The park sits on the south side of Hong Kong Island and is accessible by bus. In fact, there is a bus terminus just for Ocean Park which takes you right to the door. So on Tuesday morning we slathered on the sun block and headed for the bus. The ride is fairly quick and we had our tickets in advance so we just walked through the gates.
Once inside you could tell it was a happy place.
The park is on two levels. The entrance level holds some exhibits and most of the kiddie rides. The second level is on a cliff overlooking the sea. There are two ways to access the cliff level - cable car and train.
Anxious to get started, we went up by train. Once there you realize there are multiple levels at the top as well. Shayne started off the day on a fun ride. I skipped it because of my cold; there were others I had my eye on.
She's up there somewhere. We took the viewing tower to see where everything was and we certainly got some great views.
Along with all of the rides, Ocean Park is an educational center for marine life. In conjunction with this there are shows and exhibits scattered throughout the grounds. We saw most of them. First up were the sea lions.
We also saw a great dolphin and seal show.
Ken went out of his comfort zone and actually did a few "upside down" rides. He and Shayne did the Witch's Wheel and we all did the roller coaster on the edge of the cliff.
You know the ride called "Tower of Terror?" It's the one where you are pulled up a very tall pole and then dropped back down. Well Shayne and I did that one. I have done it before, but this was something special. First of all the tower was much taller than it looked. Secondly, it is situated at the edge of a cliff. It is difficult to imagine how high up you feel. We wanted to watch for low flying aircraft! The view was worth the plunge and we loved the experience.
The day was probably one of the hottest since we have been here and my cold was getting bothersome. We took the opportunity to see some of the indoor exhibits. There was one on the Chinese sturgeon and the exhibit on jelly fish was like walking through Avatar. It may be one of the most beautiful aquarium exhibits I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the heavy air conditioning put me over the top with my cold and I started to fade.
Shayne had one last ride on her favorite - the swings!
After finishing up the cliff area we headed back down to the entry level. This time we took the cable car.
When we got to the bottom we took a rest while watching a high diving show. Ken thought it odd that China has so many wonderful divers, but the crazies that jump from high places into tiny tanks of water were all westerners. Wonder what that says?
There were a few more things we would have liked to see, but I really needed my bed. So off we went with a good reason to return.
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