Tag: fish

Posted in Life

Seafood? No thank you.

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Durenne Loris on Unsplash

Last month, we took my son and his family out to supper at a nice seafood restaurant in Saint Augustine. As we were looking over the menu, I overheard an interesting conversation at an adjacent table.

“I’m allergic to all kinds of seafood. What else do you have?”

The menu was filled with wonderful appetizers and entrees. With dishes ranging from gator tail to butterfly shrimp to the catch of the day, I had a hard time deciding on what to order.

I listened with interest as the waitress explained to the seafood-allergic customer that they had little to offer a hyper-allergenic customer.

Why? Why would you come to a seafood restaurant if you were allergic to all fish and shellfish? What were you thinking? What did you hope would happen?

The boyfriend was beside himself. This was a bad idea. No matter how you look at it, this was going to be a bad night. She’s pissed at you. You’re both hungry. There’s nothing on the menu you can order.

You might as well just go somewhere for dessert.

Posted in Life, tourism

A very different aquarium experience

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A couple of years ago I wrote about a visit to a disappointing aquarium in Fort Worth, TX. When the Daytona Aquarium and Rainforest Adventure opened in the old Burlington Coat Factory building, I was skeptical. “Great, ” I thought, “A few fish tanks and a turtle.”

Today we took three granddaughters (ages 6, 4, and 2) and we were pleasantly surprised. It’s not Sea World (and they don’t charge Sea World prices), but it was a great experience. The habitats and tanks were well done, and we could see most of the reptiles, fish, amphibians, and mammals up close and personal.

After we bought our tickets, we spent time trying to find the creatures in Frog Swamp, Lizard Lair, Snake Den, and Gator Alley.

We got to touch lots of sting rays in Ray Bay. They (the rays) were happy to see us because they thought we had food in our hands. Sorry, not this time.

The fish tanks in Shark Reef and the Amazon were filled with lots of tropical fish. We loved touching the starfish, sea urchins, and hermit crabs in the Touch Pool. The shrimp were shy and kept their distance.

The Rainforest was open, giving us a view of a sloth, lemur, monkeys, and a few birds.

We spent a lot of time in the extensive gift shop on the way out. It was well stocked with every size of all the stuffed creatures we had just seen, along with lots of t-shirts and jewelry.

I enjoyed my visit, would come back, and recommend it to anyone in the Daytona Beach area!