The weather was a bit wet....drizzle and heavy fog....so we decided to go to the aquarium! At the entrance, we noticed the Tsunami signs and educated ourselves as to the location of the nearest hill. Hey, you never know! Lots of other people decided to go the the Oregon Coast Aquarium on this dreary day as well. The parking lot was packed when we got there soon after it opened.
 |
| Ready to explore the aquarium Susie? |
 |
| Who's that diver?? |
Our first stop was the sea otters, which are a lot bigger than river otters! They look a little bit like seals, but have a lot more fur. They are very good swimmers, but just couldn't seem to walk very well. They rolled more than walked. Fun to watch. There were 3 sea otters, and the two dark ones were afraid of the white headed sea otter. I think they were bullied! After a few minutes, feeding time began. They eat 25% of their body weight per day. That's a lot of fish.
 |
| sea otters...they are huge...not like river otters |
 |
| the dark ones are "running away" from the bully in the water |
 |
| they are afraid of this guy |
 |
| they can hardly walk...they actually seem to roll and slide...ahhaha...cute to watch |
 |
| they know its lunchtime soon! |
 |
| eating a fish |
 |
| lava rocks everywhere |
 |
| doing the backstroke under water |
The aquarium is set among these large rocks, which separates the different displays nicely. We visited the seals for a while, and then moved along to the the octopus and the aviary. Puffins! There were puffins in the aviary! I've never seen one, so I was thrilled with that. (I know...I'm a dork).
 |
| what a fun day at the aquarium |
 |
| seals are always fun to watch as well |
 |
| aren't they cute? |
 |
| they can swim like nobody's business! |
 |
| I'm a little lost....I think this way |
 |
| giant octopus (and a starfish) |
 |
| several starfish |
 |
| anemone |
 |
| love the bright colors |
 |
| just such a cool picture |
 |
| in the aviary |
 |
| a puffin!!!! |
 |
| and a tufted puffin....with an intestinal problem?? |
 |
| Murres...they look a little like penquins, don't they? |
 |
| tufted puffins....I just love these!! |
 |
| close up |
 |
| these puffins are so cool! |
 |
| they are right there....I always wanted to see a puffin for real |
 |
| putting on a show for me |
Another highlight of the aquarium is the "reef"....where visitors go through a tunnel with the fish swimming all around. Always fun! This tunnel had 3 segments, so was fairly large. The fish were so colorful and made me want to go snorkeling. Until I spotted the sharks, that is.
 |
| so colorful... |
 |
| enjoying the tunnel |
 |
| lots of fish! |
 |
| love the colors |
 |
| dun dun dun dun...... |
 |
| this fish has lips! |
 |
| still in the tunnel!! |
 |
| several sharks swimming around in there |
 |
| wasn't that great? |
A new display opened recently....Secrets of Shipwrecks. It was pretty interesting. An informative movie described some of the research methodology to determine what/where the artifacts came from. So many shipwrecks from back in the day! Trading ships spanned the globe traversing the treacherous seas between ports. Some didn't make it. The display area was very dark, so no photos!
 |
| pretty |
 |
| new exhibit on shipwrecks...just opened! |
Moving on to another area, the fish were just so colorful! We really enjoyed looking at these beauties. We are hoping to see some of things when we go tide-pooling later in the week. Like starfish and anemones. Haha!
 |
| hello.. |
 |
| so cool |
 |
| this is not photo enhanced...that is what it really looked like |
 |
| so cool |
 |
| love the colors |
 |
| pretty |
 |
| looks like a flower doesn't it? |
 |
| these look like pens, don't they? |
On the way back from the aquarium, we stopped at Ona Beach. We HAD to get to the beach!! It didn't matter that it was drizzling and foggy. We walked through a bit of forest for a few minutes before heading to the beach itself. The park is set up very nicely.
 |
| walking through the woods to get to the beach |
 |
| check out that moss! |
 |
| we're at the beach now |
The beach itself was so interesting. We had fun walking and exploring. The weather was wet...but not cold, which was nice. Sometimes that works as crowd control-haha. We saw so many interesting things. We were at the water for about 5 minutes when a bald eagle, fish dinner in his talons, flew past us and into the forest.
 |
| look at the effects of the wind on those trees! |
 |
| these were all over the beach |
 |
| making the most of the wet weather |
 |
| nice |
 |
| love being at the beach |
 |
| there goes a bald eagle with a seafood dinner in its talons-flying from the ocean back to the woods |
 |
| looking for something to eat |
 |
| clouds and mist and a little rain |
 |
| no matter the weather....the beach is always great |
 |
| lots of rock in the water |
The beach was so interesting with all the rocks and tide pools around them. Bonus...I looked up to see a squadron of brown pelicans fly by.
 |
| looking through the tidepools |
 |
| having a great time exploring the tidepools |
 |
| a squadron of brown pelicans! |
 |
| great fun exploring this beach |
 |
| Don't laugh...the rainhat helps! Hahah! I know I look like a dork (Donna and Gabby-remember the hat sale at work?) |
 |
| looking for interesting stuff |
 |
| so cool |
Though we did not see a starfish, we did see a lot of other interesting things. Despite the wet weather, we had a great time exploring.
 |
| just look at all the stuff on that rock |
 |
| more |
 |
| cool tidepools here |
 |
| wow! |
 |
| just flying by |
 |
| I've never seen such cool stuff in a tidepool |
 |
| lots of color |
 |
| very interesting |
 |
| the rocks are really cool with all the growth on them |
 |
| staying dry from this hat (Donna-I think you are the one that made me buy it!) |
 |
| enjoying the beach |
 |
| this just washed up... |
 |
| turkey vulture...right on the beach! |
 |
| Ona Beach |
 |
| walking back through the woods |
 |
| come on Susie! |
 |
| how peaceful |
As we were nearing our "home", we decided to check out one other beach...Patterson Beach...which is very close to our campground. We went over the Alsea Bridge to get there. At the beach, we had another view of the bridge. This beach had a lot of driftwood, well, trees actually. No tide pools though. We'll be doing more exploring in the next few weeks,
 |
| Alsea Bridge |
 |
| the gold color stands out in the mist/fog |
 |
| Patterson Beach...just down the road from the campground |
 |
| there's lots of dead trees on this beach |
 |
| you can see the Alsea Bridge from here too |
 |
| again |
 |
| agan |
No comments:
Post a Comment