Years ago, the aquarium had been a huge cannery, so our first stop once inside was to see how the canning operations worked. My boys, of course, were all about touching the fake sardines.
Next, we watched a video on creatures of the deep, which the kids had never seen. It's funny, but as many times as we've been to the aquarium, we usually look at the tanks and skip the touch pools, movies, and hands-on activities. The video was very informative, though, and the docent did an excellent job of showing some very amazing clips of a vampire squid, an underwater worm, a Dumbo octopus (pictured above), and several other amazing creatures. (Photo Credit)
After the video, we went to the kids' discovery area, something else new for us. This room is often closed when we're there, but today the staff had set it up to specifically accommodate home schoolers by adding extra exhibits for us to see. T's favorite, of course, were the shark jaws. He's definitely inherited his daddy's love of fierce fish!
Our next exhibit was the long-awaited 1.2 million-gallon Outer Bay tank. This is by far my favorite display, and on our past two visits, it was closed for maintenance. This was also K's favorite tank, mostly because there were two hammerhead sharks swimming around. He finds their flat profiles hilarious and easy to recognize. My friend A caught this photo of L watching the mackerel schooling.
And here is my favorite fish: the sun fish! This slow, ugly giant can grow to 10 feet or more, although the particular specimen shown is probably 4-5 feet in length. Again, photo credit goes to A. I think she took this one just for me!
We then walked over to the kelp beds where several of the kids posed for a photo. This 3-story-tall tank has a mechanism at the top that produces waves very similar to the lunar pull on the ocean. It's great fun to see the leafy kelp swaying up and down with the man-made current. T recognized the resident Leopard Sharks, much to his delight.
In the Splash Zone designed for younger visitors, we saw several fun, brightly colored tanks full of butterfly fish, sponges, tangs, clams, anemones, and tomato clownfish. Everyone enjoyed the vibrant, tropical colors.
Another adventure of the day was the octopus. While this guy is normally squashed up in a corner looking very uninspiring, on this particular visit he was in a great mood. He willingly showed off for us, torpedoing through the water like a bullet and then spreading his tentacles out on the glass much like an umbrella. (Photo Credit)
We weren't able to see every area on this trip - we skipped the ray tank, the salmon river, and the sea horse exhibit - but spending the day with friends and viewing new displays of God's amazing marine creation made for a great afternoon.
Looks like a great trip! Our only aquarium is at the zoo in Omaha but it is really nice, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting! Sea creatures (creations) are so beautiful and fascinating. I did indeed take that one just for you, but there were too many people who were taller than me, so I had to take it at an angle before it swam by too quickly! I love the octopus photo! I couldn't take a good one because the light my camera uses to focus at slow shutter speeds apparently affects the octopus like a flash. So I'll be glad I have yours in my collection.
ReplyDeleteJulie, how great the have the zoo and aquarium right there together. Our zoos are north and the aquarium is south. Amy, I forgot to mention - that octopus picture is one I swiped from the web. I'll go back and note credit for it. My camera wouldn't take the shot at all.
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