A popular tourist attraction is that of marine aquaria, for example Busch Entertainment Corporation, operator of the three US SeaWorld attractions recorded over 20 million visitors and an operating profit of $163 million in 2003. In recent years some of these facilities have recognised that visitors desire an experience that goes beyond the visual and entertainment encounters that categorise the majority of their offerings. For example, Seaworld on Australia's Gold Coast has developed a number of programs under the banner 'Animal Adventures' that allow just such an experience. Opportunities to swim and interact with dolphins, seals and even sharks have become immensely popular since their introduction, with over ten different programs now on offer. However, these interactions open up a whole new realm of performance management for these organisations, coordinating a range of actors from tourists, wildlife trainers, and the animals themselves. Drawing on observations of these experiences, interviews with Seaworld staff and questionnaires with participants, this paper examines the practices surrounding these performances. Certainly a primary motivation of individuals is to get up close to these animals and be with them in their natural environment. As Denzin suggests, performative encounters assist in the individual making sense of oneself and relations to others, human or otherwise; 'performance is interpretation塠performance is a public act, a way of knowing, and a form of embodied interpretation' (1997:97). The performance at Seaworld is reified through the use of costumes, media and souvenirs, as well as an onlooker audience of casual visitors to the park. Questionnaires also examined the degree to which these performances were educational, through the learning of specific facts about the animal. Additionally environmental awareness of participants was profiled through a modified version of the New Environmental Paradigm (Dunlap et al, 2000). Whilst uncovering tourist performances through a performative lens is important, it is vital to consider that these performances are continually being renegotiated. Although Seaworld attempts to stage the performance as much as possible, the fact that these creatures, however well trained, are performers themselves, opens up the possibility of difference. Animals can still behave as they wish; uncooperative animals can disrupt the planned experience, and may, to some limited extent, be an audience for human performance. Results suggest that society's over-anthropomorphising the animals in question brings particular opportunity for conflict here, confirming suggestions made by Besio et al (2003). This is also borne out by an observed gender bias in participation whereby male participants were more likely to elect to swim with sharks, whilst females opted for the dolphin programs.