The Aquarium of the Pacific: A Photo Essay

During the first weekend of August, my family and I took a day trip to the Long Beach Aquarium (alternately titled the Aquarium of the Pacific). Although it's obviously nowhere near as cool as "being there," I was very pleased by the amount of FSM/Palau flora, fauna & facts the Aquarium had on display. Here are a few of my favorite moments (all photos credited to the kind & generous Kathy Wright):

The first section of the museum we discovered was the "Tropical Pacific" Gallery--16 exhibits dedicated solely to the "beautiful marine life you would find off the coast of Palau" (AoP website). Here's the map to one side of the entrance:


And a close up of the expanse between Palau (in the west/left) & FSM (Kosrae is furthest east/right):


I learned something about Palau's Rocky Emerald Isles:


And got a glimpse of Nemo! (The photo taken of my brother & me in front of the "Baby Clownfish" filled mom with glee):


The biggest exhibit was a replication of Palau's Blue Corner -- a reef shelf noted for its beauty & its diverse sealife. We saw a diver demonstration with experts who had been to the real Blue Corner; they said it was the best in the world for variety!


But my favorite representation of FSM/Palau is from this map (found in the colorful, chirpy bird section of the Aquarium). As you can see, it is a map of the neighborhood, with other countries represented as land masses, but FSM/Palua represented as a sea monster. Awesome!


So in lieu of something new, I just thought I'd post something interesting/fun. Now I'm off to the beach--(un)fortunately my present corner of the Pacific doesn't look anything like this. No sea monsters of any sort.

Peace!
Mollie