aquarium day

As the weather had turned stormy, with wind and rain, we decided it was a great day to check out the aquarium, or Maui Ocean Center as it's called. When we arrived mid-morning, we realized a whole lot of other people had the same idea, as there was a long line to get in!
We started in the Living Reef building, and had just made it about half way through, when it was time to meet back near the entrance for the Fins and Flippers Tour. We were a group of about 16, with 2 from Germany, and the rest of us Canadians! First we were taken behind the scenes to see week-old seahorses barely 5 mm long, and then we fed brine shrimp to 6 month old jellyfish. We did this by reaching an arm into the tank, gently and carefully turning one over, and pouring the brine shrimp mixture into their "mouth" or underside, then turning them back over and letting them go! Back in the public area, we fed pieces of mackerel to young Hammerhead sharks in an outdoor pool (on the count of three, we all threw our mackeral in at the same time to reduce fighting), and lettuce to Green Sea Turtles in another pool.

After lunch we went back and finished seeing the Living Reef exhibits; they were just excellent and we enjoyed seeing all the various colourful fish, especially the Moorish Idols and Unicorn fish. In the Open Ocean building we were astounded by the column of large jellyfish, quite mesmerizing, and then the enormous shark tank, with large fish and rays too. Around the corner of that tank you walk through a 54 foot acrylic tunnel, and could watch rays or sharks swim overhead; it's like being right inside the tank.

First photo by peter313; second by rustytanton both via flickr