GeekDad Visits the Mystic Aquarium

Let me start by saying that I find beluga whales to be creepy. Fish shouldn?t have necks ? even if they are mammals. Belugas swim by and turn their head to look at you as they pass. Even though I found them creepy, I still found them incredibly interesting.
The Mystic Aquarium offers New England?s only beluga whales. Right when you walk in, you get an up-close encounter with the belugas through a series of underwater windows. Their striking white forms stand out sharply in the cool, blue water.
They earned the nickname ?Sea Canary? because they are so vocal, making high-pitched squeaks, squeals, clucks and whistles. They seem as interested in watching us as we are in watching them.
I realize that many of you will not be able to make the trek to Connecticut to see Kela, Naku and Juno.� You can check out the Vancouver Aquarium?s Beluga Cam for a remote view.
For those of you who can make it to Mystic, there is plenty to see beside the belugas. I was very impressed by Kodiak, one of the their Steller sea lions. He weighs in at 1,700 pounds and easily dwarfs every other sea lion I have seen. The geeklets were even more impressed when we got to witness sea lion poo.
Mystic has a few hands-on exhibits. You can pat a shark, ray, crab, or starfish. The kids were excited by the opportunity. None of the animals seemed as excited about the petting.
I?m used to Boston?s New England Aquarium, which is a great destination for a rainy day. Lots of the Mystic Aquarium is outdoors. We enjoyed a hot, sunny day exploring their exhibits. There are plenty of great indoor exhibits to see on a bad weather day.
The other feature of the Mystic Aquarium is the Institute for Exploration run by Dr. Robert Ballard. The Challenge of the Deep exhibition shares some of Ballard?s most recent discoveries, deep sea exploration, and his discovery of the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic. This was a bit over the head of my six-year old.
In the end, the kids had fun and we had fun. I learned some things and the kids learned some new things. That makes it a worthwhile GeekDad visit.
Photo by Doug Cornelius.

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