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This year, because Ana is in rehearsals for the play
Merrily We Roll Along, the girls stayed in town to celebrate
their birthday. Ana took time off from work, and they drove down to
Monterey Friday afternoon. On Saturday, they had birthday breakfast and got to Monterey Bay Aquarium before they even opened, so they could see the Shark Exhibit. This year the Aquarium is celebrating their 20th anniversary. They had been doing extensive remodeling the last time the girls had visited, and now it was complete. They have a new catwalk that joins the two upper levels, so you don't need to keep traversing the stairwells to get from one upper level side to the other. (click pictures for full-sized images) |
| The gals always start off their Aquarium visits by going to see the
otters at play. This year was no different, except that, since
they got their at opening, the otters weren't even in the pool yet.
The cleaning diver had just gotten out of the tank, and was their to
chat briefly with the guests. After a few minutes, a feeder appeared in the tank with a bucket of food, and then the otters came out to have breakfast. Here are three of them, all in a row, waiting for their seafood feast. |
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The gals always have to stop and see the jelly fish exhibit whenever they are there. You can never get enough of these passive creatures floating effortlessly and peacefully. |
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Ana had never been able to see the feeding time at the aquarium before. They had two divers in the tank with the fish and sharks, feeding them about 5 pounds of seafood. After the show, one of the divers came out to the roof area and answered any questions the kids watching had. Very cool. |
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| At the shark exhibit, you're not allowed to take
pictures of the sharks ... it's detrimental to their health. They give
you an opportunity to leave your email address with them so they can
send you a hi-res photo of the shark that is rehabilitating there. Also,
the shark's environment is too dark to take pictures without flash, so
these rays were the only things that swam slow enough (actually rested)
so that we could photograph them. Ana likes the one in black with polka-dots ... kind of a Marilyn Monroe '60s fashion statement! |
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One of the interactive things you can
do in the shark exhibit is to listen to audio and view video
instructionals about past cultures and their tales of shark gods.
This was a mask that you could stand behind and pretend that you were
one of them, and view yourself in the mirror.
Below, you can see how low the tide was, since there was no water rushing into the tidepool area. Ana always stops to take a picture out this picture window of the boats that are sailing by in the bay. |
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| It was a beautiful brisk fall day, clear skies, and lots of people were out sailing and kayaking. It was the perfect day to sit out on the restaurant patio and enjoy fish&chips and a salmon sandwich for a late lunch. They went for a walk along Cannery Row, and window-shopped and enjoyed the day. |
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Back again to the aquarium for a little more site-seeing and shopping. This is a view of the new catwalk. From the catwalk you can see a spectacular view of the bay, as well as get face-to-face with the creatures that before only swam above you in the ceiling rafters. This is much better! |
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