Sea World San Diego

ShamuMobile (Flickr user Mike Liu/CC)

Northbound Highway 101 left Old Town San Diego, jogged a bit to the west then moved north along the shores of Mission Bay. At the South end of Mission Bay we come upon one of San Diego's most famous attractions, Sea World.



Sea World opened in 1964. Highway 101 was shortened in 1966 to an official starting point in Los Angeles. Interstate 5 was opening in 1965 as the Main North/South highway in San Diego and Orange Counties running over largely the same route. At the same time the Interstate was being built, several large scale housing development were in the works for Northern San Diego. Tourism had been drawing huge crowds (and revenue) into Orange County to the North because of Disneyland in Anaheim and San Diego city leaders wanted in on the action.

A plan was drawn up by the city allow development of an aquatic theme park on the edge of the already resort lined Mission Bay. The marine theme fit in nicely with the cities beachfront location as well as it success with its world famous zoo in Balboa Park. Two proposals for a marine park were considered. One backed by the San Diego Union, was a park designed by a group of local businessmen. This was the odds on favorite,

The SeaLand concept park introduced the idea of having an orca performing in shows. The plan would have had the orcas swimming in mock battles with sharks. Never mind the fact that no one had successful kept an orca in captivity. And having two predators performing together and doing stunts, what could possibly go wrong? The proposal also had shows with dolphins, penguins, penguins riding on dolphins and other sorts of unlikely marine entertainment.

The underdog proposal was submitted by 4 recent UCLA graduates, George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris and David DeMott. They were living in Los Angeles. Also in Los Angeles, an existing operation called Marineland  had been running since 1949 on the relatively remote Palos Verdes Peninsula, Marineland had been started as an aquarium and educational facility in marine biology. Within a few years to keep up income from visitors the park added shows featuring a trained pilot whale, as well as dolphin shows such as several other aquarium facilities around the country featured.

Dolphin Shows Are Still Part Of The Marine Park Experience 
(Flickr user Alexis Fam/CC)

The Los Angeles' groups plans did not include an orca. Their more modest, but more realistic plan was to build an underwater restaurant underneath a large aquarium. They won the bid and were allowed to begin development. Soon it was found that some practical issues proved their original plan unfeasible. Instead a 22 acres park was built and filled with dolphin and seal shows, 6 rides  and a sort of a "Disneyland meets Marineland on Mission Bay" atmosphere.

The park was more "fun" than the more scholarly Marineland in Los Angeles. It had  easier access too due to the new highway for visitors driving down from Los Angeles or Orange Counties. With a large local base also curious about the big new park, its first year was huge success with over 400,000 visitors.

For over 50 years Sea World has continued to entertain visitors with exhibitions of trained sea animals, most famously their orca shows. Here is a series of home videos of families visiting Sea World since it's opening.



Sea World had great first year. It's fame would continue to grow when their first orca named Shamu broke the life longevity record for an orca. Before Shamu the longest lived orca in captivity was 13 months. Shamu lived and entertained Sea World guest from shortly after the the parks opening in 1965 until she finally passed away in 1971. Shamu's long captive life gave Sea World credibility at the time as a humane operation.

Orcas Put Sea World On The Map 
(Flickr user Andy Morales/CC)

As years passed, public opinion has changed on the humaneness of Sea World. The movie Free Willie had a significant effect on public opinion. Schoolchildren raised funds that led to the real life purchase and limited re-release in the wild of an orca named Keiko from a marine park in Mexico. Marine parks in general have gained a lot of scorn, and since Sea World the most famous Marine Theme park it has gotten particular attention from animal rights activists. in the last few years Sea World has seen a steady drop in attendance and frequent criticism for its operation and its very concept.

Sea World Has Been Criticized For Not Respecting The Dignity Of Their Animals
(Flickr user Channone Arif/CC)

As part of our look at Sea World I now offer you a virtual day at the park with video playlists of all of the currently operating attractions and shows being performed. If you like the idea of Sea World here is a free sampler. If you hate the idea of Sea World, you can see the animals and build up a righteous rage.

Cirque de la Mer Is A Non Animal Show
(Flickr user Mike Liu/CC)

The animal shows that made Sea World famous, and they are what is causing a public relations disaster for the part in recent years. The shows currently running are:

• One Ocean

The orca show.

• The Shamu Story

Another orca show

• Blue Horizons

A dolphin show

• Sea Lions LIVE

Yes, you guessed right, a sea lion show. Coupled with theme park caliber comedy.

• Pets Rule

Do I need to say it? A pet show.

• Madagascar Live! Operation: Vacation

A song and dance numbers featuring costumed character from the animated film, Madagascar.

• Cirque de la Mer

Cirque de Soleil style show on the edge of Mission Bay with acrobats, jet skis, French clowns-you get the picture.

Journey To Atlantis
(Wikimedia Commons)

Regardless of your opinion of the trained animal shows, Sea World does have more to recommend it.Ten rides and attractions offer something for the more thrill oriented guests. Although sea life is never far away in the theming,

• Bayside Skyride

A classic gondola skyride that goes over the bay with stunning views.

• Journey to Atlantis

A unique attraction that combines a water flume ride and a tracked coaster ride connected by a bit of dark ride.

• Dolphin Point

A supervised "interact with dolphins" program.

• Sea World Sky Tower

On of the original attraction a sky needle that his a revolving deck that rises up along its length like an elevator. Excellent views of Mission Bay and San Diego reward the passengers.

• Sesame Street's Bay of Play

A playground/character area featuring theming and characters from Sesame Street. Toddler central.

• Shipwreck Rapids

A typical white water rafting ride with some elaborate shipwreck/storm theming.

• Turtle Reef

An underwater viewing are for a large sea turtle aquarium.

• Wild Arctic

A simulated helicopter ride take you to an arctic research station where you can see a beluga whale, look at scientists quarters, see walls of ice and polar bears before exiting through the obligatory gift shop.

• Riptide Rescue

A spinning ride with inflatable rescue boats as the theming.

• Manta

The other big coaster for Sea World beside Journey to Atlantis.

Playlist Additions

Amazon Store

A musical Sea World adventure of sorts. This weeks playlist is a fairly eclectic mix with everything from new wave to funk to french cafe jazz. The list has indie country-rock, 50's muzak, and marching bands. There is also has a modern interpretation of 1930's jazz soundtrack music, it has 60's psychedelic country rock, and 1980's English anarchist folk music. Then we move on to some harmonica blues, indie pop, sea chanty folk music and a beach fire folk singing. I hope you like it.

• Vacation Return To The Valley Of The Go-Go's The Go-Go's 2:59
• Love Rollercoaster Funk Classics: The 70's, Vol. 2 Ohio Players 4:50
• Secrets Of The Sea Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2 Billy Bragg & Wilco 2:42
• Aquarium Motifs Paris Combo 4:32
• The Calming Seas Beachwood Sparks Beachwood Sparks 3:20
• Music For Vacation Fun Sound 8 2:15 LINK
• Ocean Tide March American Brass Band Journal: A Collection of New and Beautiful Marches, Quick-Steps,and Polkas Arranged in an Easy Manner for Brass Bands of 12 Instruments Empire Brass 1:23
• On To The Show The Beau Hunks Play The Original Little Rascals Music The Beau Hunks 0:50
• Dolphin's Smile The Notorious Byrd Brothers The Byrds 2:00
• Dolphins Don't Try This At Home Billy Bragg 4:20
• Walking Thru The Park SuperHarps II Carey Bell 4:30
• Vacation Connie Francis 2:20
• Rollercoaster Post-War M. Ward 2:49
• The Whale Weighting Anchor Shanghaied On The Willamette 6:38
• Only The Ocean To The Sea Jack Johnson 3:39

Signing Off And Coming Attractions

Today's visit to Sea World is not about taking a stance pro or con on the ethics of an operation like this, I have my opinions, but would like to keep this blog as non partisan as possible, The fact is, this is a notable stop on our journey that could not be bypassed for reasons of avoiding controversy. Have you pleasant experiences about Sea World? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

• Next Week: More from Vero Beach as we visit the McKee Botanical Gardens before continuing North through Florida on Interstate 95.

• Two Weeks: The story of the Blues Brothers continues to be our focus in the never ending tour of Chicago at the start of Route 66 in Illinois,

• Three Weeks: We move North out of San Diego through the first geographical challenge of many we will encounter as we continue North on the old Highway 101 in California.

Mileage Stats

Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/1055 Tracks/268 Videos/41 Posts

Highway 101: 26 Miles/2 Countries/1 State/641 Tracks/407 Videos/31 Posts\

Interstate 95: 143 Miles/1 State/89 Tracks/144 Videos/15 Posts

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The Wild Man of The Loxahatchee

Trapper Nelson (Flickr User Dreaming in the deep south/CC)

Before we return to Interstate 95 heading North through Florida we are going to take a little side trip out of Jupiter and up the Loxahatchee River by canoe.

Have you ever wanted to just get away from everybody? This is the story of a guy who had that desire. So he made it happen.This is the story of the Wild Man of the Loxahatchee.

Sometime around 1909, a baby was born to Polish immigrants in Trenton New York. He was named Vincent Nostokovich. As a boy he ran pretty free like many children did in those days. Now, some kids open lemonade stands, but not Vincent. He made money as a child by trapping small rodents such as muskrats in the New Jersey marshlands ans selling the skins.

When his mother died during his early teens, his father remarried. Vincent and and older step-brother, Charlie ran away to ride the rails as hobos. From New Jersey they rode west to Colorado then wandered south ending up in Mexico. Mexico did not welcome the youthful drifters and the young men were arrested for suspicion of gun running. Somehow gaining his release, Vincent and Charlie hopped a train into the United States where they continued hoboing.

Before Jupiter, Trapper Nelson Was A Railroad Hobo (Public Domain)

The brothers hopped off of a boxcar in Jupiter, Florida and decided to stay a while. Somewhere on the road, Vincent and Charlie had changed their name from Nostokovich to the more Americanized name of Nelson.They had a third friend, John Dykas, who joined them to settle on the beach near Jupiter.

Life was not going to mellow out into a Jimmy Buffett beach bum fantasy for Nelson ,In 1931 Charlie Nelson shot John Dykas in the back. This infuriated Vincent and he would testify in his brothers murder trial that Charlie had done the crime. Vincent testimony resulted in a twenty year sentence for murder at the Raiford Prison for Charlie.

Vincent was fed up. He just wanted a place to live alone and with little human contact. After being pushed out of his home and being arrested in Mexico he did not seem to have much faith in humanity. Scraping together what he could and borrowing from his sister He purchased 800 acres in the deep woods up the Loxahatchee River into the Northern Everglades.

Up The Loxahatchee (Flickr User luvjnx/CC)

Vincent Nelson was living up to his nickname of "Trapper" He set up a homestead near the river around began to live a survivalist kind of lifestyle, trapping smaller animals to sell their skins and dining on the meat. It was a perfect escapist kind of life for a loner like Trapper Nelson. He wanted more land to retreat into. though

With tourism in Florida continuing to grow in the 1930's, late that decade he hit upon the idea of starting a little zoo of animal he had trapped to draw a few paying visitors. I think his thinking was that if tourist were going to paddle up his river he was going to cash in off of them.

Jungle cruise at Trapper Nelsons camp circa 1950's (Flickr User Beth Scupham/CC)

"Trapper Nelsons Zoo and Jungle Gardens" was a successful piece of roadside Americana for a few decades. He attracted some influential visitors like actor Gary Cooper, boxing champion Gene Tunney and many local VIP types. Nelson had begun to be billed as "The Wild Man of the Loxahatchee". He would perform at his zoo, wresting alligators and showing off his animals.

Trapper had gained quite a bit of land in the 1930's buying out on foreclosure auctions. After running the operation for decades, he made a bid to buy up some more land. When he did a government health inspector toured his property. It was determined that his zoo needed to have lavatories installed that had not been there previously. Nelson complied but his facilities were deemed inadequate and he was forced to close the zoo.

Already a paranoid guy, this was seen as an attack by the government which caused Trapper Nelson to go full Wild Man. He built dams on the Loxahatchee to slow approaching visitors. He would swing out on ropes over the river to try to scare off the intruders,
and he would greet those who did get to his homestead with a shotgun .Even his close friends needed to warn him via postcard before visiting his camp.

Through the 1960's Trapper Nelson was effectively a hermit.In July, 1968 he was a no show to an appointment with a very old friend that he was still speaking to. Concerned, the friend went up the river to the old Zoo where he found a body.Trapper Nelson lay dead on the ground his cabin, a shotgun blast through his stomach..  He died in his zoo that made him famous as the "Wild Man of The Loxahatchee", when all he wanted to do was be alone.

The case was ruled a suicide by the coroner, but rumors circulated, and still persist, that it was murder. Nelson was not a very popular person to those who knew him, as you might imagine. Many theories exist as to how and why one of his enemies might have murdered him.

Trapper Nelson and His Dog Bozo (Flickr User Beth Scupham/CC)

After his death the land reverted to the State of Florida, who added it to the parcel that became Jonathon Dickinson State Park. The homestead and zoo was designated the "Trapper Nelson Zoo Historical Area" by the Parks Department. Today it is a largely unrestored ghost property visited most often by canoers and kayakers exploring the river. Rangers are on hand at times to answer questions.

The zoo is said to be haunted by the ghost of Trapper Nelson, so if you go there keep a wary eye. Who knows, you might be visited by the spirit of the Wild Man of The Loxahatchee.

Two videos help visualize our trip today..The first shows the approach to the camp, up the river by canoe. The second actually tours the camp and looks at the remains of Trapper Nelsons Zoo. Unfortunately, you tour guide is a bit of goof, but it does cover the property well.

Playlist Additions

This week our playlist additions will musically tell the story of Trapper Nelson and his zoo. At least the titles do, I tried to stay with lyrics that fit the story as good as possible, but you know, the devils in the details, as they say.

Trapper Nelson (Flickr User Beth Scupham/CC)

Louis Armstrong kicks off the story with a title track, Wild Man Blues from 1927. More blues follow with John Lee Hooker representing Nelsons Freight riding years with the song Hobo Blues.

Musically we move forward to Trapper Nelson's dropping out and moving upriver to start his homestead. The music gets funkier with The Meters, from New Orleans and their track Jungle Man.

Lazy River,  a Louis Armstrong cover of the Hoagy Carmichael hit, follows. It suggests the flavor of the early days Trapper Nelson spent on the Loxahatchee building his homestead.

Next came the era when his zoo was visited by stars and travelers. When he was a showman and a worthwhile stop on the Florida tourist route, Fur Trappers Ball, by Woody Herman kicks things off. Sadly, YouTube did not have an example of the track to share with you.

Trapper Nelson was known for his act of wrestling alligators. This brings us to a zydeco number taken from an early 90's promotional CD I sent away for after seeing an ad in small print at the back of some music magazine. Adventures In Music sent me about a dozen discs and one was a pretty good Cajun mix. From that CD,  Myrick "Freeze" Guillory plays Gator Man. Sorry I can't help with any links to this track, it's one that would require some hunting down.

How did people who visited the zoo react to seeing a Wild Man wrestling alligators. Duke Ellington and his Orchestra give us a Tourist Point Of View. Originally from his Far East Suite, I have used the remastered version heard in the documentary Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story Of American Music.

The good times ended at Trapper Nelsons Zoo when he was closed down by the government. Camper Van Beethoven talks about being closed down in Shut Us Down from their debut album.

Paranoid was how the whole situation left the Wild Man of the Loxahatchee. Black Sabbath have the market cornered on that subject with their timeless hit.

Suicide Is Painless was an instrumental as the TV series theme and I would guess that is the version of the song most people would recognize. The version on our playlist in reference to Trapper Nelsons self inflicted demise is from the film MASH. The song as used in the film features softer instrumentation and the little heard lyrics to the song.

The Beau Hunks are a Dutch group who recreate traditional pop music. They have a series of recreations of soundtrack music from the old Hal Roach comedies. One of the albums from the series, released in 1995, features music from the Little Rascals films. As a fan of the original films I think they hit the nail on the head with their performances. The track I selected to close this week pays homage to the popularity of the zoo ruins with canoeists and kayakers today. I hope you enjoy In My Canoe by the Beau Hunks.

Trapper Nelson's Today (Flickr User luvjnx/CC)

Wild Man Blues  The Complete Columbia/Okeh & RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 (Box Set) Louis Armstrong 3:18
Hobo Blues  I'm John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker 2:48
Jungle Man Rejuvenation The Meters 3:26
Lazy River  The Complete Columbia/Okeh & RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 (Box Set) Louis Armstrong 3:06
Fur Trapper's Ball Woodchopper's Ball Woody Herman 3:10
Gator Man Cajun Festival Sampler Myrick "Freeze" Guillory 3:28
Tourist Point Of View (Album Version) Ken Burns Jazz-The Story Of America's Music Duke Ellington and His Orchestra 5:08
Shut Us Down Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven 1:26
Paranoid We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'N' Roll Black Sabbath 2:51
Suicide Is Painless  Movie Music: The Definitive Performances (Film Soundtrack Compilation) MASH Soundtrack 2:56
In My Canoe The Beau Hunks Play the Original Little Rascals Music: 50 Roy Shield Themes from the Hal Roach Talkies The Beau Hunks 1:50

Signing Off And Coming Attractions

I hope you enjoyed the story of the Wild Man of the Loxahatchee. Have you ever "dropped" out? What happened? Did you have any great adventures or terrible disasters? Let us know about it in the comments.

Next Week: Route 66 in Chicago, Illinois is keeping us deep in the blues. Our next post is about Muddy Waters chief rival, the Howlin' Wolf.
Two Weeks: San Diego, California's Old Town has plenty more in store for us before we continue North on the old Highway 101.
Three Weeks: We will be leaving Jupiter. Florida and heading North On Interstate 95 as continue our journey.

Mileage Stats

Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/694 Tracks/166 Videos/31 Posts

Highway 101: 22 Miles/2 Countries/1 State/518 Tracks/216 Videos/24 Posts

Interstate 95: 92 Miles/1 State/49 Tracks/87 Videos/10 Posts

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If you like what you have read here I'd like to ask you a favor. If you purchase any item on Amazon after you link to them in the Amazon banner below, I will get a little something from them. It doesn't cost you any extra and I cannot see what you have purchased.
 With your help, I can keep the show on the road for you.

You Can Give me a Karma Donation Via PayPal

Keep Traveling!

To read more Old Highway Notes, choose an off ramp and click on the highway sign:

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Be social, Get more info, View our YouTube playlist and more