Aquarium

The largest aquarium in the world is the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/


This little guy was really cute. There were a bunch of them, and they'd pop in and out of their caves. They look kinda suprised, huh. They've got that look like, "Oh crap, here comes the giants again!!"


Walking underneath all this water must be something like SCUBA diving. I've always been afraid, but my good friend Meegan is really good at it, and has extolled the virtues to the point where I'm interested. This was beautiful, though. I liked watching how the people reacted, too.


The great whale shark! Magnificent. I'm not sure what the fish are in front of its' mouth, but they seemed to predict wherever the whale sharks went. I'm not sure, but I'd guess they're fulfilling some symbiotic cleaning purpose?? I'll try to read up on that.


This is an important picture, albeit slightly blurred. They say --the ubiquitous 'they'-- that you should visualize what you want in life. When I go fishing, this is what I visualize: a nice big fish with it's mouth wide open waiting just for me.

Yeah. Never works.


I've never been to a ballet. Never have seen The Nutcracker. Always wanted to. I saw Riverdance when it was en vogue. At the time, they had a flamenco dancer that played a part. She had a solo dance, and it was filled with stomping and a flurrying of her many-ruffled skirt. Her chin seemed to gravitate towards the ceiling, making her proud. Then she'd fling her head down and gaze up with her eyes, squinting like a scorned woman, all while stomping her tap shoes, a decidedly male behavior that was laced with the frilly feminine flings of her dress. Emotion through dance...I wouldn't say that these fish exhibit emotions on a detectable scale one-on-one, but their interactions with each other; the way they dart then float...and then the way the stingrays glide through, smiling...Which, come to think of it, isn't 'stingray' a completely inappropriate-sounding word for this animal? I think they should be called 'Feather-Spongy-Like-Animal' or 'That-Which-Floats' b/c of their grace. Okay, but I was taught to shuffle my feet off the beaches of Florida, so I do know they can hurt a human pretty bad. But to see them at this aquarium -- wow! Anyway, back to my original analogy, I think the display here was spectacular. I don't know if it was feeding time while we were there, but as we looked around, all the fish/animals/etc. freaked out and swam to a corner. It was like watching a cartoon of everyone going to the trough. But, yeah, it was like a ballet. Except wet. Underwater. With no humans. And with just fish and stuff. Okay, nothing like a ballet, forget it. *wink*

Oh, and by the way, click on the picture above to see it larger: doesn't it look like the fish at the bottom is wearing LIPSTICK?!


I know I've had beluga's as guests here before, but this guy is special. His name is Gasper (no sp prob), and he's from Mexico. He lived below a roller coaster, for cryin' out loud, at an amusement park. He was given to the aquarium so that he would receive better care, and he's obviously loving it. He hams it up for the spectators, swimming back and forth in front of the glass. He says hi.


Another playful critter, here is a california seal. He was a lotta fun -- probably my favorite part of the aquarium -- b/c he'd interact with people by peeking around the corner, and then coming up to the glass and bobbing his head when I'd wave. I couldn't get a clear shot b/c he was fast.


Let me take this opportunity to plug 'March of the Penguins.' Awesome movie. Amazing journey.

My traveling companions, my sister Avery and my Grandma.


Pirahnas -- Yikes!


I'm not sure what these are. I felt bad after I snapped the picture, b/c my camera puts out a red laser-like light that aims the shot. As I held down the button to focus the shot, these guys turned towards me, as if they were checking me out as much as I was looking at them. It was eerie. They look so dopey; kinda innocent. Their locomotion is completely prehistoric, like a gigantic amoeba.