Fish

 When we have out of town visitors we nearly always take them to the Aquarium. It is an exceedingly nice aquarium and the fact that such an oceanic environment exists here is certainly extraordinary.

Our visit on this occasion was especially enjoyable for us as we were accompanied by two divers who had swum with the fish in their natural tropical environments.  Not only did we hear about their underwater encounters, we also got to see snippets of videos and still shots depicting the same creatures we were seeing in front of us.

Our visit was not planned ahead, but the timing turned out extremely well.  It is always a thrill to see the maintenance people going about their tasks in their wet suits.

We arrived at the aquarium about 11:00 AM, which turned out to be the time the three river otters are provided with some food and training by two handlers.  We might have watched the otters briefly and moved on to the fsh exhibits, but a very well informed staff person on the viewing platform told us to stick around to catch the daily exercise.

The very active large male was lured inside to be out of the way while the two trainers put their charges through the daily routine.  One of the females just was not interested enough in the fish snacks to leave her sunny perch.  The other, however, quickly responded to all the prompts appropriately to get the expected rewards.