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closeThe three sea lions performing at Central City Park this week are far from the only curiosities to be found at their surfer-themed stage show.
The folks who turn out to see them can be just as animated.
And sometimes not exactly sure what they are looking at.
Children have been known to say, “Look at the dolphins!”
Before Tuesday morning’s show, a man in the audience stood near the sea lion pool and kept trying to call the animals: “Here, boy! Here, boy!”
The sea lions are all female.
A little girl from Wilkinson County thought they were penguins.
“They act like monkeys,” 4-year-old Zhariel Jackson said.
Now it isn’t as if Macon has no connection to the ocean. The Ocmulgee River, just over the levee from the sea-lion show, rolls toward the Atlantic all the time.
It’s just that critters like sea lions have a way of piquing the interest of locals in an exotic, you-ain’t-from-around-here kind of way.
Tuesday’s first Sea Lion Splash show drew a crowd of about 500.
One of the sea-lion trainers, Jessica Zimmer, said she “can’t believe” the reception the fin-footed mammals get here.
“In the morning, as soon as I open my awning and the sea lions come out, there are already people waiting to see them,” she said.
“When we go to California, people are like, “OK, sea lions,” because they’ve got them there. But here, when you get somewhere that people have never seen them, that’s where it’s more exciting for us as well.”
Zimmer and her husband put on what she said is the only traveling show of its kind in the country.
Their sea lions have developed quite a following.
At a show not too long ago near their home base outside of Tampa, a fan showed up for the second time in as many years. She couldn’t resist showing off the new tattoo on her back: the show’s “Splash” logo.
“Most of the time, though, you’ll just get animal lovers that come up and want to bond with the sea lions,” Zimmer said. “But sea lions, they’re not affectionate like dogs. They’re completely food-motivated. They don’t enjoy petting. They don’t want to be cuddled. ... They look like they do, but looks can be deceiving.”
Her husband, Kevin, said that after one of their shows in Florida once, a woman walked up and claimed she could talk to any animal she met.
“She got really mad when the sea lions wouldn’t respond to her,” he said.
But usually folks just hang around to have their pictures made with the animals.
“I think they’re precious,” a woman from Warner Robins said Tuesday as she stood in line for a $10 photo. “They’re playful and, actually, they’re warm to the touch.”
She would know.
A few years back when the show passed through, she had her picture taken with the sea lions.
“One of them put its head on top of my head,” she said.
Her husband didn’t sound so enthused about their sea-lion interlude.
“It’s a wonder he didn’t bite you,” he said.
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