A Trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Over the last month or so, I've suggested to my brother a couple of times that we should take a weekday trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium one hour to our south. Well, yesterday morning he suggested it on his own. So, I packed up my camera and away we went.

This is where I tell you that, a-way-back-when, I joined the aquarium when it was about 1 year old. I've maintained that membership since then, even when I lived out of the area and even when I didn't go for several years in a row. (I let my membership lapse this year cuz their membership people turned into jerks.)

The aquarium is even more awesome than it was the last time I was there. They have added quite a lot of features targeting kids (which is great! I love watching kids get psyched over science stuff), but they've also added non-age-specific features.

One of the things I have mixed feelings about is that the aquarium used to be solely focused on the California coast and the deep canyons off the coast. It was a truly unique resource in that respect. They had a little bit of everything they could bring back to the confines of the aquarium without having it die on them. Granted, the colors of the life in the cooler oceans are stupendously boring (to the untrained eye, but that's who they are inviting into the aquarium) primarily having various muddied shades of brown and gray and green. But I like it, just like I can appreciate all the shades and textures of greens in my California Natives garden.

Above is a Leopard Shark in the Kelp Forest. Sharky is mostly shades of gray with a few splotches of brown here and there. The kelp is muddy shades of yellowish- or brownish-green. The water has a slight murk to it. But these are all good things! Strictly-blue water (blue because of the way light refracts through it) is "dead" water in that it has no microscopic life in it. The slightly-green murk is life! (Actually, if you were out diving in the kelp forest visible from the back deck, the water would be much greener and murkier. They filter the water slightly so you can see the exhibits better.)

So, even though the life in the local environment is quite beautiful to me, I can see where it could be considered "boring" to the family of five who would be plunking down on the order of $125 just to get in, looking for value for their dollars.  Now the aquarium is bringing in exhibits from around the world so they can bring in the color factor, the oddity factor, and the cuteness factor.

Among the cuteness factor exhibits is this absolutely adorable flock of penguins from South Africa. They mostly seem to stand on the edge and stare at the humans and look like they're worried that the humans will come through the glass. But they are quite cute. Also cute are the two different kinds of freshwater otters.

For color they've added tropical fish such as this Blue Tang above and the what? Zebra-Striped Angel (got me what it's called) below.

One of the first exhibits they added for the freakiness factor was the jellies.

Most of the early jellyfish exhibits were the bland-colored, small jellies that were here on our coast and were totally cool, scientifically speaking. (See what I meant about mixed feelings?) But they have now put these guys in a tank that is optimally painted, lit, and filtered to really show off their uniqueness that folks would have completely ignored if they were in a tank that was painted, lit, and unfiltered in a very natural way.

The latest addition to the freakiness factor are the Sea Horses and their kin. The Sea Horses and Pipefish mostly moved WAY too fast for my camera to capture them without being a complete blurrrrrrr. But the Sea Dragons are a different story and they're MUCH more freakish. Viz:

What you're looking at is not a chunk of seaweed. What you are looking at is animal. In fact, it's three animals! There are three Sea Dragons clustered together here. I have photos because they don't move very quickly. As a matter of fact, they actually seem to drift through the water, looking for all the world like broken-off chunks of kelp. That's their camouflage! Looking like something that holds no interest for a predator. Here's another:

Again, three Sea Dragons adrift like chunks of seaweed. Very funky, very amazing, very "Ooooooh!"

But I also like the bright pink anemones from our coast. "Oooooh!"

And you know I like the Ruddy Ducks from previous posts, so here's a close-up of an adult male Ruddy Duck sporting his blue summer bill.

Yes, his summer bill is a chalky turquoise blue. Go figure. The aquarium had a breeding pair and two youngin's. Isn't he cute?

They have quite a few species of coastal strand birds, but most of them were hiding behind a dune where I was hard put to get a shot of them. But this one Killdeer was resting out on the sandy "beach" in the aviary.

Really, the bottom line is that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is truly awesome. There are plenty of exhibits that hold the interest of hypered-out kids, folks with a science bent, those who long to take adventures around the world, and those who just want a show. I've barely touched on what there is to see and do simply because there is SO much to see and do (and the lighting is SO low that I was hard pressed to get *any* decent photos out of the day).

You should go.