Visit and Enjoy the World’s Biggest Aquarium: Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta

My childhood friend, May Godfrey, has been residing in South Carolina for quite a while. So when she learned that my daughter Trina and I would be in Atlanta, Georgia, she immediately volunteered to pick us up and take us around this part of town. When in Atlanta, a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s biggest, is a must. And so May, dutifully brought us there. Photo below shows us (standing L, May; R, Trina; sitting, me) outside the Georgia Aquarium, Pemberton Place.

The Georgia Aquarium is home to more than 100,000 animals, representing 500 species, all of which reside in 10 million US gallons (38,000 m³) of marine and fresh water. Each entrance ticket for adults costs around $32 and $26 for children (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Aquarium). Photo shows part of the interior of the aquarium. Notice the changing color of the lights that provides for a delightful aquarium atmosphere.

The aquarium is grouped and named accordingly: Ocean Voyager, Georgia-Pacific Cold Water Quest, River Scout, Tropical Diver, Georgia Explorer, and Dolphin Tales. Before the entrance to the main exhibition area, we were amused to find these pompano and trevally, as they are popular dishes in the Philippines whether, grilled, steamed or fried. 

Inside, is the Georgia Explorer. This gallery is a highly interactive gallery with touch pools full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays and shrimp. The touch pool offers the guests an opportunity to touch an animal they may have only seen in books or on television. The sandy bottom represents a coastal region where several species of sharks and rays can be found (http://animalguide.georgiaaquarium.org/home/galleries/georgia-explorer/exhibits). Photo below shows a stingray at the touch pool.

Beside the Georgia Explorer is the River Scout. In the River Scout gallery, we discovered a wide diversity of animals found in the rivers of Africa, South America, and Asia. Interesting animals in this gallery are the albino alligator in the picture below (L) and the man-eating piranha(R).

We walked further along the aquarium and found ourselves inside the Georgia-Pacific Cold Water Quest gallery. This gallery showcases animals found in cold marine waters. What we found were these interesting mix (photo below: upper L, Japanese Spider Crab; upper R, Garibaldi; lower L, Beluga Whales; lower R, Weedy Sea Dragon).

We walked past the food court, where guests could take refreshments, into the Ocean Voyager.  This is an interesting area because we walked through an acrylic tunnel and a gigantic acrylic viewing window where we witnessed thousands of fish swimming overhead and in front of us (photo below L-R). With 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and the second largest viewing window in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick, visitors have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/exhibits-and-galleries/ocean-voyager.aspx).

 

 We were specially intrigued by the whale sharks, the largest fish in the world, because my husband comes from the ‘Whale Shark Capital’ of the Philippines, Donsol, Sorsogon. Donsol is also a diver’s paradise to swim with manta rays. Photos L-R: (upper) Trina seriously viewing the fish overhead the round acrylic; manta ray, (lower L-R) whale shark and other species, and me pointing at the whale shark.

 The last gallery that we visited was the most relaxing and the most colorful, the Tropical Diver. It is home to one of the largest tropical coral reefs on display in the world. Photos L-R: Yellow Tang, Bartlet’s Anthias, Lagoon Jelly, Lion’s Mane Jelly and Garden Eel (below). The background photo is a large living coral reef. Benches are provided for guests to take a seat and drink-in the view.