Before I tell you all about my wonderful visit to the Georgia Aquarium, I would like to point out that I have added several new products in my store. I have added some Happy Birthday cards and memes. The cards are set at 8 for $20 and some change plus tax and the memes are a zip file that you can download for $2.50 for your own purposes. There are 25 different designs. And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog...
One of my favorite coral.
Part of my sister's gift to our family was tickets for a family trip to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I had only been to this aquarium once before, when our family went for my mother's birthday about 12 or so years ago, so I was really looking forward to this trip. It did not disappoint.
The Christmas trees decorating the Aquarium.
The aquarium is set up into eight different rooms, or galleries. As a group, the first room we entered was the shark room. I find sharks fascinating, but not enough to want to come face to face with one in the ocean. This room includes the sand tiger shark, the hammerhead shark, the silvertip shark and the tiger shark. I did not get photos of all of them, but here are some.
In the same large body of water were large schools of fish. I actually found the schools of fish fascinating. If you watch closely, you do see the sharks eating some of the fish, but for the most part, they were just swimming around. It was very calming.
The school of fish as one large group.
What they look like individually.
After finishing that room, we realized that the late brunch was not sticking with us, so we went to the cafeteria area to get some food. The start times for the aquarium were staggered, so are entry time was 1:30pm. The problem was that people were going in and not leaving. Masks were required, but the place was very crowded. It did make us a little nervous, but we decided that we would stay and just be careful to keep masks on. The food was decent, but expensive, as it always is in a place like this. We basically got snacks or sandwiches to share, just enough to fill the tummy until dinner.
At this point, some of the "kids" (who are almost all in their 20s) wanted to go off on their own. This made sense since they go at different speeds than us old folks. I decided that I would branch off on my own, simply because I knew I wanted to take pictures for this blog and I did not want to annoy my family with taking so many photos. We agreed on a meet up point and place for a couple hours later and we took off.
I decided to go into the Cold Water Quest next. One the way in were tide pools with some really colorful starfish.
They had some smaller features throughout the hallway, but some of them were hard to get to due to so many people. One of them had those huge crabs (spider crabs, maybe?) so I had to get a picture of one of them glaring at me.
I finally got to the large part that had the Beluga Whales. I love Beluga Whales, but they were very difficult to photograph due to moving all the time.
I love this picture of the tail fin.
Up next were the sea otters, definitely one of my favorite. They are much bigger than the little otters were have in our rivers and lakes here.
They are amazing swimmers!
After the otters, came the puffers and other birds.
And, of course, the penguins.
I love how they walk and always seem so curious about the world around them.
They also have a tank of dolphins. I did not get to see any of the shows, so I just took some photos and moved on. If I ever go back, I will definitely reserve time for the shows, too. You can purchase preferred seats ahead of time for $5. I think that would be worthwhile, since the shows were all filled when we were there.
The next stop for me was the River Scout area. This area had alligators, snapping turtles and several very interesting fish.
I had to look at the map to figure out where I was now and I just realized that I only got one half-decent photo of the seal because I did not go all the way into the Pier 225 area. Oh, well, I'll know next time.
These were definitely the hardest of all to photograph, since all I was using was my phone camera.
The next stop for me was the Tropical Diver, a windy area with several different areas, including eels and jelly fish tanks.
Sorry, they just look evil!
I could watch jellyfish forever, as long as I don't have to be in the water.
This area also had some of the most beautiful fish!
The final area was the Ocean Voyager. The coolest animals ever are the Whale Sharks. Part of this room, you walk through a glass tunnel under the water. As I was in the middle of that tunnel, one of the Whale Sharks chose that time to swim directly over the tunnel. What an experience!
They also had stingrays.
Smile!
Stingrays are such graceful swimmers!
My final take: definitely worth it!! My suggestions: Go during the week when other people are at work (and not right after a Holiday when people are off), definitely buy the preferred seating for the shows you want to see and set a time for them, and if you cannot eat before and/or after, be prepared to spend up to $25 per person for a meal. If you also have a lot of expendable money, you can pay to swim in several of the tanks, including in with the sharks.
For prices and to make reservations, here is the link to the aquarium. They also have maps and descriptions and pictures.
And now I will finish up up with some random fish pictures. Also, remember, you can purchase all of these photos, plus some that did not make it here, in digital form in my store.
Thank you for visiting. Please feel free to comment on this blog or send me a message.