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Published: August 6th 2007
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Tonight's Gala Dinner was held at the Georgia Aquarium - and since it hadn't yet opened during my last visit to Atlanta, I was gung-ho to go. As I met the bus, I was rescued by a nice woman who became my friend for the evening. Sometimes, going alone to these things is hard, because even when you know a few people, the chances of running into them are slim! The aquarium is only about three blocks away, but the about 600 people in attendance were too many in number to walk down.
The buses dropped us off and we wound our way down a long path to the aquarium itself. The building was impressive, especially because I knew it was the largest indoor aquarium in the country, at least. We walked down a hallway flanked on both sides by tanks of glowing fish, and headed through security and into the main room. This room seemed to be the center for everything else, and every set of exhibits spiraled from this like an octopus' tentacles. Some people seemed focused on getting a drink and/or food first, but I was bound and determined to see the exhibits. I managed to first
Whoop there it is - Georgia Aquarium
What you can't see when it's still light is that behind the glass, there is a mural of a diver underwater. Very neat! go in to one of the coolest sets of exhibits, the Coldwater Quest. I had been separated from my friend, but we met up later in the Ocean Voyager exhibit. In the Coldwater Quest, I first came upon the touch pool, where a number of sea anemones and a few starfish lived. The woman watching the exhibit later told us that it was advisable only to touch the tentacles of the anemones, because in the center was both their mouth and their means of relieving themselves - that kept everyone in line! Walking along a dark corridor, I came upon a large glass wall that looked into the Beluga whale tank. Three Belugas seemed to be performing a water ballet in tune with the delicate background music. There was one male, and then a female and her 12 year old daughter - their muscular beauty is something to behold. I continued to wander along and found a couple of playful sea otters! They have such funny little personalities, and they enjoyed frolicking in the water and rolling over and over - they seem so joyful. When I saw them again later, it was bedtime, and one little guy had his
paws covering his face, apparently trying to shield himself from the lights that remained on!
I also peeked in on the sea lion, who zipped along in his little pool and peeked up every once in a while. I felt like he had more of a mission, because he was intent on swimming around his little pool very seriously. Next came the penguins - officially known as African penguins, they are more commonly considered "Jackass penguins" because they bray much like a donkey does. One of the girls who sensed a future as a penguin caretaker waved her hands around excitedly, which fascinated the little guys so much so that one of them fell right into the water! You could also duck under the exhibit and into a little peephole type of thing, so it felt as though you were in the exhibit with the penguins. A little claustrophobic though! When I saw the penguins again later, they also looked ready for bed, and in fact one tucked himself in, stretching his little legs out and puffing up all of his feathers. It was very cute.
My next adventure was the Ocean Voyager exhibit, by far the most
expensive one. The little glassed in walls-o-fish, if you will, were great, but the most impressive part of the exhibit began well after even the tunnel of fish, when you entered the Ocean Voyager Theater. As you walk in, you are accosted with the largest wall of water I have ever seen - the acrylic glass was made by a Japanese company and shipped over in container ships. The individual panels were then brought to the aquarium and set down, only to be covered by a tarp. This was to protect the secret way in which they were fused together - which is apparently so secret, the man funding the project wasn't allowed to see how it was done. The acrylic window is two feet thick (although to the eye it apears much thinner!) and cost $18 million. Inside the tan, you could fit 200 school buses, stacked three high - it's HUGE. There are a ton of cool fish to see in there too - from the little jack fish, to these huge dopey looking potato fish (they seemed to really like the people), and even three large whale sharks - Trixie, Norton, and another female. I also particularly
enjoyed the little sea rays - as they swam towards us, they looked like little floating angels. They were so delicate, peaceful and graceful. We could have watched them all day!
By then, it was seriously time to eat though. The catering is done by Wolfgang Puck catering, and truly, the food was delicious (and when does that ever happen at an event this large?!?). I had some type of noodle satay, which was a bit spicy, and a chicken and rice dish. I heard the sweet potato risotto was delicious, and there was a lot of other buffet food as well. For dessert, you had to do some work though - it was a search. Luckily, we were already on the hunt for other exhibits! We went next to the Tropical Diver, for which we had heard rave reviews. Initially, we came upon a little section with a very strange school of fish, who insisted on sticking to the left side of the tank only. They would swim, but only together, and only in circles. One woman likened their swimming to hair - and it did reminds me of the gentle way that hair flows underwater. On the
Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea
Swim so wild, and you swim so free. Heaven above and the sea below, and a little white whale on the go! bottom of this tank, there were little garden eels, who apparently lived under the "sea" bottom and peeked up to check things out. They looked like little snakes or a garden of green beans - most odd. There were also some beautifuly colored tropical fish there, many of them ignited in flaming colors or electrified by blues and greens. We continued along the hallway and found two sets of jellyfish, which I find just fascinating. Especially because of the way that they are kept in tank - you can never see the bottom, or anything in with them. It's just endless blue water with these mysterious floating ghosts. It can be very eerie as well as mesmerizing.
Then magically, in the Barrier Reef recreation (which made it feel like daytime in Australia!), we found the much sought after desserts! I tested a couple, and found that the best was, of course, the little key lime pie tartlet. Satisfied, we continued on again, seeing little clown fish - Nemo! - tiny seahorses hanging on to their reeds in a desperate attempt at rest, a little sea scorpion (CREEPY!), and even some inky blue fish, who apparently meets his mate every
day at dusk for courtship and mating. This factoid impressed everyone, except that we couldn't figure out how he knew it was dusk in a lighted tank!
I now realize that I unfortunately missed the River Scout and Georgia Explorer exhibits, which wouldn't be so bad, except that Georgia Explorer houses Loggerhead sea turtles, which I LOVE. So that's a little disappointing. I mean, I'm still not on board with necessarily coming back to Atlanta! Despite the raucous dancing taking place on the dance floor, a few of us were pretty tired by ten thirty and headed towards the bus and a long night's sleep. I also somehow managed to miss out on the evening's gift - a little glass sea creature figurine. Bummer. Although, it's not like I need something else to put on my shelves at home!
It really was a successful night. Although I didn't meet many people, I did end up enjoying myself and learned a lot about sea animals. It does feel as though the conference is finished, which is always the danger with a middle-of-the-conference gala, but tomorrow should also be productive. Maybe not for those whooping it up on the dance
floor though - I tapped my toes a little, but these marketers, they're too wild for me! I need my friends around for that kind of frivolity 😊
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Mandy
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Baby Beluga
Hey Lins, do you have any more Beluga whale pictures? Skipper loves them!