Vancouver Aquarium

Last month, the summer school class I was TAing went to the aquarium for a field trip!

 Upon entry, a giant globe of our world will greet you as wrap-around screens take you on a journey of our oceans and the aquatic life within them.

At the entrance, we saw the Teck Connections & Engagement Galleries. The screens projected sea monsters, which is the aquarium's current exhibition. We then walked to the Tropic Zone to check out the fishes there while we waited for the dolphin show.

The dolphin show was located in The Wild Coast area. We saw Helen, a Pacific white-sided dolphin and Chester, a false killer whale. Both animals were rescued, not just stolen from the ocean. Do not worry, I don't support corrupted aquariums. I have seen the documentary Blackfish and I was disgusted by what I saw. 

Dolphins Helping Dolphins

Helen, the Pacific white-sided dolphin in this gallery was rescued after she had been entangled and injured by fixed fishing nets. Now she's working to save her wild counterparts from the same fate—by helping researchers understand how dolphins use their sonar (echolocation) to locate objects in the water. This research might one day lead to fishing nets and deterrent devices that will allow dolphins in the wild to avoid them.

After the fun show, we walked through Penguin Point and saw not only penguins, but sea otters as well.

Finding a seat in the bleachers, we waited for the beluga show. We were in direct sunlight for at least half an hour and tbh, it so wasn't worth it. The beluga did a couple waves and of course splashed the crowd at the end, but that was about it. Ironically, the splash zone was the shaded area. The "show" mostly consisted of the speaker telling us how to reduce our carbon footprint to save the belugas.

After lunch, we headed back inside and visited the Graham Amazon Gallery.

From the top of the water, it was hard to see any forms of life in this man-made lake. I could barely make out a starfish, but the view from the side amazed me. "It's all about perspective." One could probably make a deep analogy about this haha. 

Of course, what trip to the aquarium is complete without taking pics of the jellyfish?

And that concludes the field trip! I hope you enjoyed this super picture heavy post!

What's your favourite animal to see at the aquarium? 

xx, Melissa♡