More on the Aquarium

Hello, dear blog readers! So, as promised, here are some photos of the aquarium in Newport! I love going to places like this because I get great ideas of things I hope to teach my kid(s?) someday. At this age, Big C. more or less tolerated everything with an air of tired indifference, but did not seem interested in all the different-colored critters in the lighted displays. The sea lions weren't out, and the otters were nowhere to be found either. We missed feeding time by about an hour; perhaps they were napping.

Anyway, here are some highlights. (Okay, lots of highlights since we were trying out new features on the camera.)

Jellyfish really are pretty cool. Not that I would want to get stung by one, but it's pretty neat how they move around and take in nutrients.

I don't know what sort of bird this is, but he was silver, shiny, and diving for kibble. I couldn't capture him fast enough; he was a little blurry.

 What visit to the fish tunnels would be complete without pictures of large-ish fish like halibut and sharks? (The sharks were also too speedy to be caught via my novice photo-shooting in the dark.)

 The early days of sea diving

The prehistoric shark model. I was wondering if they borrowed the props from Jaws or vice-versa.

 Views from the outdoor estuary

And, if ground cover is hard to come by in shady places out here, you can always rely on a "bit of luck."

The octopus, from what I hear, doesn't come out very often. His window has almost no lighting other than overcast natural light that filtered into the underground tunnel, so of course my shutter speed wasn't fast enough to de-blur his movements. Of course, I guess I could have tried the "action" option on the camera.....Why didn't I think of that?

 Who says you can't play in the kids' section when no one else is looking? And, of course, here below is my very favorite (albeit ready-to-nap) critter at the aquarium.