Aquarium 1

I have been to various aquariums and while I love water and I am fascinated by the undersea world I didn't think I needed to visit another aquarium while I was on holiday. I figured that there would be better ways of spending my time, seeing something new, and probably for a lot less money. However, I was persuaded that the aquarium at Monterey would be different and that I should go along.

I was so glad I did, I ended up staying almost 5 hours and was among the last people to leave when the place closed at the end of the day. Bear in mind that my grandsons aged 3 and 1 were there too and they didn't get bored at all because there was so much to see.

I loved being able to go outside and watch sealions and sea otters and different varieties of sea birds, I loved the collection of rescued birds in the aviary and the touch tanks were so much fun. The kelp forest was magical and the shoal of sardines swimming around my head in one of the displays was surreal. However the part that surprised me most was the collection of jellyfish.

I think up to now my favourite marine creatures have been (and maybe still are) seahorses, however seeing the displays of jellyfish has really put them in contention for top spot. I could have stood for so much longer watching them because they are so calming, despite the large number of visitors and the heat the slow rise and fall of these pulsating sea creatures, beautifully lit as they were was able to transcend all of that.

Of course I took a lot of photos and here are just a few of them...

These I believe are Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), I will post some photos of different species in the next few days and in one of my next posts I will include a random shot of "my mate Mark" (iykyk) so be sure to look out for that.