The Best Laid Plans

We had one day that began very cloudy so we decided to check out a market. The market was about an hours drive from where we were staying but we figured we could see the market and then stop into Puerto Banus (a very wealthy port with huge yachts) for lunch and then head back in hopes that the clouds would clear out and we could spend the afternoon at the pool. We arrived in Estepona for the market and we didn't see one. We stopped in at tourist information and learned that for some reason the market wasn't happening this week. This was a bummer. Now what do we do?? We saw an advertisement for an aquarium so we decided to drive another hour and fifteen minutes to get to the aquarium. Once we were in the town we saw signs for Selwo Marina and we thought oh this must be the place so we drive there and park. We wait in line and pay to get in. Once we are in it is of course lunch time so we get food. After fueling up on food we start to wander the park. We look at the schedule of events and it appears we are late for most shows (dolphin, sea lion etc.) and the next set of shows isn't until late. We then start wondering were all the fish, crabs, sea stars etc are and we realized that we aren't at the aquarium at all. We decide that since we had missed most of the shows that we would bag it and go find the aquarium. Before we left the "marina" the girls did get to ride dolphins though. Ok, they weren't real but the girls had fun! We headed over to the marina and the day finally started going right. The aquarium was perfect. It was nice and cool inside which was nice since it had gotten pretty hot and humid outside. The kids loved seeing the sharks and tortoises and jellyfish and all the rest of the marine life. They really enjoyed the interactive area since they got to touch sea cucumbers, starfish, snails etc. The thing that I thought was great was that at the interactive area there was a sign saying that you could touch everything in the tank. After we touched some sea anemones the monitor there said, "Don't touch those they will sting you." So much for the "you can touch everything" sign. Luckily we didn't get stung. We finished the aquarium with a stop at the gift shop. The girls chose balls filled with water which had plastic fish inside. Unfortunately both balls started leaking water before we even got back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel and went to the pool. The girls forgot about their leaky toys and the day of plans gone awry ended with fun pool time.