We spent part of the weekend at the Vancouver Aquarium hanging out with the fish, jellyfish, frogs, rays, sea lions, whales… oh, heck… all The Marine Life!

If you find yourself in Vancouver, the Aquarium is a worthwhile way to spend a morning, afternoon or day. I particularly appreciate the focus on conservatism, rehabilitation and providing homes to the marine life which can not be released. As an example, check out Chester’s page. When I lived in Florida (shhh…don’t tell anyone (kidding, Florida Friends!)) the Mote Marine Laboratory was a frequent destination; since I moved to Seattle the Seattle Aquarium has replaced The Mote and I’ll be adding the Vancouver Aquarium to the rotation!

Side note: I tend to make photos of things that move very slowly: buildings, mountains, etc. (airplanes are the exception). The frogs were good subjects, all smiles!, until they used those “fast twitch” muscles. The fish? They were kind enough to pose nicely but let’s turn those frowns upside down, guys! (smh) The rays…sigh…the rays wouldn’t pose, the water was moving… the reflected light! I need to spend some quality time making photos of things that move a bit more quickly and probably re-consider shooting fully manual.

Swimming (with the) fishes (not really…)!

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Frogs!

The pull quote from one of the frog exhibits was, I suspect, both informative and representative of the dry Canadian humor.

…thin skinned and sensitive, in their own froggy way.

It can’t be easy being green. Or orange. Or orange and green…or…a frog.

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Chester, a False Killer Whale, is the sweet guy in the left of the first photo and the bottom third of the last two. Helen the acrobatic, leaping lady is a Pacific White Sided Dolphin whose fins were damaged in fishing nets. The focus of the “show” was marine husbandry and a very informative 30 minutes; nice work by the staff to avoid “Sea World”.

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Jellyfish!

Nice to see jellyfish without risk of being stung!

Rays!

Again, nice to see the rays without the need to shuffle or risk of a sting!

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Big Jellyfish. Very Big Jellyfish.

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Need a relaxing distraction? The Jellycam might help!

Sleeping Sea Otter!

Belugia Whale!

Beautiful white Belugia Whale. Smaller than I imagined, about 14 ft long, and while this one was just learning new behaviors, it certainly has “side eye” down pat.

A Penguin with an intense stare.