Saturday, May 2nd--In deciding where we wanted to go on our We-Survived-Law-School Trip, we decided that we wanted to see ocean animals and spend a lot of time on a beach. Yesterday, we went to the beach. Today, we planned on going to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium so that we could see ocean animals.
Nago is on the eastern side of the island, and the aquarium is on the western side. We caught a couple of buses to get to the aquarium, and we were shocked to find out that it cost our large family over a hundred dollars to get to the aquarium by bus. Good grief!
This is the gate as we began our walk on the path toward the aquarium. Some carp flags waved in the breeze. Under the carp from left to right is Nathan, Tayla, Caitlin holding Kirstina, Logan, and Christopher. Audra didn't want to be in the picture.
Along the path, we noticed these awesome ocean creatures made from flowers! So pretty! This one is a turtle.
We also found a crab.....
.....a shark.....
....an octopus......
.....and a manta ray!
More carp flags!
Finally, we reached the Churaumi Aquarium. In the Okinawan dialect, "churaumi" means clear, beautiful seas. This aquarium is the third largest in the world!
We started out at a touching pool. There were starfish, sea cucumber, and little fish. You can see Tayla, Audra, and Christopher in this picture.
Logan is in this picture, checking out the sea cucumber.
We then moved on to view the many tanks in this aquarium.
Can you see the funky fish looking at you?
Audra started to feel sick, and so we put her in the stroller. She used this pink water bottle to throw up a little bit whenever she needed to. We wondered if she just swallowed too much ocean water yesterday and it was upsetting her tummy. She liked seeing the fish, but couldn't enjoy it as much as she otherwise would have because she didn't feel well.
Because Audra was in the stroller, Kirstin went in Dad's backpack. She fell asleep not long after I took this picture. The two littlest kids don't seem too impressed with this aquarium so far.
The rest of us couldn't understand why. There were so many beautiful and bright fish!
We saw the underside of this sun starfish.
The ocean's creepy crawly animals.
We loved watching the sea worms!
This aquarium didn't have several different varieties of jellyfish--like the Monterey Bay Aquarium--but they did have these. Jellyfish are so fun.
There are 77 tanks at this aquarium. We got a little overwhelmed at everything we saw.
There are also 80 different species of coral housed here.
These balloon looking things are octopus eggs. If we looked closely, we could see the tiny octopus babies floating around inside the membrane.
Sea horses!
The centerpiece of the aquarium is this tank, known as the Kuroshio Sea Tank.
The large window measures 8.2 meters in height, 22.5 meters wide, and is 60 cm. thick.
There are many varieties of fish swimming in this tank, and its size make you feel like you are in the actual ocean.
This tank boasts several large manta rays (the first successful births of mantas in captivity happened in this tank) and the world's largest fish: whale sharks.
This is the skin of a female great white shark. All of the kids felt it. It felt like old leather.
There were many shark teeth for the kids to look at of all different kinds of sharks.
Tayla and Logan are in this picture checking out the sharks in the tank.
Why does it seem like they always have a stupid look on their face?
Ahhh....this would be why!
There is an old legend in Japan about a goblin called "Tengu". Tengu had a human form and a very long nose which stuck straight out. This goblin lived deep in the mountains and flew high in the sky. Tengu's toenails could sometimes be found in the mountains in Japan. At some Shinto shrines, the nails were kept as objects of worship. After many years, it was discovered that these toenails were actually the fossil teeth to a giant ancient shark. Its teeth resemble those of its living relative, the great white shark. This is the jaws of one of those ancient sharks that are now extinct. Poor Audra had zonked out by this point.
The kids in front of a huge squid.
Puffer fish!
There was a darkened room with lights on the tanks so we could see what lurks at the bottom of the ocean.
After we came out of the darkened room, we found ourselves in a hallway carved out of the Kuroshio Tank. The large whale shark glided right over our heads.....
....as did the enormous manta rays.
We then went into the part of the aquarium where there are no live fish, just a lot of displays and skeletons and such. Logan and Nathan are checking out a megamouth shark.
Seeing the inside of a large shark.
Caitlin and Nathan
Chris and Raymond are in the center.
We spent all morning exploring this aquarium. Notice the escalators coming down and the water mists that are on either side of the sidewalk. It is so hot--we were very happy to be misted as we walked through!
Even though Kirstin had her nap through most of our time in this aquarium and Audra felt sick, all of the other kids thought that this aquarium was awesome!
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