The Naples Daily News from Naples, Florida • 55

-v Ei Mflff Sunday July 16 2000 roller coaster (rol'ar kos'tar): an amusement ride in which small 1 i open cars move on tracks that dip and curve sharply 1 sea monster flips Its riders upside down In an ecstasy of height speed and thrill duration The drop Is 1 65 miles per hour and the ride Is an Impressive three minutes 39 seconds SeaWorld photo now Kraken named for a 149 feet equivalent to 15 stories Its Knights In Made leather The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach has planned a wild ride with bikers through the centuries in Warriors: Knight on exhibit through Sept 3 The exhibit includes both knights as in ceremonial armor and arms from the 15th and 16th and bikes from spe- cialty and off-road unique models to contemporary motorcycles The arms and armor collection came from the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester Mass which organized the show The modern motorcycles and leathers were lent by local enthusiasts In case you're thinking about leaving the kids at home a toy table of knights and bikers for them to check Admission is $6 $2 for students ages 13 to 2 hours are 10 am to 5 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 pm Sundays The museum is at 1451 Olive Ave West Palm Beach (561) 8325196 or wwwnortonorg Chilly In summer Florida Florida springs are a guaranteed cooler even in mid-summer with their icy waters bubbling up from beneath the earth Turn that sweat into ice cubes with a dip in Ichetucknee Springs at the state park of the same name or heal yourself in the renowned medicinal springs of the Suwannee River at Suwannee Springs Divers suit up for trips in the Madison Blue Springs and among the many springs in Branford while Hart and Blue springs offer tubing adventures for those with the most rudimentary of water equipment For information on any of those places call the 11-county tourism bureau known as The Original Florida at (904) 758-1555 or access wwwLOftglnalflof1daorg Hemingway Days In lfy West Ernest Hemingway seems to be something of a moveable feast himself In addition to Sanibel the sun also rises on a Hemingway festival in Key West this year July 19-23 with its annual party on the grounds of the late former home There's a Hemingway look-alike contest devoted to his silver years a unique of the that could only be organized in Key West a 5K for the rest of us a street fair and a marlin tournament contenders get the best of the events: a key lime pie-eating match an arm wrestling bout conch-chowder making and tasting duties and more The winner of the Lorian Hemingway Short Stoiy Competition is part of its serious side as is the photography exhibit Pescadores de The prolific 20th-century novelist might come if he could: Some of best works Whom the Bell Farewell to and Have and to Have were written there Information and schedules: (800) LAST KEY or wwwhemlngwaydaytcofn In praise of spineless wonden The Florida Aquarium in Tampa has introduced its an exhibit of animals without spines that includes a with sea stars crustaceans mollusks and urchins Kids can pick up and feel exotic creatures or a sort through the collection of shells to handle and view Interactive exhibits include Go House in which kids pretend they are a hermit crab hunting for a home kids crawl into three different size shells to see which fits best The No Bonz X-ray show x-rays comparing vertebrates with invertebrates a continuous video illustrates how invertebrates move to find food and to escape enemies Adults admission to the Florida Aquarium is $1295 seniors $1195 children: $795 ages 3 and older Order tickets online and receive $3 off the adult price and $2 off the senior and children's prices Directions: 1-75 north to exit 50 (Crosstown Expressway westbound) to exit 8 (Kennedy Boulevard) Proceed to Jefferson and turn right to Twiggs Make another right on Channel-side Drive Information: (813) 273-4000 or wwwLflaquarlumjwt four hums nuns have racked up bsaggjkg hchts TO AN IMPRESSIVE 23 WORLD RECORDS BUT FLORIDA IS BUILDING ITS THRU! STATUS STEADUY By HARRIET HOWARD HBTHAUS Travel EdRor Ti I 1 explained Andy Hyman general manager for the Hurricane with this area as a social and entertainment surrounding there was a need for If anything Florida needs more agree coaster flans who insist that thrill-ride parks sway vacation destinations can only have so many gentle boat rides with little said Marlon Scott of Orlando regional representative for ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) always dreamed of living in an area of heavy coaster concentration This is Scott and his colleagues in the search for faster higher and scarier have coasted the nation on pilgrimages The Coaster Zombie Club Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada and the National Amusement Park Historical Association are three other organizations likely to be looking for roller coaster vacations But those are just a fraction of funseekers who will forgo a day at the beach for a spineshaking ride No state knows that better than Ohio It has been the battleground for decades in coaster duels between Cedar Point in Sandusky and Kings Island near Cincinnati This year Cedar Point scored against nearly every park in the nation with its steel Millennium Force which sends riders nearly as high as a 30-story building (300 feet) and drops them at heartstopping speeds of more than 90 mph Kings Island returned fire with its Son of Beast a wooden coaster Most wooden coasters create the visceral thrills See COASTERS Plop BE he word has become an oxymoron in the thrill-ride war tracked wonders rarely coast in the historic sense Nor is there any sense of coasting in the apparent boom for pulse throbbers in Florida This week workers are finishing the second story of framework on the ninth new roller coaster in Florida in two years this one in the crook of interstates 595 and 95 at Dania Beach Two more are projected to open before the end both at the Sheraton Studio City in Orlando The Dania Beach Hurricane as the coaster will be called is a wooden one It will be a foil to six new steel coasters which tilt toward special effects and statistics Four of the six opened in 1999 with Uni' Islands of Adventure park Dueling Dragons and the Incredible Hulk two thrill coasters and the Flying Unicorn and Ptera-nodon Flyers family coasters for younger children The Rock Roller Coaster Star- ring Aerosmith was Disney-MGM sophisticated entry into contemporary coast ers it also opened in 1999 Kraken named for a legendary ocean monster opened with fanfare this spring at an unorthodox venue: SeaWorld Gwazi twin wooden coasters opened last May at Busch Gardens in Tampa The Dania Beach Hurricane is unique in that it will be an independent ride adjacent to the Grand Prix Race-O-Rama Family Fun Center That park The was Cedar upside 3790 Magnum XL200 left at Cedar Point In Sandusky Ohio the first to break the 20Qfoot barrier The Raptor another Point coaster la a flooriess coaster that tumbles riders down and In spirals six times as It whizzes along Its feet of curled steel track Scripps Howard News Service specializes in sports like Go Karts and miniature golf The coaster's owner Jules Ross felt the market existed that would pay a projected $6 a ride to thwackety-thwack over a 3000-foot track at speeds of 55 mph a $4 million investment for Ross being built by Coaster Works a Nashville Tenn company are no roller coasters in South The long wait negates Seajefs fast ride SeaJet operates an American made Boeing 929 JetFoil from the Port of Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island for $99 adult roundtrlp and $49 child 3 to 12 roundtrlp A $25 arrtvaldeparturo tax and $8 fool surcharge Is additional Seojet photo ByJOELENQEUMRDT Cox News Service PALM BEACH Fla -Never could it be said that my wife and I are high-rollers But then even simple tourists be treated like this not that he SeaJets crew offer kind words sympathetic stares and occasionally helpful advice just that they and often deliver what the company promised in its ads Ifcke that thing about the 99-minute travel time from the Port of SeaJets $99 fore including a night at The Bahamian Resort and Casino waited most patiently At 330 our departure time we -were still in line still 10 minutes from completing our check-in We finally prepared to board But not so fast The SeaJets check-in building is not near the boat er plane or whatever you want to call the fast-moving hydrofoil In fact the check-in building is not on Port of Palm Beach property SeetOUEtPlageWt Palm Beach to the Bahamas On the face it is true Once the SeaJets craft is throttled up we literally flew across the ocean at 50 mph making the 67-mile trip to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island in 99 minutes give or take a few But what they say is that you might have to wait And wait And wait to depart We lined up like they told us when we ordered our tickets an hour before our 3:30 pm Friday departure time Two lines later expanded to three reached the back of the room as travelers drawn by 4 Mb.