My neighbor forwarded me an email informing me of home school days at the MB Aquarium months ago. There were a few dates in November, December & January. I didn't look into it until just a week or so ago, once I knew that one of the January dates would be a possible family trip. I got on the web site only to learn that reservations were full, but I could be put on a wait list. Well, we lucked out and got an email saying they had some tickets for us on Monday!
The tickets weren't good until 12:15, so we decided to do the trip in one long day. We left home about 9am and arrived in Monterey about 12:15. We invited Uncle Nathan along with us since he lives in Monterey and has Mondays off! (It was pretty awesome to have a 1:1 ratio at the aquarium!) We found a place to park right in front of the Aquarium, but needed to eat lunch first. Ate a quick bite at this café across the street that Nathan recommended, fueled up so we could enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
The boys enjoyed the rest of the afternoon exploring and enjoying all the exhibits in the aquarium. The open sea tank was amazing with the huge tunas and hammerhead sharks, gigantic sea turtle and largest school of fish I've ever seen. The jelly fish were beautiful and entrancing. The octopus, all the touch tanks, it was all so fun to see. We even went to a presentation on the great white shark project the aquarium is part of. It was fascinating information (and a little scary to see how close to home they come) We watched the otters that they had on exhibit as well as several otters out in the ocean we spied with binoculars. What fun and playful creatures they seem to be! We watched the otters in the exhibit crunching on ice as they glided and turned in the water. One otter decided to just drag the entire bucket of ice into the water and play/swim in it!
By the end of the afternoon, the boys were tired, a little wet and totally satisfied. They got to see and do and climb and run as they learned about the creatures of the ocean. We left the aquarium at closing time, 5pm, and drove uncle Nathan home. Zachary and Jameson were both passed out within that 10 minute drive. Billy and William grabbed some snacks from the grocery store for the drive home and off we went, home by 9pm.
It was a long day, but boy was it worth it! Thank you Monterey Bay Aquarium for hosting Home school days and treating us to a day of hands on learning. We may just have to do this again next year!
