25 in 25: #12 befriend a sea otter

the ocean voyager

#12 took place while i was on my atlanta getaway vacay. while googling the area, the georgia aquarium continued to make the top of just about every list. so to the georgia aquarium i went! xan and i pre-purchased tickets online and went first thing in the morning. apparently it's a happening place and gets crowded quickly. the rumor proved to be true in no time. showing up early was definitely the way to go.

while purchasing our entry tickets we also purchased tickets for the sea otter experience. sea otter experience = hang out with a couple of sea otters. how cool is that?! you can also swim with the whale sharks (that one is now on my bucket list), hang out with penguins, dolphins or belugas. with our last minute planning, most of the the experiences were sold out. we got lucky and snagged two to meet the sea otters.

before befriending any sea otters, we visited a couple of the exhibits. you can read about them and see pictures below, but not before i introduce you to oz, the sea otter. the tour doesn't allow cameras, phones, or anything really. so i checked my bag at the door, then followed my trusty tour guide to oz's home. before entering you have to sanitize the bottom of your shoes. so we sanitized, had a lesson on sea otters and their habitat, then met oz. there were other sea otters that we met, but none like oz. he's the goofball in the picture with me on the left <--. oz loves ice pops made of frozen squid. he begged for them kind of like a needy puppy-- the cute kind that you always give into. so we happily fed him as many ice pops made of frozen squid as we could. then oz showed off some of his tricks and let us pet his soft and wet little nose. i had to restrain myself from just pulling him out of his little watering hole and giving him a big ole bear hug. the entire "sea otter experience" lasted about 45 minutes and was worth every second of it. oz stole my heart

sea monsters revealed

the aquarium is divided into multiple exhibits; sea monsters revealed, the ocean voyager, tropical diver, georgia explorer, cold water quest and river scout.

one of the coolest exhibits was sea monsters revealed. it was in a darkened and silent area which really added some spook to it. the exhibit was fascinating to say the least.

the exhibits that we were looking at are the real 'sea monsters'. through a process known as plastination the animals were preserved. so we get to admire the real deal. pretty incredible. there were over 18 sea monsters to look at, some with organs, one pregnant with baby sharks and one roughly 3,000 pounds. we spent a good amount of time going from room to room and just staring at what was in front of us. again, pretty incredible.

after exploring the sea monster exhibit we headed towards the georgia explorer which had a small pool of water with rays and little sharks. there you could stick two fingers in the water and pet them as they swam by. my minimal shark knowledge (all thanks to shark week) had me afraid of this tiny little shark and not so tiny ray, but i felt challenged by the 6 year old having the time of her life petting them next to me. so i accepted the unspoken challenge and reached in to pet the shark and ray. challenge complete.

the ocean voyager tunnel

from the georgia explorer we went to the ocean voyager. this was one of my favorites. there was a tunnel that went directly through a very large aquarium. there were whale sharks (the largest fish species in the world), manta rays and thousands of ocean life swimming all around us. the tunnel was so neat. i felt like i was underwater, walking right next to all the fish. after my amazing tunnel experience, we ventured on to the tropical diver which has one of the largest living reef exhibits in the whole world. that is where i found nemo. then i found dory. lots of nemo's and lots of dory's, actually. the tropical diver was filled with endless color and beauty.

cold water quest

the cold water quest is where you would find my buddy oz and some of his penguin buddies. it was also home to the most expensive fish in the entire aquarium, the tiny little sea dragon. (oz and his otter friends were a close second.) the sea dragon only eats imported live shrimp and must maintain a specific lighting schedule along with other habitat specifications which become very costly. regardless, he was pretty cute for a high-maintaince little fellow.

tropical diver

visiting the entire aquarium and soaking up all it has to offer takes a good chunk of time, but it is well worth it. there were so many sights to see and there really is something for everyone to enjoy. they have done a beautiful job of displaying such amazing creatures for us human-folk to awe at. the georgia aquarium is definitely the coolest aquarium i've ever been to. doesn't have too much competition being the only aquarium i've ever been to, but i'm walking away from this experience with some amazing memories.