This is the final bouquet of the show. When the two orcas, Wikie and Keijo, propel themselves into the air and perform a symmetrical pirouette, screams shock erupts in the audience at Marineland, in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes). Then the monumental bodies of the two cetaceans fall with a big splash into the pool lined with palm trees, to the background of Christmas music.. The presenter takes the microphone again: the next show, the Dolphin Fantasiais in an hour.
“These days the applause is a little more intense. People know that this is the last time they will see these orcas… We feel their support. For us, it’s a mourning”book Mickaël (the people mentioned by their first name wished to remain anonymous), orca trainer, employed for thirty years in this park.
Sunday January 5 in the evening, Marineland permanently closes its doors. The end of a story that began fifty-five years ago, in 1970, which ends in discomfiture, after a dark decade which sank this major tourist site on the Côte d'Azur. The Spanish group Parques Reunidos, which bought Marineland in 2006, is now favoring the development of Aquasplash, its water park with slides, located right next door, with expansion projects. The Marineland Hotel, opened in 2015, will continue to operate, changing its name.
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