US of A (part 3)

Day 9, 10 & 11. At 9am we met up with Denis, the boss man of Water Planet who organises the swimming with wild dolphins. For a hour or so, he talked about his experiences, gave us loads of info about dolphins including dos and don'ts, and showed us photos. He started this project/business as like me, he hates seeing dolphins in captivity and said he couldn't even talk about it because it makes him angry. It's amazing from his stories how people can be so ignorant; one of the major problems is that due to the dolphins natural curiosity, they approach man and man thinks it must feed the animal . Once a wild animal gets used to man feeding it, it relies on it as a source and doesn't naturally hunt for itself. Wild dolphins can live up to 40/50 years but in captivity, the average age is just 20. The poor animal can't use its sonar in a pool and has to live in chlorinated water rather than salt water. It disgusts me. I detest animals being used for human pleasure.

There were four other people in our group: a family of three from Colorado and a French/Canadian lady. Also joining us were two young girl doing internships with the project.
Believe it or not, one of the them (Jess) was from Leigh On Sea and even more amazingly, works part time at Shoebury Leisure Centre which is literally round the corner from where we live! We hadn't met ANYone English prior to that point and then you meet someone who lives almost on your doorstep! The girls showed the others how to use masks and snorkels in the pool; John and I were fine as we'd done it many times before and John is in fact a qualified scuba diver.

At 1pm we went out for our first encounter. We didn't have to go far before we saw several dolphins swimming round some boats and very annoyingly the people on them were trying to encourage the dolphins to be petted and fed. ARGH! However, Denis gave the go ahead for us to get into the water. It was a delight to be so close to them. Despite it being a glorious day, the waves were enormous and it wasn't long before I became really really ill. I called John over and said I'd have to get onto land. We weren't too far from the beach so that's where we headed. There was no shade and he temperature was in the high 90s. I obviously had nothing with me coz it was all on the boat. Fortunately, there was a row of rocks close by and I managed to crawl underneath one to get into the shade. John swam back to the boat to get my glasses so I could at least see; also one of his shirts so I could cover my shoulders, and a bottle of water. I felt like I was dying - I've never felt so sea sick in all my life. The sessions were four hours so they would collect us at the end of it. I said to John that he may as well just leave me under my rock and go back to the boat but he didn't; instead he went for a snorkel near the rocks. I still felt dreadful when the boat came back for me, in fact it wasn't until about 8 o'clock that evening that the queasiness went away. A trip to the chemist was a must if I was going to be able to enjoy the next two days. I bought some motion/sea sickness tablets that were apparently 'less drowsy' - fingers crossed they would work.

On the second day I took a tablet one hour before we were due to leave. I woke up with a churning stomach as I was so worried that I would feel ill again. I needn't have worried though, I was fine. The dolphins were playing a little hard to get today and we made a detour to Shell Island for a short while, had a walk through the sand dunes and a quick dip in the sea. Meanwhile it started to thunder and once back on the boat it was clear we were heading into a rain storm. We turned around to avoid it and then stumbled across some dolphins. At last!
From then on, it was in out in out in out of the boat, in attempts to get ahead of the dolphins. They weren't too interested today and it was hard work but John did manage to get me in several photos right up beside one. We did get caught in the rain at one point - it was freezing! It was warmer in the sea. We were supposed to go out on a two-hour sunset cruise that evening but it was absolutely tipping down, so instead the 'gang' got together for a drink.

On the third day, the dolphins were hard to pin down again. Many of the ones we came across were feeding and therefore weren't curious by our boat. It seemed that each time we jumped into the water, they had moved further away. It was sod's law that the best day was the first day when I got ill and missed out. However, it is an experience I will never forget and one that I can cross off my 'to do' list.

As soon as the last session had finished, we went back to the hotel to take a shower and change at the poolside (as we'd already checked out) and then set off in the car again. The plan was to get to Pensacola by the evening, stay there the night, then drive the rest of the way to New Orleans the following day. However, it only took us an hour and a half to get there so we decided to keep going and make up some time - we had no itinerary for Pensacola anyway and it meant we could spend a little more time in New Orleans. We got all the way to the outskirts in good time but the road system was horrendous! Every time we spotted a hotel at the side of the expressway, we exited off but could never manage to actually get to the hotel due to the road system. John is usually ice cool but he was getting really annoyed. After what seemed like an age, we eventually managed to pull up outside a hotel. John went in to enquire about availability and cost - it was a massive $122 per night including tax. This would blow the budget but because of all the hassle, we decided to stay there.

Day 12. Firstly we headed to the Visitor Centre to look into somewhere to stay that night. The two ladies behind the counter were real dears, so friendly and helpful and kept throwing coupons our way. Would you believe it? A hotel right in the midst of the French Quarter for just $39 per night!!!!!!!!!! We could have stayed there three nights and still wouldn't have paid as much as we did the night before. Whilst we were there, we also booked a swamp tour for the following day.

So we headed out with a map exploring the French Quarter, which is the main tourist area of the city. Luckily, this part was untouched by hurricane Katrina. I instantly loved the place and the camera was happily snapping away. Later that day, we went to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, which funnily enough, didn't seem to be advertised anywhere. The only reason I knew about it was because I researched it on the internet before the trip. It was situated in a really strange place too, right at the end of a residential street outside the main part of the city. A tour of the warehouse started 15 minutes after we arrived and the first thing they allow you to do is dress up in costumes and take photos. Cool! I LOVE dressing up! After that they showed you a ten minute video of the history of Mardi Gras which was really interesting, followed by a tour of the warehouse where they store all the old floats, costumes and figures. It was great - a bit like being at Disneyland! Of course, I had my picture taken with all the kids' characters: Nemo, Mr & Mrs Potato Head from Toy Story and Donkey from Shrek. It was so colourful and fun - maybe one day I'll decide to grow up!

The happening place in the evening is Bourbon Street. It's full of restaurants, clubs and pubs with live music in nearly every venue. Not as much old jazz as I thought though - it was more of a variety of rock, country, pop, blues and jazz. We had a coupon for a restaurant where you buy one entree and get one free, so we headed there. I'm glad we did because the food and service were fantastic! I ordered crabcakes, mash potato and green beans in a crawfish sauce, which is soooo adventurous for me but it was absolutely delicious with lovely presentation. The best meal of the holiday.


Day 13. Today we went on the Honey Island swamp tour we had booked. I was a really enjoyable two hours, but for the group of American school kids who always had to talk over the guide when he was giving information. We saw numerous alligators, egrets, herons, turtles, and other types of bird. The guide tempted the gators with marsh mallows to get them closer to the boat. One of the large ones (15 foot long) was tempted with a hot dog sausage. He assured us that this would not be sufficient to make them rely on a human to feed them. Thank God for that, otherwise my principles would've gone right out of the window!

After lunch, we walked around the French Quarter again and wandered in and out of the shops.
There are such a variety here - all the posh antique shops seem to be in one street, the art galleries in another and so on. There are of course many souvenir shops as well. New Orleans is well known for voodoo and later on, we stopped by the Voodoo Museum. It was only a tiny little place with a hallway and two rooms but it was brimming with weird stuff. However, we did learn that contrary to what we believed, voodoo is not actually a sinister thing at all.

This evening's meal was a different story. Actually it wasn't the food, it was the service. We waited an age for our salad, and after we'd been there an hour, we were still waiting for our entrees. We complained but the waitress wasn't very good with people (we discovered she was from Bulgaria). After a few more minutes, a guy came over (possibly the boss) and explained that they were having problems with their gas, whereby it was really low and the food was taking ages to cook. He apologised and brought us over complimentory drinks. I was already tipsy from the melon daiquiri I was drinking so a second would have put me on the floor! Lord knows how much rum the barman was putting in the glass, and John had to help me out.

Day 14. We left New Orleans via the garden district which has some beautiful colonial houses, and took with us some good memories. I'm so glad we included it in our holiday - some people may have been put off that the hurricane was only last August but tourism is the biggest way to contribute to the rebuilding. On the pre-arranged itinerary was Oak Alley Plantation, northwest of New Orleans. It was quite a drive actually but well worth it. The house is set at the end of a tunnel of oak trees - the man who bought the land did so purely because of these trees and built a house for his wife there. The guides were dressed in 19th century costume and we snapped a photo of them in front of the house.

After a couple of hours, we were on the road again heading for Vicksburg to visit the large Civil Way Military Park there. We arrived at 4pm and thought it might be too late to go into the park but at the gate it said the park gates close a 7pm so that was perfect. Set in hundreds of acres, the park is kept pristeen and dotted around are all kinds of monuments dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the American Civil War battles which took place in those very spots.

Day 15. On the road again heading for Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. We exited off the main road and took the scenic route called the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is historically a route taken by the Natchez Indians. It was basically all trees until we reached Tupelo. Elvis's birthplace is free to visit (makes a change) and is just a tiny white shack. God knows how a family managed to live in it; there wasn't room to swing a cat! Of course, there was a tacky gift shop nearby and I decided to get the tee-shirt I saw at Graceland previously.

Our final night would be spent back in Memphis, ready for our flight back home the next day.
We had an mad idea to try and get a room at Heartbreak Hotel at the end of Lonely Street provided it cost no more than about £150. Unfortunately they only had a themed suite left which was $340, which was a bit excessive and would leave us with no money left whatsoever.
Never mind. We still took the necessary photos outside the hotel and underneath the Lonely St sign.

As I mentioned before, the only happening place in the city is Beale Street so that was our evening sorted. The place seemed even more 'buzzy' than before and to make it a memorable night, we decided to hit BB King's Blues Club. It was $5 each to cover the entertainment and we got there just at the right time to get ourselves a seat. We ordered food and drink before the band came on at 8:30. Apparently BB King himself makes the odd appearance but we we're THAT lucky! However, the music was great, especially when they played a couple of numbers which everyone knew, one of which was Soul Man. It was a great atmosphere and a nice end to a fun and varied holiday.

That's All Folks!!!