Aquarium of the Pacific and Whale Watching

Over Labor Day weekend, Mike and I decided that we would stay close to home and spend time together. We did, however, make a short trip over to Long Beach (about 40 miles from here) to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Once we arrived, we stood in line waiting to get our tickets. At first we couldn't figure out why it would take so long just to get tickets to get into the Aquarium... then it was our turn! There are so many different things to do at the Aquarium! You can take "Behind the Scenes" tours; "Feed the Animals" tours; "Whale Watching" tours; and just your regular, everyday entrance fee! Mike surprised me with a Whale Watching tour and then the Aquarium tour.

The Whale Watching tour was leaving within a half hour of us getting our tickets, so we wandered over to the wharf that the boat was leaving from. I was surprised to see how many people were going to be in line for the tour... then we found out that there were two tours: one for whales (that we were on) and a harbor tour.

Then we were off! We cruised thru the harbor and out into the deep water of the coast of California! What blue water that is! We sat on the top of the catamaran boat and really enjoyed the breeze that was coming in off the ocean. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool and the dolphin joined us almost as soon as we hit the open water! We saw common dolphin, Risso's dolphins, sea lions, mola mola sunfish, and then- we saw the "steam" of a whale coming to the surface to breathe! How can you say AWESOME with your mouth hanging open?!

The blue whale is the largest mammal on earth. And when you see one, you realize just how small 5'4" really is! Yes, I'm 5'4" and it's small! Blue whales get up to 85 feet long and the boat we were on was 65 feet long. Amazing to say the least!

Mike took the photographs of the whales as I was too short to shot over everyone standing in front of me. I guess there is an advantage to being 6 foot tall... Mike got some really good photos and I'm glad he was able to get them.

After the whale watching tour was over, we walked across the street to eat lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. Mike had fish; I had a burger! I did, however, get the flashing souvenir cup with a cute little shrimp on it to take home!

The Aquarium of the Pacific is a great place to go visit. As every family in Orange County with children under the age of 10 was doing! It was a zoo with kids running everywhere and me trying to take photos with heads bumping my elbows at every turn. OK, I got a couple, but not very many clear photos! It was fun to see the littlest of the visitors when they saw the clown fish display yell out, "Momma! Look! It's Nemo and Dory!" You can't beat that kind of cute.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time dispite the sunburn and windburn.