Monterey Bay Aquarium

This is just a little photo of me petting a bat ray. I was beyond excited about getting to touch these little guys. They were in the far corner away from all the little kids splashing and slapping the water, so I went to the opposite corner of the kids and the rays kept coming over to say hi. It was so cool!

Its amazing how muscley their wings felt! It was something I hadn't thought of. They felt like a slimey dolphin. The slime coating I learned is a mucus layter to protect them from viruses and bacteria in the water.

The first time Cham attempted to take a picture of me petting one, he didn't get his camera on in time, so we waited. We must have been at the pool for a good 15 minutes!

More Monterey Bay Aquarium pictures coming soon!

B_B

The Monterey Aquarium is awesome. That's where they filmed parts of star trek 4. They had some pretty cool jellyfish the last time I went (about two years ago).

I saw this really cool flick about a month ago by James Cameron (Terminator). It's called "Aliens of the Deep". Apparently Cameron is a total Ocean geek outside of directing films so he put together this expedition to film all this cool stuff. It's an Imax style thing and very high-energy (unlike your typical PBS nature show).

Mega cool.

I wanted to visit when we all went out in Feb 2005, but I have pretty much figured what I need to do is to plan a week where I am visiting the office, and take another week as vacation. This would mean that the company would pay for me to fly out and back, and all I would really have to worry about is the meals for the family during the week I am working, their air fare, and our expenses for the second week. And of course, this means going out during the summer, instead of spring break or some similiar situation, as I would not want to take Av from school for that long. Now if we home schooled....

Yah, that place is cool. I went there a lot when I was living in California. I know the movie you are talking about 320 called 'Aliens of the Deep'. In fact, I saw it. It was really cool. The aquarium and the university there do a lot of studies in the trench that isn't far off the coast there at Monterey. I also have seen that Star Trek movie. They use to have a really large tank there outside. They got rid of it a long time ago. They still have jelly fish there, though. Actually, there is a whole section dedicated to them now. They do a good job in education there.

More pictures!

Here's a batray that was hanging around in the petting pool.

Here are Powder Blue Tangs, Yellow Tangs, a Squirrel Fish, Damsels, Hinnoculous (Guessing on spelling here) Butterflies and a Tomato Clown.

These are jellyfish...well, obviously.

Behold! The Upsidedown Jellies!

This is a Coral Banded Reef shark:

Here is a Southern Stingray.

And here are a couple of pearls:

That's all for now. I kept trying to get a decent one of seahorses, but they all turned out blurry. And I think people were wanting me to get out of the way. As soon as I get a copy from Cham, I'll post it! Enjoy!

B_B

Nice shots, those are gorgous!

Great pics, I like the pearls picture the best! lol

Awesome pics boingo!