Friday 16 October 2015

An Afternoon at Ripley's Aquarium


Teena and I are on vacation this week and this afternoon headed over to Ripley's Aquarium down by the Rogers Centre. It has almost been two years since I was first there and have been craving a return. There was a drizzle when we arrived.


The view from above as you enter. Yes, you can pet the crabs.


Longnose Gar from the Great Lakes. Never knew a fish like this existed in the Great Lakes


A rare blue lobster and his buddy.

 

These are both ugly and beautiful.


This huge tank mimics the movements of the oceans waters. It's mesmerizing.


I should have taken pictures of what things were. None the less, these are beautiful!


The tanks are so huge!

 

One of everybody's favorite areas. A massive take filled with all kinds of fish ... and sharks!

 
 

A sawtooth shark. It's saw-like nose is s long as I am tall. 

 
 

It's so cool having sharks swim so close to you.


A stingray gracefully swimming above us.


How many places can you get a great shot like this!


Sharks and rays.

 
 

Many fish. I learned today that fish swim in schools as predators see them as one very large creature instead of a lot of individual fish, so leave them alone as they seem too big to attack.


Teena, me and some sharks. This was taken in a bubble where they were all around us.


Weird barbed fish.


More weird ocean fish.

 
 

More rays.


The jellyfish section is very cool.

 
 
 
 
 

The area that filters and maintains water temperature.

 

At the end you come to the top of the huge shark tank. It is so massive. It is so impressive to see a real shark fin pop out of the water.


We have a tabby cat named Crumpet. She demands attention all the time. These rays reminded me very much of her, as they would come up out of the water as far as they could, just so they could be petted. Who thought an ocean creature could want affection from a human ... except for a dolphin.

 

I think the Ripley's Aquarium is a fantastic place to go. It is very educational and even in the washrooms promotes environmental protection of the oceans creatures. How could anyone go to this place and have shark fin soup after seeing these magnificent creatures close up?

It won't be as long of a wait until the next time I visit this fantastic facility.

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