Day 2 of our Okinawa trip was a visit to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. (Chura-umi means "beautiful ocean")
Loralee and Dan had just visited this aquarium in July when Loralee's mother came to visit Okinawa, but they were kind enough to take us and show us around! We had a relaxing start to our day, and began our tour of the enormous aquarium at noon.
This is the view from the backside of the aquarium.
After walking through the first floor of the aquarium, mainly consisting of coral life and deep-sea creatures, we decided to eat lunch as all five stomaches were beginning to cry for food! The Cafe Ocean Blue is located right beside the Kuroshio Sea Tank, and brings you amazing close-up views of the enormous whale sharks and manta rays! Danny and I ate spaghetti and taco rice. Throughout the entire morning Dan was telling us about taco rice and how it's a common dish seen throughout Okinawa. So, with plenty of convincing, we decided to try it! It's basically your common taco fillings topped onto rice. It was actually pretty good =)
The Kuroshio Sea Main Tank using the world's second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring a thickness of 60cm...that's approx 2 feet thick! Amongst the 70+ species in the tank, the 2 enormous whale sharks and manta rays are the main attractions. It's amazing to see such huge creatures so close!
After being mesmerized by the large sharks, we were lucky to join a behind-the-scenes tour of the Kuroshio Sea Tank. They took us above the tank and explained how they feed them, clean the tank and keep them happy! They also have other smaller holding tanks (not visible from the outside) with tiger sharks and other dangerous creatures that could potentially harm the other species. They have a glass-bottom walkway, and looking down Leyna was definitely curious of the moving things below!
A visit to the shark lab, you can see shark skeleton, an entire wall full of shark samples preserved in jars, and a Shark Tank full of dangerous sharks!
This is at the Sea Turtle Pool, located just a short walk away from the main aquarium. They even have a nesting beach nearby where turtles lay eggs each year! Below, Loralee is waiting for the right moment to get that perfect picture of the hungry sea turtle!
Also, a short walk away from the main aquarium is the Okichan Theater. Here they have performances by dolphins. ("Okichan" is the name of their main dolphin performer).
So, this is at one of the nearby beaches. Couple days before going to the Aquarium, Danny had asked Loralee & Dan if the ocean water in Okinawa is warm or cold. Funny enough Loralee & Dan still hadn't walked in the water since moving to Okinawa in May, so they attempted to answer Danny's question at the Aquarium. Dan piggy-backed Loralee to the water, so she wouldn't get sand in her flip-flops, but the waters were not in their favor and Dan's shoes got wet from an unexpected wave! That was a sweet gesture Dan, and sorry that your shoes/socks got wet!! Now that I think about it....I still don't know what their answer is, I think we got distracted with what happened to Dan! haha...Loralee?
Here are a few photos to share! Leyna behaved very well, and hopefully she'll remember the many fisheys she saw!
We come to the end of our visit and wait for the elevator to exit the aquarium. It was a really fun day and glad we got to experience the world's second largest aquarium!
Next Stop : Our last day in Okinawa, and our journey to Tokyo begins. It will be Dan's first time visiting Tokyo, and Leyna's first time ever on a plane!!
