Let The Memories Live Again! – Day 5

Today would be the fifth day of our vacation, and instead of returning to Disney, we took this day as a pseudo rest day, as we planned to do Dolphin and Whale watching. We packed up our stuff and headed to Dana Point, where Captain Dave’s Dolphin Safari was awaiting us. We had some trouble locating the exact location, but we eventually found it. It was a building right at the edge of the harbor, overlooking the wide ocean. We had ate breakfast before this courtesy of the free breakfast at our hotel, but we purchased some chocolate and a sandwich just in case we get hungry during the session.

We took off around 1.30pm, out towards the Pacific Ocean. We were part of a relatively small group of people. Only 30 people were aboard the boat, which could carry 50 people. On board were a couple of regulars that come out regularly to look at the dolphins and whales that are along the shores of California. Soon after leaving the shore, we spotted a small group of short-beaked common dolphin, which swam really close to the ship, but moments were fleeting and not stable. We eventually left the first group of dolphins to be off on their way, and went further off shore to investigate reports on a Gray Whale being in the area. However, after quite a long time searching, we were unable to track down the location of the gray whale, but were treated to an unexpected sight.

A pack of Long-Beaked dolphins were busy swimming right next to where the whale were. More than 30 dolphin were near the boat, and Captain Tom, our captain for the day, told us that they didn’t see a pack like this for at least 3 months. We considered ourselves lucky, even if we didn’t get a chance to see any whale. Before turning back, we had a short lecture about the wildlife in the vicinity, including the highly endangered Blue Whale, which can sometimes be seen near the coasts of California. We enjoyed the trip out today, and left the boat satisfied, and a little dizzy from the sea.

Next, we headed to the nearest Target to change our socks from the trip. We had forgotten to bring extra socks for the trip, so we decided that stopping by Target wasn’t a bad idea. We picked up some cheap socks that were also quite comfortable for about 2$ SGD per pair. We then left Target, towards Dinner.
(ZA : Check out the Target trolley that we got ! Ashley just love it)

Surprisingly, we found out that there was a Olive Garden near our current location, so we keyed in the location, and headed there. We originally thought that there were no Olive Garden outlets in the West Coast, but there was one right there. We entered, and we were quickly offered a seat. We ordered some entrees that we didn’t before. My parents opted for the Lobster Ravioli, while I went for the Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara. Ashley had the Mac N Cheese as usual. The meal also came with soup as well, which were all enjoyable.

We had an enjoyable experience dining at a familiar place, and we were soon off to spend some time before we headed back to the hotel. We headed to The Outlets at Orange. a shopping outlet not far from where we were. The Outlets at Orange was slightly different from the other Premium Outlets that we have visited recently, as it was more similar to a huge shopping center with some factory outlets, rather than a premium outlet in the normal sense. We walked around awhile, looking at all the shops that were around The Outlets at Orange. We eventually found our way to Skechers, the shoe store. I was looking for a reason to buy a new shoe that day, and I finally found it when a 2nd pair was 50% off. I got myself a shiny new pair of Weather-Proof Go Walk 3 Walking Shoes. They were extremely comfortable, and I was satisfied with my purchase. My family also purchased their share of shoes, and we were all happy with our purchases.

We left with 4 big shoe boxes, back towards the hotel. We were about to have yet another busy day, so we tucked in and braced the day ahead.