Mesmerizing Jellies at the Monterey Bay Aqaurium

Splish Splash!!!  While up in Northern California Edible Skinny was lucky enough to experience the watery wonder of the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Rated the #1 aquarium in the world by TripAdvisor, the famous educational fish tank is located bayside on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row (go figure…).  Showcasing the wildlife and habitats of The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary it has an annual attendance of more than two million visitors.

 
While there Edible Skinny discovered the extraterrestrial world of kelp forests, granite reefs and the open sea filled with sharks, sea otters, penguins, octopuses, jellies and countless other creature.

The aquarium’s 28-foot Kelp Forest is one of the tallest aquarium exhibits in the world.   It allows a scuba diver’s eye into the world of sardines (so much cooler than they sound), leopard sharks, and eels as they bob and weave through swaying fronds of kelp!   We were on site to experience the fish’s afternoon meal, which actually featured a scuba diver handing out the niblets!  Talk about a feeding frenzy!

 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium prides itself on being an educational site so many of the exhibits are extremely interactive.  My personal favorites were the two jellyfish exhibits (that’s right, not one but two!).  Our ticketing agent informed us that each exhibit was very different, a comment we didn’t take to heart until we experienced for ourselves!

 The first was your classic beautiful balletic jellyfish illuminated with film noir like precision; the second was their special exhibit, The Jellies Experience, a groovy far-out world where these stunning animals were reimagined in a swinging sixties lifestyle.  

Both were fantastically mesmerizing reminding us that every moment of life is delicious!