Mom and the Acquarium

With Mom still in Atlanta visiting from NY, we headed to the brand new Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta yesterday. The Georgia Aquarium is the hottest thing going in Atlanta. It is the largest aquarium in the world. We purchased tickets online when she arrived and it was already almost sold out for the week. Our tickets were for 6:00PM yesterday. Mom was extremely excited about the aquarium as she had even heard about it in New York. This acquarium has been receiving national exposure prior to it opening. Upon arriving, the line for the parking garage was down the block, so we just parked around the block to save some time. We than waited in line for about 25 minutes before entering. Immediately, you could tell how impressive this place was.

The aquarium is divided into 5 sections by different wildlife: Cold Water Quest, Georgia Explorer, Ocean Voyager, River Scout and Tropical Diver. They also have a large cafe and ballroom for private functions. Mom and I started at the Cold Water Quest. This was both of our favorite. In cold water quest, they had 2 amazing Beluga Whales that were received from Mexico in poor health. They have slowly been nursing them back to health and they look great. Cold water quest also has Sea Otters, Sea Lions and African Black Footed Penguins.

Our second endeavor was in Ocean Voyager. In the Ocean Voyager, there is a tunnel that you can either walk through or use a moving sidewalk. The tank surrounds you on three sides. Snappers, Trevally Jacks, Stingrays, Goliath Grouper and the massive Whale Shark will swim around you. Pretty cool when you look up and this massive Whale Shark is swimming right above you.

Third exhibit is a collection of marine wildlife from The Amazon and other rivers, River Scout. Arawama, electric eel, and Piranha are among the fish you will see there.

Next was the Tropical Reef which is a collection of living Coral Reef and fish such has seahorses, jellyfish, and yellow head jawfish. The Coral Reef is living and will continue to grow and become more impressive. It was a nice exhibit. Having just been at The Great Barrier Reef, it didn't impress me as it might have as it paled in comparison to The Great Barrier Reef. Also, I am not a big fan of jellyfish as they are nasty creatures that forced me to wear a full body "stinger" suit while snorkelling on The Great Barrier Reef.

Last was the Georgia Explorer, which was more geared to kids. It was an interactive exhibit where you can see and touch wildlife native to the coast of Georgia. Crabs, sea stars, and shrimp are the big part of the exhibit. Mostly things that interest me more as dinner than seeing and touching.

Overall, the aquarium was a huge success. My mom was extremely excited about seeing the aquarium and left with her jaw open from seeing it. Very impressive and worthwhile to see.


Pictures:

Ocean Explorer- Fish and Stingray
Mom in front of Coral Reef exhibit
African Penguins
Beluga Whale