The Aquarium of the Pacific - Fascinating, Fun and Helping Save the Future
By C. MacDonald
Want to see SHARKS swim inches from your head?
How about watching cute SEA OTTERS do backstrokes and dives before your very eyes?
Would you like to go underwater and FEED THE FISH?
Want to help SAVE THE SEA?
These are just a few possible thrills waiting for you at the spectacular Aquarium of the Pacific, anchor to The Pike at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach. There are more than 500 species in 19 major habitats and 32 focus exhibits at the "way impressive" place which highlights three main areas of the Pacific Ocean-Southern California/Baja, Tropical Pacific and Northern Pacific.
Not only will you learn so much (like Sea Otters have the densest coats of any mammal to stay warm in the cold waters off the Central Coast), but there's something of awe for every age and every interest. You can stroll through and watch the amazement of sea life through huge windows or at shark and sea lion shows or, if you're a diver and have Open Water Certification, you can actually take part in "Dive Immersion," a program designed to allow you to journey into the 350,000-gallon Tropical Reef Habitat and check out some of the 1,000 fish. You'll even be given a camera to video underwater. Lucky divers are doing this daily between 3-5:30pm. Find out more at aquariumofpacific.org.