The pictures that follow really don't do justice to the amazing displays that they had. We were able to spend the entire day at the aquarium and although we were tired by the end and thus ready to go, still didn't feel that we had gotten everything there was to get out of the place.
One of the great things the aquarium did was have daily feedings in several of their exhibits. We arrived just after the sea otter feeding, but went on to see a couple of others in short succession. The picture below is from the kelp forest. The diver is feeding the fish from his hand, and the leopard sharks were particularly hungry that day, so it was a pretty big frenzy for a while. As a side note, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only aquarium that has successfully been able to grow giant kelp in "captivity". It grows at a rate of about 18" per day!
The other place that we saw a feeding was in the "Outer Bay" exhibit. Jeff's favorite part of the aquarium. As you enter the exhibit, you walk through a room with a domed ceiling. The bottom half of the dome is a 360-degree aquarium with a bright blue background and filled with a large school of sardines eternally swimming in a ring around your head. You immediately feel as though you are entering into another world. The next tank you come to is a wall tank about 4'x8' is size with the same bright blue background but this time is a school of mackerel that pass by the window in an endless blur. Then the jellies seen below. And finally you walk ahead and arrive in a room that opens to a 2 story high wall. Think IMAX screen. But its not a screen but rather a 1,000,000 gallon fish tank. The walls are painted a deep blue giving the illusion that you are staring off in the depths of the ocean. Silver-highlighted silhouettes of skates, barracuda, sharks, and giant 400-pound blue and yellow fin tuna swim past you. A splash of food bits at the surface of the water send the fish into a frenzy. The slower fish stay out of the way as the tuna barrel at 20 mph to grab a bite and schools of mackerel and sardines flash this way and that to grab the small leftovers and avoid being swallowed up themselves in the confusion.
It was almost life-changing.
I won't go into depth with the rest of the experience, but suffice it to say that we had a great time. The pictures below show a small taste of what we saw.
"The Secret Lives of Seahorses" was the newest exhibit. Included in the seahorse family are the strange and exotic Leafy Dragon Fish.
For some reason, we kept getting attacked by stuff; jelly fish and giant oysters especially.
Tube anemones. Just thought is was a cool picture.
Although the aquarium was really mostly for us adults, Daniel did enjoy looking at the bright colors in the tanks.
Our family, overlooking Monterey Bay.
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