Two Oceans Aquarium

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Looking at the Fishies in the Deep Blue Sea…

After my exam on Saturday morning, Katie and I decided that since it was POURING rain, it was an excellent day to go to the Two Oceans Aquarium. I was very excited about going to the aquarium, since they had a live kelp forest (ok, so I didn’t know much about kelp beforehand, but the website sure sounded excited about it), penguins, and a “predator tank.”

Apparently, every other person in Cape Town had the same idea as us, and the aquarium was crowded, especially full of children. The first few exhibits were pretty cool, with themes from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and a touch tank where I got to pet some sea anemones and starfish. The seals were very playful and it was a good exhibit for them, but unfortunately, none of them felt like cooperating for a picture.

The next few exhibits were a little disappointing, however. The kelp forest was nice, but you can only watch underwater trees undulating for so long. The predator tank was a complete disappointment; it was full of random fish that all looked the same to me, and approximately three teensy sharks that looked like they were missing all their teeth anyway. They had a good exhibit about Maxine the Shark, a reef shark that got tangled up in some fishing nets in 1995, and was rehabilitated at the aquarium, then released in 2005. I didn’t realize how many animals get caught up in the fishing nets, like the albatross and other sea birds that drown. Also, off the coast of China, a lot of Chinese fishermen will catch sharks, de-fin them, and then toss them back in the ocean where they are unable to swim because of their lack of appendages. It’d basically be like if someone chopped off all your arms and legs and then tried to make you walk home. Poor sharkies.

I got some good looks at moray eels (which are huge, lazy and ugly), spider crabs (which I had never heard of before, and all I could think about was an all you can eat crab buffet), and the seventeen different kinds of lobsters indigenous to the area. They actually call lobsters “crayfish” here, which to me is very silly, since I just think of the tiny little crawfish we have in Louisiana. That would be one helluva crawfish boil, though.

Then Saturday evening, Professor Uphoff took a group of students to one of his favorite restaurants that’s closing for the off-season, where our table shared four different kinds of fish that are indigenous to the area. They were all delicious and very very fresh. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to Cubana again for some late night shenanigans. My hair looked pretty good, so I decided to include a picture or two.

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Photos

Lionfish
My dad used to have one of these. It was mean.

Lobster
Really felt like fishing one out and steaming it.

The sun came out
Finally, the sun came out just at sunset and I caught this great view down at the waterfront.

at Cubana
Courtney and I at Cubana. We were hot.

Comments

[mommy]

langustos!!!!!
Andelez, Andelez langustos!!!!!

[laura]

correction on that last picture: we ARE hot... well, at least you are.. i dont know this other strange girl, so i dont want to be all up on her shizz. but lovah... never use "were" with the hottness! xoxoxo

[Uncle K]

Nice shots
Shy Great photos! Keep 'em comin' and writing-- it's nice to follow your "shenanigans."