An Aquarium Visit

The younger girls, a friend and I visited our aquarium recently. The first time we visited, we hadn't lived here long and I was incredibly disapointed by how small and unexciting it was. I guess after living here for two years I've gotten used to small and unexciting because surprisingly, it didn't seem so bad this time. 

The touch tank was a big hit especially with Xury. There was a very kind volunteer who patiently answered all of their questions and they had a LOT of questions. The sea cucumbers (the long brown fuzzy thing in the middle) and the ragged sea hares were soft, almost like fur. 

The star fish was rough and had a muscular feel similar to a snake.

There were also sea urchins, hermit crabs and conch. They touched, observed and asked questions until their fingers were wrinkled and their questions ran out. 

  

    

We got to watch several tanks be fed. We learned lots of fascinating facts about the sex-changing parrot fish who eats coral and poops out sand. Sand pooping 

was a big hit. 

Another highlight was, of course, finding Nemo. 

I like to go slow, let the kids take the lead and allow for lots of exploration.

One of the things Aravis loved was watching this dogfish shark embryo developing inside its case. You could look inside and actually see the baby shark. 

Then, when we went to the beach a few days later, she found an egg case washed up on shore! It was empty meaning the baby had most likely already hatched but she was so excited. This is what it looks like dried out.....

a little like batman.

After the aquarium, we headed out to the lagoon and did some more exploring. 

Xury swam while Aravis and her friend  caught lots of different creatures. We even saw some dolphins in the distance. 

Can you spot the crab? This guy has great camouflage. (Look for the eyes)