“Mom, mo-ooom!”
A small child tugged on my sweater sleeve, jarring me out of my trance. I’d been kneeling in front of a large tank, staring at a muscular, pea-green moray eel for who knows how long, until this little boy startled me.
“Sorry, bud, I’m not your mom,” I told him, quickly scanning the Splash Zone & Penguins room for his caretaker before turning back to the mesmerizing ocean creature holding my gaze.
The formidable moray eel is just one of myriad fascinating creatures at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. From tiny striped pyjama squids, which lie buried in sand all day, and slender leopard sharks that glide through a kelp forest to the super-intelligent giant Pacific octopus and adorable, squeal-inducing sea otters (seriously, Gidget, Abby, Ivy, Kit, Rosa and Selka are a dynamic little group of rescued mammals), Monterey Bay Aquarium has it all for lovers of the ocean and its inhabitants — in a fitting location right on the Northern California coast.
The most stunning exhibit was Open Sea, the Aquarium's largest exhibit, where a scalloped hammerhead shark, an enormous green sea turtle, an ocean sunfish and a pelagic stingray glide in harmony with Pacific bonitos, dolphinfish, northern anchovies and Pacific sardines.
I could have watched them float across the 90-foot window all day, but the rest of the 322,000-square-foot aquarium was beckoning — particularly the alien-like jellies of all shapes, colors and sizes nearby.
The Details
Monterey Bay Aquarium
www.montereybayaquarium.org
