Through no particular grace of my own, my wife has actually stuck with me for the past year, come last week.  God alone knows why she puts up with me, but I am certainly not complaining.  Unfortunately, due to my job choice, and her continued pursuit of higher education, much of the past year was spent distant from one another, and I cannot adequately describe in words just how difficult that can be at times.  A considerable amount of patience, understanding, communication, time, effort, and honesty was necessary to keep things on an even keel, and I am very happy to say that we successfully made it thus far.  For those of you who are considering embarking upon a long-distance relationship with a member of the opposite sex, please consider it very carefully as it is far from an easy ride.  Do not misunderstand me - I would not pass on any moment of our past year of marriage, but it did have its rough moments.  However, the time we were able to spend together more than made up for any difficulties, and neither of us can wait until distance is no longer a factor in our relationship. 

By way of our anniversary gift to one another, we took a vacation down to Orlando, Florida, and visited Discovery Cove.  Allow me to let you in on a little secret - this has to be one of the best deals to be found in Orlando, bar none.  The admission price does seem a little steep (especially with the additional "experience"), but this is what you get: 
First, the park has a limited admission number.  You have to make reservations, and they only allow a certain number of people in a day.  This means there are almost never any lines for much of anything, the bathrooms are never packed (and almost always clean), and the park always has this funny half-empty feeling to it. 
Second, you have access to an entire artificial reef to swim around, complete with way too many species of fish, ray, and sharks (though the latter are behind glass).  Additionally, a rather impressive lazy river encompasses most of the park, and even goes through the park's aviary.  Yes, aviary.  It is a three-section area containing everything from pheasants to kookaburras to tucans.  Finally, if you pay a little extra, you can literally swim with dolphins, and ride on one's back for a little bit. 
Finally, in addition to your admission to Discovery Cove, you also receive a week's admission to Sea World. 

Now, considering the price of admission to Sea World alone, I think the Cove is more than worth the money.  However, this is even before going into all of the little things that make it so much fun...  My wife and I have far from perfect vision, and while wearing contacts under scuba goggles is possible, it is also a little risky when taking them on or off, or just messing around in the water without them.  However, the park foresaw that problem, and actually provides prescription goggles.  Granted, both lenses have to be the same prescription, but still... shiny!  Additionally, they provide everyone a wetsuit, be it just a vest, a short-legged/sleeved one, or a full-body get-up.  Said wetsuits do the triple-duty of identifying you as guests (big yellow stripes on the back pretty much make that clear), keeping you warm, and providing a certain degree of buoyancy as well.  However, while putting them on is not terribly difficult, wearing them out of the water, and extricating one's self from them is a trip in and of itself.  They tend to... pinch... a little... in inconvenient places... when out of the water, though it gets better once they are wet.  And getting out of them... oy.  All food, drink, and (Annheuser-Busch, of course) booze are included in the price, meaning you can munch away, chow down on their rather good lunch options, or get royally drunk, as often as you like.  The birds in the aviary are always hungry, and the park staff provide you as much food as you like to keep them happy, including fresh fruit, seed, or even squirmy little grubs.  I was not so fond of the last.  And the coral reef...  well, first off, the thing was bloody COLD.  They keep it around 72-76 degrees F to keep the fishes happy, and while that temperature may work for them, my scrawny arse did not appreciate it.  The wetsuits helped a little, but the water still felt cold enough to freeze off my... er... toes.  Fresh towels were always avaiable in the bathrooms (big, fluffy ones, at that), and the bathrooms were never messy.  In fact, each shower stall had mounted soap dispensers, including body soap, shampoo, and conditioner, all from some big-name soapy manufacturer who's name escapes me at the moment.  They even let you take home the Dolphin Cove-branded snorkel they provide you when you show up at the park - and this is far from a cheap widget, inluding a water-exhaust valve and everything.  The list just goes on and on and on...  And having real sand at a theme park was definitely a treat.  One recommendation, however - bring aquasocks.  It makes getting around the concrete pathways easier, going into the bathrooms a little less scary, and walking around the reef a lot less toe-endangering.  Those fishies nibble.  (Well, not really, but there was no convincing Better Half of that.)  Though, let me tell you, swimming around that reef with the fish actually coming up to you and checking you out as opposed to vice versa... that was definitely one of the more interesting experiences in my life.  Cold as hell, but oh-so-cool.  And, finally and most importantly, my wife thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to touch and swim with the dolphins kept at the park.  It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and something that she will no doubt remember for quite some time. 

As for Sea World...  Well, it is a normal theme park.  Aquatic-geared, granted, but still a crowded, loud, packed, noisy, children-under-foot-everywhere, parents-not-bothering-to-actually-parent theme park.  The new rollercoaster there, Kraken (and I still dispute the pronounciation of that word espoused in the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie, as well as at Sea World) was certainly worth the ride, and since most rollercoaster-die-hards are not known for going to Sea World, the line was only a few minutes.  All of the shows and such around the park were more than worth the time, and the displays were certainly interesting and entertaining (though the Wild Arctic one was a little disappointing, mainly due to the few number of animals, and their general lethargy.  The behind-the-scenes-beer-tasting at the Annheuser-Busch was certainly interesting, however, and actually educated me a fair bit on beers, and which ones I might like.  Their new Spykes are somewhat odd (Flavoring a beer?  How strange.), but the rest of the things were enjoyable. 

Regardless, if you are ever in need of an anniversary gift, or just a fun way to spend some time in Orlando, I strongly recommend Discovery Cove.  A fun time playing around with fishies for the whole day, and then potentially an entire week of watching them perform (Well, none of the performers were actual fish, per se, but they swim in water!), seeing them in displays, and generally being immersed in the whole nautical thing.  Not a bad deal.