A Visit To The Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was on Mark's "bucket list." So of course we had to go see it since we were close. It was about an hour drive from our campground at San Benito.

What a treat! If you like fish tanks, this place is the "mother" of all fish tanks. Situated at the edge of one of the deepest trenches in the ocean, Monterey Bay has access to a wide range of sea life, from barrier reef to the deepest deep-sea creatures. Their research institute has been instrumental in developing unmanned vessels designed to traverse the ocean at depths that humans cannot easily go. These vessels can stay submerged much longer and are equipped to take high def video and collect samples. This allows them record these creatures in their unique environment without, well, killing them. We watched a very interesting presentation on creatures of the deep while we were there.

The Aquarium had a giant fish tank with specimens from the ocean and a forest of kelp. We learned that the kelp, when they first harvested it from the ocean and planted it in their fish tank, kept dying. Eventually, they installed a pump into the tank to mimic wave action, and that was all that was needed to allow the kelp to thrive. This tank had schooling fish, which are amazing to watch. Apparently, the schooling and the silver scale color acts as a kind of blind to the larger fish (like a tuna) that will swim right through a school without realizing they are food. Only when the fish split from the school do they become vulnerable.

There were also tanks devoted to the tiny little reef fish like Nemo and Dory, as well as whole sections on various types of fish-- octopus & squid, jellies, large and small schooling fish (my favorite were the creepy little anchovies that open their mouths on giant hinges to take in their minuscule food bits), crabs, eels, and so on.

To my great disappointment, there were no whales or dolphins or great white sharks. But there were sea lions, and penguins (not together), and a variety of sea and shore birds, which were all very interesting. 

We spent the better part of a day there, stopping for an hour or so to eat lunch. Of course then we had to go home and watch "Finding Nemo," where I took great pleasure in identifying all the creatures I saw at the Aquarium.

I've seen that movie a dozen times, but it still makes me laugh.

Some things really needed video-- still pictures just didn't do justice. So here are some video clips of the large tank, the penguins, the creepy anchovies, and the cute little garden eels that look like freaky worms. I would have liked to have posted a video of the playful sea lions, but the file was too big.

Enjoy.