Here fishy fishy 🐠🐟🐬🐡🐳🐋
Going the Georgia Aquarium was everything I wanted and more! OMGosh talk about experiencing the underworld in their natural habitat. The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world. It was the largest in the world from the opening in 2005 up until 2012 but China of course had to be bigger and better and built the now largest one in Singapore.
But this place is huge! As you walk though it, you’re surrounded by glass windows displaying the largest, more interesting, intense fish I’d ever seen. My brother Kevin, my beautiful new sister Nardia and my most precious nephew was in town for the weekend and I had to show both them and myself this masterpiece for the first time.
While by now, I’ve lived in Atlanta for about 5 months, I’d surprisingly never made it out to the place but and I was thrilled to experience it with the people I love. And when I say that, I am talking mainly about showing my most favorite person in the world, my three-year-old nephew some badass sharks and underwater animals. I just really wanted to leave a visual impression on the kid that I only hope he’ll remember years from now.
Here are some quick facts about the place:
- Location: Downtown Atlanta north of Centennial Olympic Park, near the CNN Center, Georgia Congress and World Of Coca-cola
- Admission: $26.95 (Children under 2 are free)
- Size: 550,000 Square Feet with over 8 million gallons of fresh and salt water exhibits
- Number of animals: More than 100,000
- Number of species: 500
So going through the Aquarium, much like the zoo, I turned into a three-year-old alongside my nephew peering into exhibits. We saw sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, jellyfish, sward fish, and thousands of other interesting fish of all sizes and varying ancestors. There were even little windows where you can almost step out into a bubble which gives you almost an illusion that you’re swimming with the fish. The aquarium gives you a chance to walk through tunnels where you’re fully immersed underwater looking up to beluga whales and white fish sharks. In less words than more, the aquarium is awesome! 
For organizational purposes, the aquarium is broke down by five galleries: River Scout, Dolphin Tales, Cold Water Quest, Ocean Voyage and Tropical Diver. Each exhibit corresponds to a specific environment.
- Southern Company River Scout. The fish in this exhibit are fish known local to North America. It features an overhead river where you can see fish such as piranhas, electric fish and other freshwater life found in America.
- AT&T Dolphin Tales. Right next to the River Scout is where you’ll find the dolphin gallery. This gallery opened in 2011 making it the newest addition to the aquarium. This exhibit houses thirteen bottlenose dolphins who all swim around together impressing the viewers. If you’re interested you can stay for the AT&T Dolphin Tales show which is included in your general admission ticket. The show last about 20-30 minutes and includes an informative/education videos before the show.
- Georgia Pacific Cold Water Quest. This exhibit features animals found in the polar and temperate regions of the world. It contains the most mammal species in the aquarium ranging from beluga whales, sea otters, Japanese spider crabs, weedy sea dragons and African penguins.
- Ocean Voyager. OK so this exhibit it the largest and by far the most impressive gallery in the entire place. It contains 6.3 million gallons of water (wow!) and several thousand fish. The “tank” measures out to be 284 ft x 126 get can as deep as 30 feet making it the largest indoor aquatic habitat in the world! The viewing window is spectacular, the fish are massive and there are scuba divers in the water who talk the audience about what’s going on around them while giving cool facts about the animals inside. This exhibit features the life of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and showcases the aquarium’s whales and sharks. The Ocean Voyager one was my favorite hands down! And to top it off, when you leave the showroom, there’s a cool underwater tunnel to take you to the next exhibit!
The Georgia Aquarium
- Tropical Diver. So the last but certainly not least exhibit features mainly Indo-Pacific tropical fish. This is where you find fish typically found in coral reefs such as sea horses, garden eels, clownfish, lobsters, jellyfish, turkeyfish and other tropical fish.
Every part of the aquarium is awesome. It’s extremely visually appealing, educational and even at some parts hands on. For those who are touring in town, this is a must see! Unless you plan on going to China anytime soon, this will probably be the most impressive aquarium you can visit— I’ll definitely be back to see it again!
APRIL IN THE A 