Churaumi Aquarium

We had a long break for Labor Day weekend so we decided to conquer one of the "bigger" tourist destinations here on Okinawa. The aquarium. Everyone talks about it and says how you HAVE to go there. So Jason went to the ticket office on base to buy tickets (we saved $1) and we were on our way. Its about an hour drive from where we live in Chatan. We got McDonald's breakfast on the way, (it was the same old Egg McMuffin you get anywhere) Jason thought the yolks were yellower... We followed the signs after getting off the "freeway." I put that in quotations because its nothing like what you're thinking of. Its something like highway 23 in Wisconsin. 2 lanes on each side except that the speed limit is 80km/hr. That's something like 50-55 mph I believe. When you get on you have to pull a ticket, this says where you entered the highway, and upon exiting you have to pay for how far you traveled on it. The cost for our trip was the equivalent of about $7. Kinda steep for driving on a road, don't you think? You can take the city streets to get there but, get real, you'll spend way more than $7 in gas!

We got to the first sign that said "South Entrance." We assumed this was it. We parked and noted that, "Wow! We must be early. There's hardly anyone here. Sweet!" We got EVERYTHING out of the car. We were going to be here all day, so you can imagine what EVERYTHING entailed. Colton, Colton's diaper bag (huge), stroller, camera bag, purse... I think that's everything. We walked over to the map and realized we were at the Botanical Garden part of the park. Hm.... Not what we were looking for. We decided since we already unloaded the cargo we should at least walk around a little and stretch our legs.

This was the only cool thing that was here. These Ficus trees' roots were braided and they were still living in the ground. No matter how much I stared at them, I couldn't figure out how they did that! There was a fountain that wasn't working (all full of green sludge) and a few other gardens that were mostly overrun with weeds. We decided this was silly and went back to find the aquarium.

We are headed north looking for the different parking lots that we had seen on the map. We get to one where there is a parking attendant flailing his arms at us to come in. I say, "I think this must be it." and Jason says, "I don't think so. I think its farther." So we continue driving as the road gets smaller and smaller and there are less and less people and no more parking lots we decide to turn around and find the arm flailing parking attendant. Sure enough, this was it. We weren't the only ones there like we had previously thought either. Easily 4 levels of parking garage already full. After all, this is the 2nd biggest aquarium in the world.

What a view, huh? I don't think it gets much prettier than this! This was all before even going into the aquarium! After checking out this view I realized that we had dropped Colton's teddy bear. Jason went to go see if he could find it. He did find it. It was a famous teddy bear now. There were people taking pictures of it as it was laying on the ground. Not picking it up, not touching it. Just taking photos of it. Things that make you say, "Hmmm..."

This is what Jason and I were calling the "touch tank." We don't know what the Japanese were calling it because we can't read kanji (duh). There were some small fish, sea cucumbers, 2 different types of star fish, sponges and a few other things that you can reach into the water and touch. We put Colton on the ledge thinking he wouldn't really get it. He got it. He reached right into that tank and grabbed that poor sea cucumber and squeezed the lights out of it. I think that sea cucumber may have seen his last day (unless they are like worms, in which case there are now 2 sea cucumbers where there used to be just 1). We never could have guessed how much Colton would love this aquarium. He touched the star fish and the sponge, too. He laughed and laughed and thought it was the silliest thing he had ever seen. At this stage of his life, it may have been.

 

 A photo cannot do this place justice. This is as good as it gets without being there. Some of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. Colton loved the fish. They would just swim past him and he would get all giddy. Squeezing your neck and kicking his legs like he couldn't believe what was happening! It was so fun just watching him!

There were 2 of these whales in this tank along with a bunch of mantarays(?). I thought these were sharks and kept referring to them as such until Jason told me they are actually whales. Either way, holy cow are they ever amazing! This was the largest tank in the aquarium. Colton loved this one too.

When I put Colton inside this whale mouth (I think that's what it is) so many Asians were snapping pictures and laughing and thinking Colton is so cute. Well... he is.

Next were the sea turtles. I had only seen this no tv and in movies. They are so cool! So big! They totally seem like they would talk like the sea turtle in Finding Nemo. Surfer dudes for sure!

Our timing was perfect! Just as we were exiting the aquarium a dolphin show was starting. It was free! We sat down hoping Colton would at least watch a little bit before we had to go. Colton was content the whole time. Just watching the dolphins and flirting with the little girls around us. It was like any other dolphin show I've ever seen except that the poor guys had to see the real ocean every time they did a jump. I bet they were plotting to get out of there! I would be.