South Carolina Aquarium
October 4, 2008 4:37 pm Family Fun, South CarolinaToday we went to the South Carolina Aquarium. Our friend Chris Potter volunteers two Saturdays a month as a diver. He met us at the front and they had “Official Visitor” badges for all of us. Here is a picture of Chris with my mom and the kids. Chris went to college with my brother so my mom has known him for quite awhile.
Chris showed us around and walked with us for a bit until he had to go get dressed for the diving show. Once he was in the tank Nathan tried to take a picture of the kids with Chris behind them but the flash hit Chris’ mask so he is basically behind the flash.
While Chris was getting ready for the show we explored the Aquarium. In one spot there was a bald eagle. I think it is the closest we have been to one so far.
Yes it is real! They had a large touch tank area where they had workers educating about the different animals. Here is Josh looking at the underside of a horseshoe crab.
Here is Timmy next to one of the tanks. We spent quite a bit of time here because there was a Green Moray Eel that had his head sticking out of a rock.
Next we found a children’s play area where Josh was steering a boat and Samantha was matching animals up…
After the dive show Chris took us “behind the scenes”. He took us to the top of the tanks where the divers get in. He also showed us the quarantine tanks and the fish hospital tanks. Here is a picture of the main tank. The Loggerhead Turtle is on the top left portion of the picture.
Here is a picture of one of the quarantine tanks. They put the fish that they catch here to make sure they are not sick before adding them to the other tanks.
The last picture is of the filter system for one of the quarantine tanks. Nathan could not believe how big it was. We had two salt water tanks when we lived in Charleston and we had filter systems exactly like this but MUCH smaller. :)
We finished the day in Charleston with walking to a deli nearby and having lunch with Chris. Thanks Chris for a great day!! We are on the road again and should make it to Atlanta late this evening.