Just Keep Swimming (Boston, Part 1)

Last March, Andy and I took a trip to Mystic Aquarium (see blog entry in March, 2010). It was such a great trip and we saw a whole bunch of cool animals. Yesterday, we took a drive to Boston to visit the New England Aquarium!



One of the things we knew we had to check out was the Penguin Exhibit! We happen to catch these particular penguins (one of three different kinds) as they were being fed.

These two were mates and they couldn't keep their beaks off each other. It was beyond adorable!

This creature was called a Dragon of the Sea. They were funky sea horses that had almost twig like appendages and just floated along in the water (not moving fins or its tail). Very awesome.

We next visited the 25,000 gallon tank, that held everything to bitty fish to huge ones, including three sharks, two sting rays and three huge sea turtles.

We actually got to see some of the feedings happen here too, and listened to a Q&A session...though the girl was less than knowledgeable. Oh well. The tank was cool...particularly from the top. (PS...the coral was made of fiber glass)

We moved on from the giant tank to see some of the other exhibits, including this tide pool with some anemones.

And these weird looking creatures...

This was a neat octopus that was moving along its habitat. You can also see the lock box to the bottom of the tank...it was his toy. (Sorry for the craptastic pic...there were a lot of people around this guy!)

This is an electric eel. There was a speaker that would play the enhanced sound from sensors in the water that would pick up a "pop" every time the eel released any electricity into the water. They do it when sensing their surroundings and food.

Last year, I had a video of jelly fish that I really liked. I basically duplicated it with another video from this year...but chose not to share it here. Instead, I got another cool video of these little guys. I still don't know what's running through their bodies, but whatever it is, its super cool.

I had to put this video on here due to the shear size and visual craziness that this school of fish created. If you remember that part in Finding Nemo when these guys appeared, you would understand why I was so mesmerized!

Oh Flotsam....or Jetsam....hmmm, whichever one you are....

I found Lovelace (from Happy Feet) with his body guard.

A b-e-a-utiful lion fish!!

This little guy was the third type of penguin that we found...a Little Blue! So cute...and cuddly-looking. Wish we could have held or at least touched one!

An hour and a half, and two stuffed penguins later....we headed out of the packed aquarium to walk around the wharf before we went in search of food (that was another adventure itself...so check back for that later today!)

I like this yearly aquarium visit...next stop, maybe Norwalk or New York City! Only time will tell...and I don't think I can actually wait a full year before doing that!!!

Meet Me In Mystic

Today was a fun-filled adventure at Mystic Aquarium with my friend from work. If you have never been and you are in the area, you need to go. While it was a bit cold outside and overcast, it was a great day to visit. Not very crowded, which made for easy viewing the animals.

We saw sea lions and stingrays and sharks...oh my!

Actually, I think the stingrays were my favorite. I had a great time at the ray tank where you could pet them. It wasn't the first time I had actually touched one (I got the first opportunity on my honeymoon when we visited Sea World) and it was just as cool today; cooler if you asked me because the rays kept coming up to me. There were two little girls who were getting upset about not being able to touch one because they were coming to me. Once I got a couple to come to me, I pulled the girls over to pet the stingrays. They loved it!


Below are some of the videos (I took a lot) from the day that I thought were the funniest or the weirdest due to the conversations about what was being filmed. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!



This is a video that I took just for the sounds. The penguins were mating (there were about three couples going at it when we were standing there) but the sounds were unbelievable. I never knew penguins could sound like that...and the conversation we had was funny too!



I liked that these fish were swimming in this cylinder and I enjoyed the conversation about their names...



This last video was great because of the ending!

I LOVE aquariums. They are awesome!!!!