Visit orcas with me! Marineland report

Hi Pals,

I hope you had lovely X-mas, which present or which thing did please you the most?

Also, I wish you all the best for 2024, especially strong health :)

There is also a little gift from my side - report from Marineland Antibes I visited several days ago. For me, it was a long time dream coming true!

This report will have two parts, first one focusing on orcas and dolphins, the second one will cover other species.

I prepared it for my fellow zoo lovers in Czech, so this is a Deepl translate :)

For anybody who is willing to support my zoo trips, please buy me a coffee  

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/zoo_photographer

Thank you

Part I - Cataceans

This is the second truly marine mammal-only park I've visited. And because I think that such an animal collection and enclosures  are not something that a common person can see very often, I will discuss them in detail. You will see the pools from different angles to get a really good picture.

Not to be confused: the park breeds bottlenose dolphins in two places separated by about 200 meters. It also has two separate pools for harbour seals. Otherwise, in addition to killer whales, there are FOUR species of sea lions and FOUR species of penguins. All the facilities are ample and deep, often allowing a view below the surface.

In today's post we will take a look at the whales, leaving the other species for next time 🙂 .

The park is surprisingly small, I think if you decided to walk through it at a brisk walk you could really get through it in about 5-7 minutes. The number of bred species is minimal, but that doesn't detract from its attractiveness. Another huge advantage of Antibes is that you can watch the whales here all the time (beware, killer whales only on weekends, check their presence), i.e. even outside the show. It's brilliant for taking photos, but also for observing these incredible animals. We, for example, were unable to move away from the killer whales on Saturday except for maybe 15 minutes.

I guess I would like to say this up front: I would hate to start a debate here about keeping cetaceans in captivity. All I will say from my own point of view is that the whole situation suggests to me that breeding bottlenose dolphins is relatively successful and, with some increasingly stringent standards and pressures on conditions, is possible. I was skeptical about killer whales, and despite my overwhelming desire to see them, I was afraid that their tank and breeding would have a depressing effect on me and I would instead have very negative feelings about it.

The opposite was true. I have never seen a park where the husbandry had such a professional, downright positive effect on me, where I felt that the experts really knew that they had taken away the freedom and associated brain employment from such intelligent animals - so they were trying to compensate. With the killer whales and dolphins, pretty much the whole time (except for breaks, so the animals had time to themselves, someone was there to attend to them. Whether by training or some small interaction or care. I can say with a clear conscience that I was thrilled out of my heart, and I've seen some marine mammal facilities before.

What I find even harder to bear is the fact that the "activists" have managed to get Antibes closed as a  park, and the killer whales are going to Japan from breeders they have a personal connection to, and from a park where they were born and know nothing else. And to a much smaller tank and worse conditions. Long live bigotry.

The park is actually a bit of a noodle - today we will focus on the red and blue passage where the cetaceans are kept. Be warned, the whole red section is only available on the weekend. (Photo - Google Earth)

Let's start hard. Killer whales. A dream coming true. And if you're gonna breed killer whales in the 21st Century, here's how you do it. 42 million salty waters straight from the sea that basically bathes the edge of the park. It's pumped 600 metres offshore from a depth of 70 metres.

Orca Fjord is divided into five different pools - the main pool is 11 metres deep and also features a 6 metre high and over 60 metre long panoramic window. The three "back" pools are followed by a lagoon. All the tanks are interconnected and the keepers work intensively with this during the day, moving the animals around in different ways. If there was a lull, the male, who is lowest in the hierarchy, was separated in the main pool, while the other two killer whales had all the other tanks at their disposal.

Watching killer whales underwater is an amazing experience. Orcas have a different regime now - visitors come only on weekends. The animals were downright curious and swam to watch the humans. However, the opportunities for photographers are very limited, even though the animals are willing to pose - the glass is completely dirty from the salty sea water, don't count on a nice "underwater" shot here. Too many stains. However, I promise that even just the view is an incredible.

It's unbelievable, but the killer whales can easily disapear completely. If they don't emerge above water, you really don't see them at all.

And we're heading to the lagoon. On the way we have a limited view of one of the backpools in the center of the facility.

The lagoon is beautiful. It is shaped like a wide noodle and is divided into a deeper and a shallower (but still very deep, I guess at least 5 meters) part. I have to say that watching killer whales pass right under you is an incredible experience.

You can observe orcas from this terrace. As you can see, it offers a fantastic view of the animals and the whole complex. The killer whales are right in front of you, maybe just 2 meters away, maybe a little closer. There was also a lot of interaction between animals and trainers, exercise, but the animals were also here playing by themselves, or just swimming. No one chases you away, you can stare dreamily for hours and hours (which we did 😃).

Now let's move to the dolphins - still in the red area.

Just behind the orca pavilion begins the dolphin lagoon, which is slightly encroached by a separate section for seals (I will show you next time). They share the same water, dolphins are separated with artificial stone wall and under the surface, there is a fence.

I liked the dolphin pool a lot with its size and irregular shape. I was less happy with its depth, I don't think it's more than 4 meters... There's no show going on here, yet the keepers are attentive to the animals and keep their attention. In the background, there is a monstrous aviary for breeding... um... peacocks  

A relatively inconspicuous gate leads down to an area that serves as a swimming pool in summer and simulates swimming with dolphins and seals, which the park does not offer. Windows are available at this time to observe the animals, which interacted very lively 🙂 And what about photography? Careful, it's not ideal here either. First of all, you have to deal with strong reflections, but it's still possible. Worse is the fact that the glass is getting dirty. The dolphins play and splash, so the panels are full of dried seawater, which just ruins the photos significantly.

A different view of the pool and a underwater viewing. You won't find swimming with the dolphins here, but you can pay for interaction where you probably feed the dolphins and can give commands. The action takes place in these side tanks.

Now we will leave whole red section with dolphin lagoon and orcas and we will visit the part with dolphin pool, which is accessible whole week. Its location is marked with blue on the initial map.

This pool for dolphins looks more artificial, but it is much deeper. There are three tanks - the main (show pool) and 2 backstage. The trainers were again intensively devoted to the animals all the time, training them, playing and dividing them in different ways. If you want an interesting photo without an artificial background, I recommend taking the photo from as high up as possible. But it's still a challenge 🙂

The great news is that you can watch the animals here all the time, not just during the show. There is only plexiglass between you and the dolphins, but you can stand up to it and take pictures above it. The trainers were ok with this. But I was missing underwater viewing.

I hope you liked the report, there will be second part :D

Have fun!

W.