11 Feb 2019 - Texas State Aquarium

11 Feb 2019
Wow!  Woke up to something we have not seen much since we departed on this trip on 30 November:

Awesome!  We took Liberty for a nice long walk and I even shed my sweatshirt!  According to the forecast it will be short lived, though, but it is sure nice for a change. 

We decided to head for the Texas State Aquarium this morning, since we only have one more day here after today.  The MWR office here on the Naval Air Station gets discounted tickets, so we stopped in there and rather than paying $35.95 each we payed $29.25, saving $13.40 for the pair.  Not a bad deal! 

The Texas State Aquarium is located not far from the USS Lexington, the aircraft carrier we toured when we first got here. 

It consists of a 6.3 acre complex.  The largest tank is the 400,000 gallon shark exhibit. The aquarium has evolved with the addition of the Caribbean Journey section in 2017.   When you tour the facility there are four levels:  G, 1, 2 and 3.  Each level has it's own unique displays plus you can view the large tank from various angles.  There are timed events  occurring throughout the day such as feeding the rays, wild flight (bird) show, turtle tails, dolphins, and diver in the water.  In addition, there is a 4D movie theater showing movies on the hour (The Deep) and the half hour (Ice Worlds).  The 4D experience is pretty cool!  In addition to wearing 3D glasses for a great visual effect, there is a four effect such as air blowing, water spraying you, seats rumbling; bubbles and snowflakes falling from the ceiling; etc.  One scene in one of the movies showed pallets of oranges and they actually sprayed orange scent in the air!!  

The spray assembly in front of each seat.  Sprays water mist, orange scent, air, etc

So we arrived just in time for movie Ice Worlds and it was really neat.  After that we got down to the G level just in time for the bird presentation.

Our narrator kept things moving and involved the crowd

Displaying a hawk

Several rats runs across the rope.

A student from the crowd puts on leather gloves and eye protection

A porcupine ham's it up and is fed by the student

An owl makes the rounds

A macaw talks up a storm

The owl greets everyone as they depart after the show was over

As we sat there waiting for the show to start, someone behind us said something about being from western Iowa.  Another guy and his wife walked in with an Iowa State jacket on.  So afterwards Doreen was ahead of me and said something to the guy with the Iowa State coat and I recognized him right away!  It was Fred Chabot, retired General officer from the Iowa Air National Guard.  Before that we served with me at the Air Base where he was the the Base Civil Engineer. Fred and his wife are on vacation down here for a month or so.  Unfortunately we did not get a picture!

After the bird show we viewed several other displays before heading up to Level 1:

A gator taking a snooze in the sun

A bald eagle up close and personal

Turtles also sunning themselves!

One of the touch displays - you can gently touch the top side of the rays

The rays love the attention!

 Finishing up on the G level we headed into the Dolphin Bay display.  We did not connect with the timing for the outside dolphin display but we saw them from the inside of the tank.

Dolphins also hamming it up with the visitors watching!

On level 1 we toured the Gulf of Mexico display and the Caribbean display.  These are beautiful displays  - tanks with species native to those area including not only fish but corals and other marine life.  

The USS Lexington in the background.  Sun behind the clouds now

Jelly fish

Long stinging tenticles

Species of sharks

This shark is hidden and camouflaged

Active tracking of sharks that have been tagged.  We can supposedly pull this up on our computers.  Look at the distance one shark traveled.

 

Beautiful star fish

Quite a set of jaws!!

Sea turtle

Turtle checking us out!

Check out the chompers on that shark!

Eels are very intimidating.  This one is brightly colored.  

Beautiful fish and corals.

A type of sea urchin

Poor ol' mister scorpion fish.  Looks like you are sad!

Growing corals in the nursery!

Mr. Moray Eel.  They are so nasty looking, like they want to rip you up!

A bubble you can stick your head into and join the crowd!

The big tank, from above

African turtle (land-type) eating lettuce

Their shell feels like a fingernail

We then headed up to the next level which was the Caribbean Journey.  Besides looking down into the large tank, various other animals and birds we on display.

A sloth, just hanging around!

 

Beautiful flamingos, you can reach out and touch them!

A macaw back on his perch, very loudly letting us know what he thought about everything!

 I was skeptical on the aquarium but I am very glad we did it.  They have done a great job of building this facility and they are doing great work rehab'ing marine life, yet displaying it so we can see.  Very kid-friendly.  Lots of hands-on displays, a nice snack bar and a very nice gift shop.

After the aquarium we headed back to the campground.  Of course, the sun was gone and the fog rolled in.  

This is from the aquarium parking lot, looking at the bridge that takes us back to the NAS.

Back at the campground, Doreen did several loads of laundry in preparation of our departure.  She also put a beef roast and veggies in the Instant Pot which we had for dinner.  It was awesome!!  Outside, I grilled up quite a bit of chicken in advance, for both Liberty and for us.  Tomorrow we will clean up the RV, clean and stow the barbecue, dump and flush the tanks and make final preparations for departure Wednesday morning.

This is the last long stay we have until we get to Los Angeles (Seal Beach).  We were here 16 nights and we were at Pensacola 16 nights.  Most of our stops here after are much shorter - 3-5 nights.  Apache Junction is 9, San Diego is 10, Seal Beach is 15 .  Other than that most are 2-4.   The weather has been a bit disappointing, but it is what it is...  We will hope for warmer, sunnier skies to the west.