Texas State Aquarium New Caribbean Journey Review

[d1am0ndback]

I have recently visited the Texas State Aquarium's new expansion, Caribbean Journey, and was very much impressed by it. My most recent (and first) visit to the aquarium was several years ago and I was fairly underwhelmed, but now I am glad to say the aquarium has improved in most aspects but gotten worse in one. I will address that one issue further down the review, I'm afraid it is becoming a trend in newer aquariums now. I will post pictures tomorrow.

 

[d1am0ndback]

Summary of Exhibit
You begin passing through hanging bamboo to get a reveal of an impressive open topped exhibit simulating a cave. In it are an assortment of fish and giant mexican musk turtles. As you turn you are greeted by the flamingo exhibit that lets you get very close to them due to it's stick barrier (they have a volunteer watching the exhibit so nothing bad happens). There is also a macaw sitting on a pole which is switched out throughout the day. The rain forest with free flight birds feels very open and refreshing, and has an assortment of birds flying around including troupial, motmot, saffron finches, ibis, spoonbills, and sunbitterns. Along the wall of a building inside are an assortment of terrariums housing dart frogs, tree frogs, and Haitian Giant Galliwasp. As you navigate the path there is an open air tank surrounded by land with tortoises in a semi circle around an extrusion along the path, all of which is unsigned. There is a large morelet's crocodile exhibit (with none inside as of my visit) to the left, and crossing the path a vine and small trees for a two toed sloth, very similar to the Dallas World Aquarium's three toed sloth exhibit. You then get a view of the largest tank with brown sharks from above water which feels a bit out of place in it's location and design (a blank wall and low roof over the tank definitely takes away from the immersion). As you circle there is an empty beach (Which I hope will have some sort of animal in it at some point) and a view into another large tank. You then pass another above water view of a medium sized tank and a touch tank to reach a little hut with an aviary attached to the side. In the aviary is agouti and keel billed toucan. The hut has a medium sized exhibit for a red tailed boa and a wall with an exhibit for vampire bats. You then descend an escalator to the under level where you get a look at beautiful tank displays with several fish species including tarpon, trumpetfish, garden eels, and morays and the large tank with brown sharks. The large tank underneath is very impressive in it's display and has an underwater tunnel circling it's perimeter. You then empty into the gift shop and main area of the aquarium.

 

[d1am0ndback]

The Good:
I was very impressed by the aquarium's attempt at creating immersive exhibits and paying attention to geological details in the architecture. The assortment and variety of species is very nice. The top level gives a mini Mundo Maya from the Dallas World Aquarium feel to it. The lower level is stunning with the contrast of the bright Caribbean displays to the dark black walls and floor. Everything was of high quality and nothing stood out as bad, with the exception of one thing...

My One Issue:
The signage here was weak. Particularly in two areas: the frog terrariums and everything with fish. The dart frog terrarium only lists the genus of dart frogs accompanied by random images off Flickr some of which aren't even dart frogs. This didn't really bother me as dendrobates aren't that hard to identify, but the fish on the other-hand, continue my main complaints with the Moody Gardens renovation. I will state it here to make it clear Electronic television signs do not work for aquariums! Of coarse if every fish were displayed on them at once or they were interactive like Dallas World Aquarium's this wouldn't be a problem, but that's sadly not the case here or at Moody Gardens. In a tank with two species and four televisions, I had to wait a solid minute just to see the other species because all four were showing information of one of the species! This is even more ridiculous when one tank has dozens of species in it! It just doesn't work! They then went and changed several of the perfectly good signs the aquarium had in older parts like the Gulf Coast as well. In the opening tank of the Gulf Coast which clearly has 4-5 species of fish in it only two are cycling on the sign and it still takes a while to see both of them on the sign. This accompanies the fact the birds in the Gulf Coast area are unsigned now too. The new tentacles display falls victim to this as well, this time none of the jellyfish have signs on their tanks but one big screen on the wall cycles through the different species with video of them but no information on which tank has what, just like what Moody Gardens has done to their jellyfish display.

Verdict
Just like Moody Gardens' renovation, the aquarium has built some very impressive exhibits, but fails to back them up with faulty and nonfunctional signage. I suggest that if an aquarium wants electronic signs they should have them be interactive like the Dallas World Aquarium's, where the visitor picks the fish they want to see the signage of. I really hope these slow cycling signs aren't becoming a trend in newer aquariums, since it's definitely hit my list of pet peeves. Regardless, the new expansion elevates the aquarium for me and I am now much more impressed with the aquarium than I was on my first visit. I highly recommend checking it out and/or returning.