18 February 2013 - Bay Aquarium

Awoke to a chilly gray day. Today's agenda was to walk over to Pier 39 for TulipMania. The pier has full-time gardeners that plan and plant wonderful gardens throughout the year. February has thousands of tulips and daffodils planted in huge barrels. What is even more fun, is all the groupings are labeled, so if you really love that purple and white streaked tulip, you can find it by name. Nice!  All the groupings were different. Some in reds, or yellow and oranges, or white and blue. It was all beautifully done. It was hard to get photos for all the people looking at them.

But first things first. Pier 39 also has a carousel. What is unique about this one is that it's a double decker. Only place I have ever seen or heard of one. The smaller upper layer has two rows of horses.  None of the animals on this carousel are hand carved, they are some sort of plastic or plexi material that is a shell, their bellies are hollow. Nevertheless they are very nice and the ride is great. All the paintings around the top are places and scenes around San Francisco. It is quite lovely. 

  I quite liked the hare. The ears were wonderful. This carousel had dolphins, sea lions and even a panda: not your usual carousel fare. 

Next we wandered over to the Bay Aquarium. That was  really a treat! This aquarium only houses fish found in the San Francisco Bay, and what an amazing richness that is.  Inside were several floor to ceiling round plexiglass aquariums. When I am rich and famous, or after winning the lotto I swear I will have two of these. The first one I am lusting after was filled-- and I mean totally filled with  anchovies. Oh, shiny!

And the fun part is that they often open their mouths as wide as possible and just hold it that way for up to 30 seconds.  When they do this, the light glistens on their gills and it punctuates the tank with little lights. Cool!  The light reflecting off their faces made it very hard to get a good picture, but the sparkles of light would stop you in your tracks.                                                                                      

The many anemones gave a whole new meaning to an octopus's garden. The tiny little strawberry anemone was a delight! Bright and cheerful. 

One of the tanks had a decorator crab with a strawberry anemone growing on top of his head. Don't know if he planted it there, or if it just took root, but it surely was interesting. Maybe it was a she crab who wanted a pretty hat.                                                                      The second thing I am lusting over are jellyfish. Once again, a huge round tank full of jellies. They are mesmerizing. I could watch them for hours. If I ever achieved my dream of a huge tank of jellies it would probably be the end of my life as I know it. This tank of moon jellies had lights on top that changed colors, illuminating the jellies. It was pretty, but the natural translucent white is enough. 

 This was the tip of the iceberg. Other jellies on display included the Medusa. This picture is actual size.

And nettles:

 

There were many starfish, but what was neat was being able to see their bottom sides. Much of the aquarium was comprised of walk through tunnels, so we got a really good look at them. Loved it!

 I am wondering if this is the starfish's stomach. They eat by turning their stomach inside out and digesting theeir food from the outside in. If it is, well, it certainly is the prettiest stomach  I've ever seen.

 Another tank had abalones. I have eaten these and thought I'd died and gone to heaven, but this was the first time I'd seen live ones. They look fairly prehistoric--like I imagine trilobytes might have looked. 

 Robin and I were both surprised about how great this little aquarium was. We'd both go back in a heartbeat.  One of the last best things was a massive octopus. He was huge and his mantle reminded me of Manny the Mammoth in Ice Age. 

This ray was swimming overhead. His underside looks like a happy little face--something out of a Disney movie. Considering his eyes are on the other side, does this make him a two-faced fish? 

As we were leaving the aquarium I saw an elevated tank with a head bubble so children could get a fish eye view. Naturally I coerced Robin into crawling underneath. I was amused and Robin bemused when a little kid crawled in with her. The hole wasn't really big enough for two. 

All in all, it was another wonderful day.