Let me start this review by saying that I did not get to spend as much time in this wonderful establishment as I would have liked. We had plans on catching a ferry ride to look for seabirds and the parking nearest the aquarium and ferry terminal is only good for four hours.
The opening exhibit is an enormous floor to ceiling tank called, “Window on Washington Waters” which provided a nice view of native Puget Sound marine life. My only complaint was it was difficult to see in places because of glare from the front windows of the aquarium. An outstanding digital kiosk was provided to help identify the fish and invertebrates on display.
The next tank is called “Crashing Waves” and features fish and invertebrates of the rocky shores with real pounding surf. This leads into a large gallery that features “Life on the Edge” which is a fantastic series of tide pools that have multiple levels and excellent viewing for adults and children. Some of the pools have windows into them that can be seen at kid-height. A large Giant Pacific Octopus tank is also in this area that consists of two tanks and a connecting tunnel. When I was there the tunnel was blocked off and there were two octopi, one in each tank. Another feature of this room is “Life as a Drifter” which is an interesting ring-shaped moon jelly tank that you can walk through.
The next area we visited was the “Pacific Coral Reef” section, which had some basic, but well stocked aquariums of Pacific coral reef fish. The signage here consisted of rotating digital screens as are found in many aquariums these days. The problem I had was that a very tall man was following us through this area and he managed to stand in the way of every single one of these signs, so I couldn’t tell you what any of the fish on display were. A final room in this area houses a temporary gallery that features a display called “Ocean Oddities” which was more or less a collection of distinctive or bizarre looking fish. This area had the aquarium’s one exhibit of seahorses which was quite popular and caused quite the bottleneck in this tiny space.
Leaving the first aquarium building you then cross the walkway out on the pier to another building featuring several different displays of Puget Sound natives. The first area is a spectacular shorebird aviary housing Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew and Black Oystercatcher. This is followed up by an Alcid tank with underwater viewing housing Tufted Puffins, Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Cassin’s Auklet. This is quite an impressive diversity of alcids. The path then leads past the salmon ladder down to the “Underwater Dome” which is an interesting exhibit harking back to the days of reinforced concrete and small windows. This houses the aquarium’s only sharks, spiny dogfish and spotted ratfish. Also present are white sturgeon, salmon, skates, and other fish. It’s a very nice display and gives a good feeling of being surrounded by water.
Next up is underwater viewing for the marine mammal displays. On my visit, nothing was underwater so we proceeded to go upstairs to the above water viewing of the marine mammals. The marine mammal section is the only disappointment in this facility. The harbor seal enclosure consists of a rectangular pool with a wooden haul-out surrounded by chain-link fence.
Not necessarily bad for the seals, just an aesthetic nightmare. The pools for sea otters a little better, but also feature wooden haul-outs. I should mention that I didn’t get a great look at the sea otter exhibits as there was a keeper-talk type presentation going on and I didn’t want to push through the crowds. The next exhibit is home to a large bull Northern Fur Seal, but the exhibit felt very small for the size of the animal displayed.
Finally there is a very nice Northern River Otter display featuring a stream, underwater viewing, and vegetation.
All told, the Seattle Aquarium is a very nice establishment that the citizens of the Puget Sound area should take great pride in. Future plans call for a renovation of the harbor seal exhibit, which look like will fix some of its aesthetic problems.
Also, I should report on the ferry boat ride. This is a very nice way to travel. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and I stayed on the top deck watching seabirds. Birds seen en route: Pigeon Guillemot, Caspian Tern, Glaucous-winged Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, and small alcid that I unfortunately did not get a good enough look at to identify.
The final installment of my Puget Sound adventure will cover Northwest Trek.
The opening exhibit is an enormous floor to ceiling tank called, “Window on Washington Waters” which provided a nice view of native Puget Sound marine life. My only complaint was it was difficult to see in places because of glare from the front windows of the aquarium. An outstanding digital kiosk was provided to help identify the fish and invertebrates on display.
The next tank is called “Crashing Waves” and features fish and invertebrates of the rocky shores with real pounding surf. This leads into a large gallery that features “Life on the Edge” which is a fantastic series of tide pools that have multiple levels and excellent viewing for adults and children. Some of the pools have windows into them that can be seen at kid-height. A large Giant Pacific Octopus tank is also in this area that consists of two tanks and a connecting tunnel. When I was there the tunnel was blocked off and there were two octopi, one in each tank. Another feature of this room is “Life as a Drifter” which is an interesting ring-shaped moon jelly tank that you can walk through.
The next area we visited was the “Pacific Coral Reef” section, which had some basic, but well stocked aquariums of Pacific coral reef fish. The signage here consisted of rotating digital screens as are found in many aquariums these days. The problem I had was that a very tall man was following us through this area and he managed to stand in the way of every single one of these signs, so I couldn’t tell you what any of the fish on display were. A final room in this area houses a temporary gallery that features a display called “Ocean Oddities” which was more or less a collection of distinctive or bizarre looking fish. This area had the aquarium’s one exhibit of seahorses which was quite popular and caused quite the bottleneck in this tiny space.
Leaving the first aquarium building you then cross the walkway out on the pier to another building featuring several different displays of Puget Sound natives. The first area is a spectacular shorebird aviary housing Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew and Black Oystercatcher. This is followed up by an Alcid tank with underwater viewing housing Tufted Puffins, Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Cassin’s Auklet. This is quite an impressive diversity of alcids. The path then leads past the salmon ladder down to the “Underwater Dome” which is an interesting exhibit harking back to the days of reinforced concrete and small windows. This houses the aquarium’s only sharks, spiny dogfish and spotted ratfish. Also present are white sturgeon, salmon, skates, and other fish. It’s a very nice display and gives a good feeling of being surrounded by water.
Next up is underwater viewing for the marine mammal displays. On my visit, nothing was underwater so we proceeded to go upstairs to the above water viewing of the marine mammals. The marine mammal section is the only disappointment in this facility. The harbor seal enclosure consists of a rectangular pool with a wooden haul-out surrounded by chain-link fence.
Not necessarily bad for the seals, just an aesthetic nightmare. The pools for sea otters a little better, but also feature wooden haul-outs. I should mention that I didn’t get a great look at the sea otter exhibits as there was a keeper-talk type presentation going on and I didn’t want to push through the crowds. The next exhibit is home to a large bull Northern Fur Seal, but the exhibit felt very small for the size of the animal displayed.
All told, the Seattle Aquarium is a very nice establishment that the citizens of the Puget Sound area should take great pride in. Future plans call for a renovation of the harbor seal exhibit, which look like will fix some of its aesthetic problems.
Also, I should report on the ferry boat ride. This is a very nice way to travel. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and I stayed on the top deck watching seabirds. Birds seen en route: Pigeon Guillemot, Caspian Tern, Glaucous-winged Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, and small alcid that I unfortunately did not get a good enough look at to identify.
The final installment of my Puget Sound adventure will cover Northwest Trek.
