Long before Sea World came to San Antonio, there was Sea-Arama Marineworld in Galveston. Located just off Seawall Blvd. on the west side of town, it was an honest little marine-oriented amusement park.
My parents took me there once in 1976 or 1977. I couldn't have cared less about the dolphins and killer whales. I was there to see the reptile show where a man kissed the head of a cobra. That was pretty cool. To this day, my dad and I mimic the park announcer's refrain, "Cameras up and cameras ready!" whenever there's a sight to behold.
A couple of weeks after our visit, my parents showed me a newspaper clipping. The snake man had been bitten by a rattlesnake during one of his shows. As I recall, he was rushed to the hospital and he survived. Sea-Arama Marineworld, however, did not. The park closed in 1990.
Last time I drove by, only a graffiti-riddled concrete husk in overgrown grass remained. Tilman Fertitta of Landry's Seafood reknown purchased the property in 2003 and was considering developing a water park there to compete with the new Galveston Schlitterbahn, which is scheduled to open its indoor section in December.
CORRECTION (4/28/2010): An earlier version of this post said Sea-Arama closed in 1986. As the comments below correctly note, the park actually closed in 1990.
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