My Hands Smell Like FISH!!!

Now here's a face for you!!!  Look close at the eyes!!  Let me tell you about the seals that made me laugh.  There are about nine kids that live here.  They aren't all out at once since the pool isn't that big.  I'm sure most cannot be returned to the ocean since I saw several misshapen fins.  What a riot these babies are!!

For $2 each, you can but a container of really stinky oily fish to feed the seals.  Definitely do this!  It's a kick to see the antics they go through.  The picture above is taken through a thick glass window at the end (not too clean, thus the rather blurry picture).  To the left is a ramp with a steel grating that you can drop the fish through, or better yet, throw them to the one you want to receive the morsel.

Turn your hand in a circle and they will turn with you ... ignore the one in back and he will slap his fins together making a loud noise, or even slap the water and splash everyone.  All of this means you will have stinky oily greasy nasty fingers ... worth every second!!  They have a wash station where you can TRY to get the smell off ... use LOTS of soap!!  This was so much fun, people went back again and again for more fish!  

Knowing how much fun this was, and seeing a big family come in, I bought a container of fish for each o the kids.  You should have seen the looks on their faces!!  Every single one said thank you as they went next to the pool and I showed them how to make the seals clap.  Also worth every penny!!

After washing my hand three times, since I didn't really want anything oily around my camera, I set off through the rest of the very small aquarium building for some pictures.  It's pretty dark inside, making for terrible images, but you can still get the idea.

Ever wonder what the underside of a starfish looks like?  You can not only see it here in the small "touch me" pond, but you can actually feel them.  Don't be shy ... reach on in and pet a starfish or a sea cucumber!

Here's a sight I've never seen before.  The things you can learn at an aquarium are pretty cool.  This is a wolf eel.  While filming underwater in Hawaii many years ago, one of these guys came up out of a hole and scared the heck out of me.  The video caught me squealing since they look three times as big through a camera lens!!  Thinking this guy was sick, I looked up to read that after eating a big meal, they lay on their side.  It aids digestion.  I think I need to try that!!  

NOT having eaten recently, this huge guy was upright and pretty grumpy looking!!  They are very territorial, which is why that one tried to convince me to move on.  It worked.

This pacific octopus was just hanging out on the side of a rock enclosure.  He's actually underwater and a little hard to photograph, but a beauty, nonetheless.

There were lots of other fish ... some pretty colors and some plain like this guy.  Now you'll have a very good idea of what lurks beneath the waves when you look out to the ocean.  There's another whole world underwater.

I'm happy to say I finally DID get to go kite flying.  There was just enough wind that I was actually able to keep it in the air as I tried to remember even two of the many moves John Barresi taught me last year.  At least I can say I didn't crash ... not once.  I'll have a few pictures tomorrow, along with another restaurant review.