Visiting the Georgia Aquarium In Atlanta

Kenin and I had the absolute pleasure of visiting the Georgia Aquarium while in Atlanta last fall. I wanted to visit the aquarium when it first opened in 2005, but something always seemed to get in the way. Nothing was going to stop me from seeing the whale sharks and manta rays on this trip. I woke up early and was ready to go before Kenin even had his first cup of coffee. Georgia Aquarium here I come!

“Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”. The Georgia Aquarium holds 8.5 million gallons of water and is home to over 100,000 animals consisting of 500 species. When they opened in 2005, they were the world’s largest aquarium. The aquarium is the only one outside of Asia that houses whale sharks, I am not going to lie, this is the main reason I wanted to go.

I want to pet him!

Not many people know this about me, but I went to school to study marine biology (and I am a water sign). I have always been drawn to water and everything in it, but I am also the world’s biggest scaredy-cat. Seriously, my friends taunt me on an almost daily basis because I can even watch commercials for horror movies

. If I came across this big guy in the wild, I’d probably poop myself. Seeing him swimming around in this giant fish bowl though, was life changing. Swimming with whale sharks has now been added to my bucket list. This guy was amazing. I spent half of our day at the aquarium just sitting next to his tank watching him while in absolute awe! We spent some time filming the tanks and put a video together so you could see how cool it was.

Then I was forced to move on to the next exhibit. Thankfully the next guy was pretty amazing too.

Jellyfish

And he came with some incredible friends.

Colorful and cool!

The colors were pretty remarkable.

Yellow Jellies

Then we moved on to one of Kenin’s all-time favorite animals, the beluga. Don’t speak of this to anyone, but when I can’t sleep,  he sings me the “Baby Beluga” song.

Beluga with his seal friend.

This beluga had a little seal friend and they would swim together. It was quite cute. When the beluga was upside down so was the seal and when the beluga surfaced, so did his little friend.

On to one of my next favorite animals at the Georgia Aquarium (in case you didn’t notice, I have tons of favorites).

I named him Fred

I love penguins. One day I will be brave enough to travel to the ends of the earth to see them in their natural habitat, but for now, I will love each and every one I see elsewhere.

LOVE!

Of course, this is an aquarium and so I feel obligated to post a few fishy photos.

Fish

I am not really a fish expert and you can’t really cuddle them; so most of my time at the Georgia Aquarium was spent on critters that could be captured and smothered with love. Alas, it is an aquarium, so here are some fish.

More fish

And even though I studied Marine Biology, and I could tell you all about the oceans currents, I know surprisingly little about fish.

Giant Grouper

 I do however, know where to find Nemo.

Ken found Nemo

In the beginning of this post, I mentioned the rays. Here is a touch tank where you can pet the lil guys.

Ray touch tank

The pièce de resistance for me was the manta ray. He was one of the most majestic creatures I have ever seen. Luckily for me, he was in the same tank as the whale shark, where I spent half of my day. 

Manta Ray

My visit to the Georgia Aquarium was well worth the wait. I don’t think I will ever be able to spend time in Atlanta again without making a stop in and saying hi to Fred. We left the aquarium that day filled with awe and inspiration. I know that the Georgia Aquarium will always hold a small piece of my heart, I’m just going to have to make it a point to go back and visit.