Wayside_Wisdom Heard Along the Way
GONE FISHIN’
We went fishing today! Not to catch anything, but to see all of the aquatic
creatures who live at the new Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It was
opened on November 23, 2005, as the World’s Largest
Aquarium. With 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water, and more than
100,000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe, it is
huge and WONDERFUL! It has 5 separate habitat areas: Georgia Explorer,
River Scout, Coldwater Quest, Ocean Voyager, and Tropical Diver. Each has fish
and water mammals that are found in that type of environment and exhibited in
very creative ways.
For example, Georgia Explorer includes sting rays and shrimp in touch tanks and a large loggerhead sea turtle among other types of fish in a large viewing tank.
The River Scout area includes small clawed sea otters in an open air tank, as well as exhibit tanks of piranhas and other types of fish. They are all displayed as part of a flowing overhead river.
The Coldwater Quest includes penguins, sea otters and sea lions exhibited in an open air tank. Feeding time was fun to watch. One otter was determined to follow the staff member who fed them right out the door of their enclosure when she left! A huge viewing tank includs several white beluga whales, enormous and graceful as ballerinas!
A viewing tank over 200 feet long and ranging in depth from 20 to 30 feet is the centerpiece in the Ocean Voyager area. In it are hundreds of different species of ocean creatures, including whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, swordfish, tarpon, leopard fish, sting rays, and dozens of smaller varieties. The teeming tank can be viewed from several different perspectives, such as small concave viewing windows, a huge transparent acrylic wall, and a tunnel-like walkway which went under a portion of the tank. From that point of view, looking up at the bellies of the fish as they swim overhead, it feels like a "fish’s eye view" of ocean life!
The Tropical Diver area includes small display tanks of various types of "jellies", electric eels, and electric catfish. A large exhibit tank in that area contains a pair of small hammerhead sharks, various types of clams, and dozens of different types of very brightly colored smaller fish. We also enjoyed watching the diver who was washing the inside of the display tank window!
We spent about five hours enjoying the antics of the aquatic creatures that share our planet with us. We could have stayed longer but, by mid-afternoon, the aquarium was getting very crowded with human visitors. People are noisier than fish, and, as the decibels of sound increased, we decided it was time to leave. We then went across the street and walked in Olympic Centennial Park for awhile before heading back "home" to the campground where our rig was parked.
What a lovely day! I’ve always enjoyed "fishing" more than "catching"!