Sunday 23 December 2018

New Orleans Aquarium


The other day it was raining so a perfect day for an indoor activity. We went to the aquarium and took the tram as it is right at the French district where parking is expensive and hard to get a spot and the tram also took us right to the door which was perfect as it was raining.


Noticed the Christmas decoration on its front? :)



The aquarium entry fee was 30$ which is kind of ridiculous, especially as a lot of locals will never be able to go with such a high fee, San Francisco even though an expensive city, its aquarium was 19$.
They also took photo's of us right away, which they were selling a little further for almost 40$, it was all very business orientated with a huge gift shop, even a snack bar and such, which takes the magic off a bit but it was still beautiful and I loved the statues built out of plastic found on the beach to educate about plastic pollution.





It was strange to see a bunch of lionfishes swimming super fast when I dive they always stay still and alert, you never see them swim. The spread out to basically all the seas which is a problem as they are not much eaten by other animals but they are pretty destructive and poisonous as well. In a lot of places, they are specifically killed to keep their numbers down and people do eat them as well.





There were quite an amount of aquariums.



But also an ' amazon' part.



There were frogs and turtles here.



And also some birds (not in cages).




This owl desperately tried to sleep but some kids were trying to get its attention, eventually, it just turned its head and the kids wandered off.







There were some penguins, it saddens me to see them in a not very large place, but the babies do grow up without becoming a meal, still, we people intervene too much with nature.





I loved the many sea horses.



The one below is not pregnant, but is the potbelly seahorse :)



 A big Eel, also something I see while diving but in nature they hide between rocks with their mouth open, waiting for food :D




Another impressive plastic sculpture.



A big white alligator (not an albino). Our first we saw, we haven't been to the swamps and during Winter Alligators are less seen as they go through a process called brumation (similar to hibernation); they slow their metabolism down and stay under in furrows and dens.


This fish kind kept swimming with its mouth wide open, in the background you can see how it looks with its mouth shut.


Beside the professional art, I like the kids' art as well :)





There was also a huge tank with some shark and equally large fish and a huge turtle in it.


They were all moving around fast so it was hard to take any decent photos.


We have had many more fun days here, I'm a little behind in blogging :)

2 comments:

  1. love the plastic sculptures! they look awesome!
    I always have a bit of weird relationship with zoos or aquariums, I'm glad I can see the animals up close, but I'm so sad to see them in cages :/

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  2. How beautiful the underwater world!!!

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