Things To Do: The Georgia Aquarium

Last month we made the trip to Atlanta, Georgia for a weekend of exploring. You see, I have an obsession with sharks, and basically marine life, so the Georgia Aquarium has been on my list of places to go for so long. Basically since they built the habitat for Whale Sharks. I mean, have you seen photos of them? They are massive, beautiful and amazing animals.

This was the highlight of the trip for me, and I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when we woke up on Saturday to go to the aquarium. I may have had tears in my eyes as we walked up to the area that held the Whale Sharks. But I am getting ahead of myself. We got there as soon as they opened, and there was no line at all. When you walk into the lobby, there are several different areas to explore. You can go to the Ocean Voyager, Coldwater Crest, River Scout, Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, and the 3D Wondershow. We of course went for the Ocean Voyager first, the Whale Sharks were calling.

 

 

Walking down the hall, you get a few sneak peaks into the huge tank that hold so many amazing marine animals. Then you get to a moving walkway going through a tunnel. This is where the fish, sharks, stingrays, etc can swim above you and next to you. Seriously it was amazing. After this space, you can keep walking towards a touch and feel area, here they had some smaller sharks and string ways to touch.

Then as you walk a little further, the opening becomes a huge wall of marine life. Seriously, this wall is huge. Floor to ceiling and all built with glass. I could have literally sat there all day. Thankfully, the room was pretty empty and we were able to get great photos. When we went back later in the day, the room was packed. All of the animals would swim by, and little kids would try and grab the little fish. It was the coolest room ever.

That photo isn’t even zoomed in, that is how close we were!

Once we exited we went towards Coldwater Quest . The room had a penguin exhibit where you could go below the exhibit and then stand up in the middle. We were one with the penguins here. Such a cool experience to see a penguin just a few feet from your head. There were also adorable sea otters, and manatees. The touch and feel area of this had starfish and anemones. The anemones felt like nothing I would have expected, seriously it felt like touching air.

Next, we scooped out the River Scout section where they had a white alligator, turtles, and more. They also had more oppurtunites to “be one with the animals” and climb under habitats. This was such a unique experience that I haven’t found anywhere else. There were some little girls amazed by being apart of the big tank.

Our last exhibit area was the tropical diver. The jellyfish were my favorite part of this area, they are just so beautiful and majestic. They have their own section of this exhibit, and were amazing to photograph. There were some children mesmerized by this pretty creatives. As we walked through the rest of the tropical exhibit, we came to an area that was a mini version of the whale shark exhibit, and there was even a diver inside! It was really cool to see.

Once we finished exploring, we made our way to the dolphin show. I will admit, I wasn’t a fan, but I won’t get into that. I just suggest skipping this part if you head to the Georgia Aquarium.

They have a seal exhibit coming in the next year, which sounds amazing and is going to be the Georgia Explorer area. I would highly recommend a trip to the Georgia Aquarium if you are in town. The Whale Sharks themselves make it worth it!

I received free admission and discounts in exchange for a review of the Georgia Aquarium.