Under the Georgia Sea

Stardate 66466.7

16:45 - Far and wide, Atlanta is known for its spectacular aquarium. They have eight exhibit areas geared to show you every part of the water ecosystems. With 75% of the world made up of water, the aquarium has its work cut out for it.

Our first stop was the Georgia Explorer exhibit, and as the name suggests, you learn a ton about Georgian wildlife. In front of the exhibit is a touch tank, but no ordinary touch tank. You  get the chance to touch stingrays! How cool is that? So I went in and attempted to touch a stingray, but they are frightful and slippery creatures. Eventually I was successful.

The Cold Water Quest exhibit featured the coolest ocean mammals and birds. We first got to see the California sea otters, which are huge! It was their feeding time so we watched as they danced and did tricks for treats. They are pretty smart and know how to ham it up for the crowd. 

Next, we ventured out to see the Beluga Whales. These fanciful white whales danced around their huge aquarium. It was hypnotic to watch the dazzling blue aquarium and bright white gentle giant just swimming along. They would come right up glass (and sometimes bump into it), say hello, and then swim around again. The best part of the Cold Water Quest was the small colony of South African Penguins. They had a neat exhibit where you got to pop your head up into the exhibit and experience 360 degrees of penguin funness. Words simply cannot describe the magic. Therefore, Focus Foxies, I created a small montage for you. 

The crowning jewel of the Georgia Aquarium is its Ocean Voyager exhibit. The exhibit consists of a four football field long tank full of ocean animals. They take you on a conveyor belt through the exhibit so you can see the ocean from another perspective. Up above you can see four huge whale sharks gliding through, large manta rays floating about, and schools of fishes following them around.  At the end of the ride you can see the whole tank through one large pane of glass. The tank looks as if it goes on forever. The sheer size of the tank and the animals within was really impressive.

Our last stop was in the Tropical Diver exhibit where all of the colorful fish come out to play. I have seen tropical fish many times in the Carribbean Sea, but this exhibit showed tropical fish from all over.  One tank featured a Pacific coral reef with a wave simulator. It gave you a glimpse of how unstable the lives of these fish are. They manage quite fine under these conditions, but it would make me sea sick.

Our animal adventures would not stop here, we eventually went to Zoo Atlanta to visit the land animals.