Going to aquariums is one of those things both Dann and I really enjoy! There is just something about exploring the creatures that live underwater and seeing what they look like close up. The Aquarium of the Bay is located on Pier 39, right at the end, and is one we have passed by a few times in previous years. This year, however, Dann booked up tickets excited to walk through the area. The aquarium is across several floors, creating a real experience of walking around.
From the entrance, you go one way through a few smaller tanks and a lot of information on general marine life in the bay of San Francisco and how it’s changed over time. There is also a short feature on trash in the bay and some interactives aimed at children, to get them engaged. We then went to one of those photo points where they take your photo in front of a green screen, before entering an elevator and going down to the real action.
The first room really took our breath away, as it was a collection of four different types of jelly fish. There were small pink jelly fish, larger, huge jelly fish, a bunch of jelly fish that stick to the bottom and have their little tentacles sticking up. It’s very memorizing watching them move in the current and shift around. I was honestly filled with joy in this section – I do love watching little jellyfish move about. This area also took us to our first tunnel; Ray and Stephanie Lane: Nearshore Tunnel.
This extremely long tunnel focused on fish that can be found near the shore of the bay, with tons of little plaques along the tunnel, which had a picture of the fish and a bunch of information. There were some very big, old looking fish and some smaller schools of fish. This tunnel was quite long, curving as it went, which was fun to walk through and see the fish that can be found locally. The Aquarium of the Bay does a great job of having very captivating and interesting spots to explore.
This tunnel opened up to a room with silly named fishes, with their own names plastered above them. It makes for a perfect area where you can take pictures of silly, meme-able names and send them to your friends. The tanks themselves had a lot of sea life in them, including a tank of the cutest puffer fish I have ever seen. There is also a small area where a child can climb under and poke their head into a circle in the tank, but as we were both grown adults, we didn’t decided to do that as we weren’t sure if we could easily get back out. We then entered the Drapper Startup Shark Tunnel at the Aquarium of the Bay.
The Shark Tunnel is a little darker and slightly shorter then the previous tunnel, but not less impressive in the slightest. There are tons of bigger, longer, sharks and fish that are swimming around here. It’s less packed with fish and more packed with impressive sea life. Dann and I both really enjoy sting rays – so it was fun seeing so many of them in one place. All of these fish moved quickly over us, so they were so much fun to follow with our eyes and watch.
The tunnel opened up into a bigger area which had a bunch of reptiles and even squirrels that lived locally to the Aquarium of the Bay, including a massive tank where you can feel a large number of creatures (with a member of staff watching). Dann and I were able to pet a sting ray, a large fish, a starfish, a sea cucumber, and an anemone. The anemone was sticky, in a really strange way, before moving towards a tank with a few otters playing around in them!
The Aquarium of the Bay is one of the best aquariums I have ever been too – I really loved the variety of sea life that they had, and it was so much fun to get to feel the textures of some of the creatures that live in the sea. The ending does spit you out through a gift shop, then allowing you to exit and see the sea otter statues by the entrance once again.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!