One fish, two fish. Red fish, blue fish

One fish, two fish. Red fish, blue fish.

The Monterey Aquarium is at the top of its class and is rated as one of the world's top aquariums for a reason, ok several reasons really.

It is big! That allows plenty of space for each exhibit, multiple ways to view and experience exhibits and space in between to contemplate what you've just seen.

The exhibits are thoughtfully constructed with attention to each creature's particlar habitat.

The variety of species and ways to experience them are numerous. From the multi-storied tanks with viewing on all levels and from above to the close-up exhibit of the tiny jumping fish from Malaysia (and yes these tiny fish, that are no bigger than a segment of your little finger, fling themselves up onto rocks and back down again. It's not exactly the graceful movement one thinks of when one thinks of flying … but who am I to quibble?), from the cut-away style so you can simultaneously see above and below the water to the dark of the deep ocean to actually experiencing the waves crashing over your head (as you walk through a plexiglass tunnel).

The science and research that is being done has helped save species from extinction. There were less than 50 Southern Sea Otters, habitat from Mexico up into Washington State, left when they were placed on the engaged list. The Aquarium not only became extensive advocates for conserving habitat resulting in a good chunk of the greater Monterey Bay becoming a wildlife sanctuary, they also developed a program to surrogate parent rescued otter pups by other otters so the pups would learn how to be otters in the wild and consiquently be released when they were big enough. This was a major breakthrough. Who knew it would take an otter to teach an otter how it "ought 'ter" behave. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Rescue organizations send their otter pups to the aquarium from up and down the coast of California. These efforts and the work of others have allowed the sea otters to move towards recovery with a population increase from 50 to approximately 3,000.

So I've talked about some of the species, the exhibits, the advocacy, the science and research. Let me add that when they designed the aquarium, instead of building something new in a new place or tearing down old buildings and then building, they decided to reuse some of the old sardine cannery buildings and add that history as part of the aquarium's story.

♻️ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ♻️❤️

And the last thing I'm going to mention is the food. They actually have a fabulous cafeteria full of sustainably grown and freshly cooked food. And the dining area is a choice between an open patio or an indoor space with windows on three-sides overlooking the bay. While we were eating we saw otters, sea lions and all sorts of birds.

It's it any wonder that I fell in love with this place?

You know what they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words" …

One fish,

two fish.

Red fish,

blue fish.

Big fish coming,

big fish going.

Scary big fish

and more big fish

Fish with teeth (lots of teeth)

Fish that like to hang out on the bottom,

fish that like to hide in the sand

and fish that like to swim in the dark.

Look over there, a feeding frenzy in that big tank (note the sharks😱)

After the feeding we went to the Giant Pacific Octopus exhibit. They had two females in separate tanks. One was quite friendly and gregarious, the other quite shy and stayed up in a corner most of the time. The second time we visited, the shy one had laid eggs which hung down in curtains. We watched her go through an elaborate fascinating process of aerating the eggs by lifting the egg curtains with her arms and then letting them drop down. The Giant Pacific octopus only lays eggs once in her life and once the eggs hatch, her job of keeping them clean and aerated is completed and she dies.

It's hard to see in this picture, but the arms are against the wall on the right and the body looks like a big pinkish pear shaped blobby thing.

Now you can see the suction cups on the arms, the body and one eye checking us out. (Needless to say, this is not the shy one!)

These next couple of pics are a bit blurry, but they show the octopus using her jet propulsion to move from one end of the tank to the other. She was so fast!

A few more shots

You can see her eyes in this pic

I love this view

A close-up

moving on…

anemones

And …everyone's favorite, because they are just so cute, Sea Otters!

Otters are the smallest sea mammal and have no blubber to keep them warm. But what they do have, is the densest fur of the animal kingdom, nearly 1,000,000 hairs/ in.

Feeding time. They feed them using dog toys (puzzles) that require ingenuity and persistence (both hunting skills) in order to get to the food. They used to feed them shelled mollusks like they would eat in the wild but they had to stop because they would use the plexiglass windows as a "tool" to hit the shells for cracking them open. The otters used such force that they cracked the windows in the process! Now they beat these toys against the windows to get the food out. A similar action, but the toys don't break the windows.

Yum, yum!

Ok, so they don't look quite as cute on land, haha.

I found Nemo!

(and his siblings and cousins and ...)

"...if you want me, just whistle. You do know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."

beautiful exotic fish

Sardines

Sardines were so interesting to watch. They were in a giant deep sea tank and usually swam towards the bottom, all in an amorphous mass. But if a predator swam by them the entire mass would change shape to create space between them and the bigger fish. It was like they were metal shavings and someone moved a magnet around to make the shavings change shape. I watched for ages. It was really fascinating.

a couple of sea turtle swimming in the same tank

As much as I loved all the different parts of the aquarium, one of the most mesmerizing areas was the jellyfish exhibit. The lighting was low. It was quiet. It was just display after display of floating, dancing, swaying, spinning jellies against a cobalt blue background.

It was breathtaking.

Spotted comb jelly

Sea nettle jellies

Crystal jellies

After awhile I started to make up names for the jellies. Like you do with clouds…

This one looked like a rocket ship.

This one, a sand dollar.

All right lab friends, tell me this doesn't look like an applicater stick with a swab on it? Am I right or am I right???

I believe the name of these jellies was something about Angel, or Angel's wing but I thought they looked more like little devils with the "horns" on their heads.

And this was definitely a pickle

This one looked like a Nano-darth vader helmet teehee

And I'm pretty sure this is a Christmas ornament! Haha.

Ok, let's finish up with a little P&P time

(Penguins and Puffins)

Penguins first.

It was still late spring when we were at the aquarium, so many of these guys had mating on their minds. The exhibit has lots of little nooks and crannies that could be used to build a nest if one was so inclined. And while lots of the penguins were happy just hanging out, swimming, diving, etc, there were some that had definitely paired off. These couples had to tend to the business of building a nest. Now these little guys were faster than lightning in the water (there's a reason there is only one, ahem, sorry of blurry, underwater pic and that took me forever to get 🙄), but they look pretty awkward trying to move around on land. We got quite a kick out of watching these guys.

First three pics are penguins just hanging out.

This guy has a pebble, or some such treasure, in his beak and he's heading back up to his beloved to see if she will accept it. It's a hard journey. So many obstacles. Haha.

She wasn't so keen on that last treasure so discouraged, down he goes again. It's pretty challenging to keep your balance going down those steps. I can definitely relate to that.

But hope springs eternal and maybe she'll like this stone better.

(We always thought he said a Hail Mary before he attempted to make it up those "steps")

Now that I've "had my way with them" on land, here's a shot of one underwater. A rather more aerodynamic form. Haha. Zoom, zoom.

And Puffins!

(I have to confess that the orangish comb-over on this guy made me think of, ahem, a former president …)

Every now and then they would stick their heads in the water and splash about. I don't know if it was a grooming thing or if they just like playing in the water. Haha