Adventure Aquarium

Our final stop on our Philadelphia tour was the Adventure Aquarium.  We had a great time until 700 elementary school kids decided to join us.  We figured we were being clever going to a museum on a Monday in February, no school groups visit on a Monday especially in February but boy were we wrong.  We did at least have the Aquarium to ourselves for the first hour and a half.  We made sure that we saw all the touch exhibits and the shark tunnel before the school arrived which was a very smart decision on our part.  There were lots of neat touch exhibits which most aquariums are getting away from.  I understand why from a biological perspective why touch exhibits are bad but they are quite fun.  We touched: sharks, rays, starfish, crabs, lobsters, and jellyfish.  It was my first time touching a jellyfish on purpose (I got stung a few times by small jellyfish when we were in the Bahamas) but this one did not sting.

Jellyfish

Don't loose a finger to the sharks 

Did you see that Ray?

I'd rather play with these Rays

When we had finished all the touch tanks we moved on to the shark tunnel.  In order to get to the shark tunnel you pass by the hippo enclosure and I have never seen such lively hippos (I've see a lot of hippos in my time).  They were moving around like crazy it was amazing. 

Swimming Hippos

The shark tunnel was pretty amazing too but I had a hard time tying to get a good picture with a shark in the background (I need to work on  my photography).  I kinda wish we had come on a Saturday and then I could have swam with the sharks, maybe next time.

 GET ME OUT OF HERE (not a fan)

Oooo, Sharks I like sharks or maybe just my reflection

All in all this was one of the better aquariums that I have been to but unlike the Baltimore and Boston Aquariums this one does not handle 700 screaming kids very well.  We left much sooner than we would have had the elementary school not been there.