We spent Father's Day at the Churaumi Aquarium. It was fantastic! Churaumi means "beautiful sea" in Japanese and the aquarium lived up to its name. We started with a hands on experience in the Inoh Touch Pool. Everybody touched something and Brian even held a sea urchin! Then we moved on to the Coral Sea. I was so in awe I forgot to take any pictures of that area, but it will be rectified next time we go! Next, we entered the Sea of Tropical Fish where there are over 200 species of fish native to the Okinawan waters. Everything in the facility naturally occurs in the ocean around Okinawa. I couldn't believe the variety. I really liked the Tropical Fish area because the open top allows natural sunlight to illuminate the tanks. Beautiful! My pictures do not do justice to the colors. I fell in love with the Garden Eels. They are actually fish that live in the sandy bottoms of the reefs. When it feeds on zooplankton, two-thirds of its body extends out of its burrow. I watched them for a long time and found them as adorable as fish can be. I think my nephew Daniel should check these out next. I wonder if they will fascinate him as much as they did me. Next, we proceeded to the gem of the Aquarium, the Kuroshio Sea area. It is the largest aquarium in the world in terms of its scale. It set the world record for the largest and thickest acrylic viewing window measuring 22.5m by 8.2m. The tank contained all sorts of ocean creatures including Manta Rays and three whale sharks. While we were here, we stopped for refreshments at the cafe by the tank. Our view was better than the food! We sat right next to the tank, as you can see below (not me with the bun...I swear it!!!). After our snack, we went to the Shark Lab. We got to see some neat exhibits all about sharks. At the rear of the lab there was a large tank containing "dangerous" shark species, including a Bull Shark that has been there for 30 years! Again, I was too fascinated to snap more than a couple pictures in this area. As we wandered out, we found a desk where you could sign up for a tour of the working area above the giant Kuroshio tank. The tour was completely in Japanese, but we had fun just seeing everything. The girls got a sheet of stickers from the tour guide because they were well mannered! From here, we went to the deep sea area...more on that in the next post! When you exit the main aquarium, there are more buildings! We saw the Turtle Pools that are home to five different types of sea turtles and include a nesting beach where the turtles lay eggs every year. The next building was the Manatee House and we saw two females and two males. This building was older and being updated. We arrived at the Dolphin Lagoon just after a show started so we had to watch from the side, but we will time it better next trip. We still got a great view! It was nearing 5 PM so we took one more side-trip, which you will read about in a later post, and headed for home. I highly recommend going to the Aquarium if you are ever on island. We purchased the annual pass which is a great deal if you are going to be on Okinawa for any length of time. It is the price of two admissions and provides unlimited access for a year. Not only do we have more to do up there, but it will make a nice trip for some one-on-one time with the kiddos. I took a burgillion pictures, but only posted a few... so you will have to come and visit to see it all!
We spent Father's Day at the Churaumi Aquarium. It was fantastic! Churaumi means "beautiful sea" in Japanese and the aquarium lived up to its name. We started with a hands on experience in the Inoh Touch Pool. Everybody touched something and Brian even held a sea urchin! Then we moved on to the Coral Sea. I was so in awe I forgot to take any pictures of that area, but it will be rectified next time we go! Next, we entered the Sea of Tropical Fish where there are over 200 species of fish native to the Okinawan waters. Everything in the facility naturally occurs in the ocean around Okinawa. I couldn't believe the variety. I really liked the Tropical Fish area because the open top allows natural sunlight to illuminate the tanks. Beautiful! My pictures do not do justice to the colors. I fell in love with the Garden Eels. They are actually fish that live in the sandy bottoms of the reefs. When it feeds on zooplankton, two-thirds of its body extends out of its burrow. I watched them for a long time and found them as adorable as fish can be. I think my nephew Daniel should check these out next. I wonder if they will fascinate him as much as they did me. Next, we proceeded to the gem of the Aquarium, the Kuroshio Sea area. It is the largest aquarium in the world in terms of its scale. It set the world record for the largest and thickest acrylic viewing window measuring 22.5m by 8.2m. The tank contained all sorts of ocean creatures including Manta Rays and three whale sharks. While we were here, we stopped for refreshments at the cafe by the tank. Our view was better than the food! We sat right next to the tank, as you can see below (not me with the bun...I swear it!!!). After our snack, we went to the Shark Lab. We got to see some neat exhibits all about sharks. At the rear of the lab there was a large tank containing "dangerous" shark species, including a Bull Shark that has been there for 30 years! Again, I was too fascinated to snap more than a couple pictures in this area. As we wandered out, we found a desk where you could sign up for a tour of the working area above the giant Kuroshio tank. The tour was completely in Japanese, but we had fun just seeing everything. The girls got a sheet of stickers from the tour guide because they were well mannered! From here, we went to the deep sea area...more on that in the next post! When you exit the main aquarium, there are more buildings! We saw the Turtle Pools that are home to five different types of sea turtles and include a nesting beach where the turtles lay eggs every year. The next building was the Manatee House and we saw two females and two males. This building was older and being updated. We arrived at the Dolphin Lagoon just after a show started so we had to watch from the side, but we will time it better next trip. We still got a great view! It was nearing 5 PM so we took one more side-trip, which you will read about in a later post, and headed for home. I highly recommend going to the Aquarium if you are ever on island. We purchased the annual pass which is a great deal if you are going to be on Okinawa for any length of time. It is the price of two admissions and provides unlimited access for a year. Not only do we have more to do up there, but it will make a nice trip for some one-on-one time with the kiddos. I took a burgillion pictures, but only posted a few... so you will have to come and visit to see it all!
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