Monterey Bay Aquarium

Another early morning start to meet my sister, Laura, and her husband at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Californina.  Got my first good look at the Pacific ocean today!  It felt pretty cool to have seen the ocean on both sides of the U.S..  The aquarium had a pretty big buildup from a lot people.  And unfortunately I have to say that we all agreed that it did not live up to the hype.  Don't get me wrong, it's not bad.  They are really doing well at promoting environmentally friendly practices, and doing important research and conservation.  My favorite exhibit was the gigantic octopus.  Unfortunately, it was so incredibly crowded that you couldn't get a good look at it up close.    There was a really neat video about feeding the octopus.  Apparently, their suckers are extremely sensitive and they can differentiate between people by touch!  Some of them are quite social and like human interaction.  They change their skin color and texture to show emotion.  I would have loved to learn much more about them.

The otters were all sleeping most of the day.  The African penguins were cute, but the exhibit was small. I was disappointed in the other exhibits.  I think the Boston aquarium was better.  It seemed as if 1/2 to 3/4 of the building was made up of 4-5 gift shops and non-live animal exhibits.  At any rate, I took a few pictures.  But most of the exhibits were too dark to get a good picture, and if you used the flash where allowed you got a bright spot in the middle of the shot.

Apparently loading the pictures tonight is a fail.  Will try to publish the photos tomorrow.