Monterey Bay Aquarium

Between two nights of sealion choruses grunting us to sleep, we went to the aquarium. The main exhibit (the window into Monterey Bay was closed, and although most of the other exhibits were great, we all agreed that Vancouver Aquarium is just as great, though a little different, and sad that the mammals have such small enclosures. It was nice to watch the wild otters, seals, sealions and humans from the deck of the aquarium Monterey.

On our way!

The first section we explored was the "cannery". The aquarium is on Cannery Row, and it was nice to have the opportunity to learn about not only the history, but also the practical workings and ecological considerations of fisheries.

The aquarium has a beautiful seahorse exhibit.

(Including these miniscule baby seahorses, pictured here much larger than life!)

The albatross talk (with friendly captive assistant) was quite interesting.

Predatory hand-barnacles!

Wild sea otter having a crab for lunch.

A lot of lovely birds in a pretty small enclosure. Spoonbills, flamingos, ibis, herons, etc.

Yes I know it looks like I'm grabbing him, and Rhiannon chided me for it, but I wasn't - honestly. The sociable bat rays are really rather unbelievable. They swim right out of the water to look us in the eyes, and seem really to enjoy being petted. As I reached out to stroke this passerby, it lifted its fin right up into my hand and swooshed through like, well... like a fish.

One of the penguins was also rather sociable. Most of its family and compatriots sat up on the rock having meetings; this one kept coming back for visits with the gawking humans.