Case Closed at SeaWorld San Antonio’s Cannery Row Caper
By Erin McKinney
Just a few weeks after SeaWorld Orlando’s “Pirate Island” show sailed its last voyage, SeaWorld San Antonio closed its “Clyde and Seamore and the Cannery Row Caper” at 5:30 p.m. on Labor Day, September 1st.
The Cannery Row Caper, a Clyde and Seamore take on a classic “film noir” detective tale, had a 9-year run, the longest in SeaWorld San Antonio history. It also rated extremely high among guests consistently for the duration of its run.
The final show began with a brief word from senior animal trainer Steve Aibel who acknowledged the entire Sea Lion Stadium training team and emotionally dedicated the last performance to “all the sea lions, otters and walruses who made us look good.”
During the last performance, the fan favorite roles of Dusty, Cookie and the Paper Boy were filled by senior animal trainers Joe Miller, Lisa “Sparky” Halstead and Andrew Egyud, respectively.
After the show, I had the opportunity to talk with senior sea lion trainer Joe Miller. Joe has over 20 years of experience training sea lions, and he shared with me his experience with Cannery Row and working with all the animals that participate in the show.
Erin Mckinney: “How does it feel to be done with the show after all this time?”
Joe Miller: “It’s kind of amazing, but at the same time it’s kind of sad to see it go, because we know it so well and the animals know it so well. Throughout the summer it’s been almost flawless, but it’s time to move onto the next one, and we’ll be at that point soon with the new one.”
(For the rest of my interview with Joe, listen to the newest episode of the Unoffical SeaWorld Podcast.)
SeaWorld San Antonio may have solved the last Cannery Row Caper, but the future is wholly exciting.
Construction will begin soon on a brand-new sea lion show opening in Spring 2015. The entire sea lion complex around the stadium will also be reimagined as Pacific Point Preserve, an immersive new exhibit where guests will have the opportunity to see the sea lions and other coastal wildlife not featured in the show.
In addition, the sea lion area will receive a new restaurant where guests can choose from 4 different styles of cuisine. The resigned pinniped area is set to open with the new season in Spring 2015 as the first step of an exciting new series of developments for SeaWorld San Antonio including a newly redesigned bottlenose dolphin habitat and of course, the legendary new Blue World Project coming to the killer whale complex.
We wish the sea lion training team congratulations on the end of Cannery Row Caper and the best of luck in preparation for the new show, which I’ll be there to experience in the spring!
