This morning we entered the Mediterranean Sea transiting through the Gibraltar Strait and were able to view the Gibraltar Rock from a distance, which was not that awe inspiring, at least not when passing it on 150,000 ton cruise ship. It was cool to see Africa and Europe on each side of the ship at the same time, not surprising as it is a mere 8.9 miles between the two. It also makes you stop and think about all the sailors of ancient times who passed this rock when they first ventured into the unknown seas of the Atlantic Ocean.
Our first port visit in the Med would be Valencia Spain. The weather forecast again was not favorable so we decided the night before to go to the aquarium. It was a pleasant walk of about 30 minutes from the pier terminal. The aquarium was incredible. Supposedly it is one of the largest in Europe and I would easily put it on the same level as Monterrey and Baltimore. The coolest part was the huge aquarium that you walk under and through, to include a tunnel about 100 feet long where the fish, sharks and other sea critters are swimming above and around you. We saw a very menacing shark and Julie asked one of the guides what species it was; she replied “Toro”, which we interpreted to be a Bull Shark, one of the top 3 predators. It looked the part. We subsequently did some quick research and learned this species is actually the Sand Tiger Shark, a surprisingly mostly harmless shark.
The aquarium also features beautiful outdoor spaces with turtles, flamingos, seals, sea lions, crocodiles, etc. Because it is Spring we were able to witness some unusual mating behavior that initially looked like bullying. A relatively small turtle (whereby it quickly became evident was a male) approached a larger turtle (you guessed it, a female) and started head butting her persistently all along the base of her shell. He finally corners and mounts her briefly. Shortly thereafter a larger male turtle comes along and does the same. However the smaller male didn’t seem too please and he started head butting the male to try to get him off the female. He finally gave up and moved along. Most of the excitement came from watching school children giggle at the process. We did a little giggling too.