We had planned on spending our morning in and around San Fran, but the San Francisco Marathon was being run through the whole city as well and had basically severed all downtown routes. So, we decided to pack up and move on a few hours earlier than planned.
We headed onto Monterey and the spectacular Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Aquarium has been voted #1 for many years for its exhibits and research.
It definitely lived up to its hype. Their aquariums and exhibits were awesome. The jellyfish tanks were mesmerizing, the giant dome of schooling sardines was hypnotic as they swam around and around overhead, and the sea otters were comical to watch play.
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| Caden Feeding the Fish on our tour |
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| The fish eating the food that Caden threw into the tank. |
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| Seals in the harbor behind the Aquarium |
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| The schooling sardines exhibit. Millions continually swim around you! |
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| Schooling Sardines |
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| The Awesome Jellies |
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| Caden & The Jellies |
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| The HUGE Oceans Tank. (Caden & Josh at left) |
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| Caden, Josh, & Easton watching the sharks go by. |
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| Not a great photo, but behind the kids is a grey whale in actual
size. It is the same whale that we saw lost in the Klamath River a few
days ago in the Redwoods. |
Some of the fish and animals on exhibit aren't physically able survive in the wild. Others are on display for a period of time before they are released into the ocean.
My favorite part was getting to pet the bat rays. They were SO soft as they glided by. They would pop their heads out of the water to get a better look at you.
Easton enjoyed getting to touch and hold the kelp plants, star fish, decorator crabs, and sea cucumbers in the interactive touch tanks.
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| The touch tanks |
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| Easton's shirt from San Francisco ;) |
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| Caden touching a sea cucumber --- and being careful not to frighten
it. He learned that they can spit out their intestines to distract
predators if threatened. It takes them 6 months to grow new guts
again. Cool, but not something we wanted to see! |
Caden's favorite section, and something I have been reading about a lot recently in the news, was the Safe Seafood exhibit. The aquarium did a great job of simulating a diner where you could order different types of seafood. The chef and waitress would tell you about the sustainability of what you had ordered. They also had great little guides that fit into your wallet for when you are ordering at a restaurant. (Visit
seafoodwatch.org for more info.).
It's been a topic I have been more and more interested in after seeing an interview with Oceans.org spokesman, Ted Danson. I have learned that we have sustainability and ecological issues with some of the methods used to farm or harvest some types of seafood. Others are acquired in a very healthy way and pose no problem. Also, some imported seafood comes from countries who don't manage their resources well -- literally fishing some types to near extinction.
After the aquarium, we headed for a local seafood restaurant in the harbor. Caden used our new, handy pocket guide to help us order. ;)
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| Flowers in my hair, complements of Easton |
We decided to camp just outside of Monterey. We head out first thing tomorrow toward Yosemite.
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