November 23, 2005 - The Georgia Aquarium



It was the first day that the Georgia Aquarium opened to the general public and we had to be there (we being mom, Bridget, Brendan, Kelsey, Caroline, Wayne, Eulalia, Ben, Bill, Carey, me and Jill).


The gang poses in the entrance.


Jill poses with Deepo, the mascot of the Georgia Aquarium, and some mad scientist dude.


Mom bought everyone scales to support the Aquarium. This is one of a few places where Jill and I have our names engraved, embossed, etcetera.


Kelsey poses by her fish scale.
click here for the complete rundown


There are computers where, if you type part of your name, it finds your scale and generates a bulls-eye to help you locate your scale.


Going inside the river area where they have bug-eyed 'blue catfish' and three-foot-long aroana.


Upstairs at the Georgia area, Kelsey plays in the lighthouse.


One of Jill's favorite, the logger-head turtle...


Kelsey plays at the touching pond with shrimp.


...which performed at the glass in front of Jill for several minutes.


Off to the main attraction, we get a glimpse of one the stars - whale sharks - swimming by the photo-op window.


In the walk-through tunnel, a huge grouper is surrounded by its own persona fleet of little yellow guys.


In the obgligatory 'picture of someone taking a picture,' Aunt Caroline catches me looking back through the tunnel.




The giants repeatedly swam overhead (though it took several minutes for each float-by, since the tank is so large [>6,000,000 gallons] and they swim so darn slow).


They really are beautiful creatures.


So hard to get these guys to fit in the frame...


D'yar!
Cut off the tail again!


That 'little guy' is probably about a foot long, to give perspective.


In front of the big window (the second-largest window of glass in the world), one of the whale-sharks swims by with a large shark and two several-hundred-pound grouper dwarfed by comparison.


We sat in front of the big windows for over a half an hour.


Its a big window - 60+ feet long and twenty-something feet tall.


The Reef area has several warm-water exhibits.


In front of the tropical coral tank.


Brendan shows Kelsey the fish.


Kelsey really liked this one.


Kelsey really liked this tank.


Eulalia holding Kelsey.


Ben and Kelsey in front of the cold area.


Jill dug the belugas.


We watched the five of them play for a while.
We also watched the penguins, sea otters, and sea lions play, but it was too dark and they were too fast for any pictures to turn out (not that I didn't try).


While we were in the cold section, the rest watched the 4-D movie.


Posing with the glasses.


Bridget and Kelsey ride a mermaid by the cafe.