Virginia Aquarium

I’ve been to many, many aquariums. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but I stop at every aquarium in every city that I visit. The VA Aquarium is one of the larger ones I’ve been to, but the exotic-ness of the exhibits are a little bit lacking. Nevertheless, I’ve been twice so far, once in 2010 and again this year.

2010

Yes, that’s me in the bubble.

The aquarium consists of two buildings and there is a nice trail through the marshes connecting them.

I have no idea what this is but I love his face!

The sea lion exhibit near the entrance is a big attraction.

2014

I have a better camera than I did the last time so I have more photos to share!

Still trying to get a good shot of an octopus.

Clownfish looking at its reflection.

The sharks were hard to shoot; reflections, not enough light, people getting in the way, etc. I usually wait for people to move so I can get a shot without them, but they actually added to the scene so I didn’t mind them this time.

The way this shot turned out reminded me of a scene in Jaws 2.

The sting ray tank was probably one of the best ones I’ve seen. The water was clear and the glass was clean enough to actually see them clearly.

So clear I actually got a shot of its mouth! I’ve never actually seen one open and close its mouth.

You could see part of the sea turtle tank from the sting ray exhibit.

The other viewing side was amazing! I probably sat and watched them swim for at least 15 minutes.

Like the shark tank, I purposefully took some shots with people in them. The father and son were fun to watch. I think the dad was just as mesmerized by the sea turtles as his son was.

There was an art exhibit on display called Washed Ashore where all of the pieces were made from trash found in the ocean. It was meant to educate and create awareness of ocean debris and plastic pollution and its effect on marine life.