I had a good time!
After a quick shower we dressed and caught the sea lion show before visiting the rest of the exhibits. The turtles are impressive and Sea Life Park releases 500 per year back into the wild. This is most likely why we see turtles at almost all the beaches we've been to. The shows are spread out every one and a half hours through the day and we don't really want to hang around so we move on. 
We have our lunch north of our home at the Crouching Lion which is named for a rock formation. the food is good if a bit pricy. We continue north and use our Go Oahu card to get general admission to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We will pass on the Luau and Breath of Life show.
We arrive in time to enjoy the  canoe pageant which is a wonderful display of Country's colours and dances. Last time we came we watched this in a torrential down pour. We then caught the Samoan show. The man who lead this was so funny. His timing and comments were priceless. He made fire using two hibiscus sticks  and coconut fiber and he  had it going in record time. He also showed how to husk a co nut and break it with a rock. One of the other young men climbed a palm tree like a monkey. It was really impressive.
We also watched the Aotearoa show. I love their aggressive war chants! They also play a game where they toss sticks at each other while singing with out missing a beat.
In Fiji we enjoyed dances while the skies opened up and drenched those outside. We hung around after to watch the Tonga show. They focused on drumming and had a fellow from Canada, one from India and one from the Us help. It was funny. The Canadian was especially so.
The park is pretty empty because most people are off to the dinner before the big show.there are a lot of young people about setting up the grounds for the Haunted Lagoon show they  put on until Halloween. People are lined up to see this as we leave.