I’ve loved visiting aquariums for as long as I can remember. The glimpses they provide of life beneath the waves have always fascinated me. When travel opportunities allow, I try to visit local aquariums.
While most every aquarium has a few exhibits of interest, there are just a few that turn your entire visit into a wonderfully memorable and captivating experience. Among these I’d include the aquariums in Long Beach, Cape Town, and Lisbon, but at the top of the list is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I’ve visited this aquarium at least a half dozen times over the years and each visit provided a fun-filled day.
The purpose of this blog is to share some of my favorite images from the aquarium, and not to delve into its history and such. The interested reader is referred to the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, or its Wikipedia page.
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The aquarium at first glance seems smaller than it really is. The giant octopus tentacles protruding from the roof give a sense of the playfulness within….
Below is a view of Monterey Bay and a portion of the aquarium from one of its viewing decks….
The photo of an orca shown below was used in last weekend’s One Clue Mystery. It’s from one of the access corridors in the Aquarium, and was recognized by the incomparable George G — congratulations, as always, George!! The whale and dolphins are life-size and suspended from the ceiling….
(One Clue Mystery photo)
About 100 years ago the town of Monterey was well-known for its many fine sardine canneries, which packaged the bounty from the bay for consumers everywhere. Sardines from the bay were overfished to the point where they almost disappeared; fortunately, the sardines are making a slow comeback. There is a nice exhibit of the history of sardines in Monterey at the aquarium.
(sardine tank exhibit)
No story of Monterey’s history is complete without mention of author John Steinbeck and his chum, Ed Ricketts. Ed ran a biologic specimen supply house, and he and John frequently spent days at sea, including a memorable exploration of Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
Probably my favorite exhibit in the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Kelp Forest. A massive tank recapitulates a kelp forest in the Pacific Ocean, complete with schools of small fish and larger predators, like sharks. You can spend a lot of time watching the kelp sway and schools of sardines moving as one organism through it. It’s mesmerizing!
There are several tanks containing anemones, these of a variety of colors and sizes….
The spiky worm-like creature shown below is a sea cucumber….
Another superb example of the art of camouflage: Flatfish blending in with the sand at the bottom of their tank (see if you can spot their eyes)….
Whenever you see colorful fish like the ones below, you know you’re looking at a warm saltwater tank. The many corals are also a useful clue….
There are several massive tanks in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, some containing rarely seen specimens like the sun fish in the center photo below….
Beware the spines of the beautiful but highly venomous lionfish….
Moray eel….
A pleasing collection of sand dollars….
The prehistoric chambered nautilus….
A common cuttlefish (very tasty if you’ve never tried them)….
No aquarium is complete without entertainment provided by penguins, these being African penguins….
The Aquarium has a variety of other birds, like the tufted puffin or one of many species of shore birds shown below….
This is by no means an exhaustive presentation of the Monterey Bay Aquarium — rather, I’ve just hope to whet your appetite. I think a visit here should be on everyone’s travel list if visiting the “Bay Area” of California. A wonderful treat, especially for families.
