I may or may not have gotten teary eyed in an aquarium

We went to the Churaumi aquarium today. It is the second largest aquarium in the world. So needless to say I was excited. We had originally planned on a quiet day at home due to Josh's puking (we figured out it's his new vitamin) and sunblisters, and my coral mangled foot, but Josh said he felt fine and he ran to the store to get bandages and neosporin and once my foot was all wrapped up I could walk pretty well so off we went.
It took about two hours to get there even though we took the expressway...the fastest speed limit on the island is 80km, which is a whopping 50 mph. Most streets are between 20 to 40 km. It's a slow paced life here in Okinawa. The scenery on the way was stunning. I'll post some of those in the next post. We also saw signs to watch out for wild boar. It looked like Puumba from the Lion King on the sign. That made me giggle.

This aquarium was AMAZING. I've been to quite a few aquariums but there were so many fish here that I have never even heard of. Some of my favorite were the deep sea fish that actually give off light, but it was too dark for a picture to come out clearly in there.

Here are some sea snakes. Can you imagine running into these? I would scream like a little girl!




The main attraction however was the Kuroshio sea...a tank so big that it gets it's own sea name. The tank holds 7500 tons of water, which is pumped in from the ocean just outside the park. Only three tanks in the world are large enough for whale sharks (who can eat up to 1/4 of a ton of food per week). This window is the world's largest aquarium window and it is THICK. 60cm thick in fact.
It was just the most amazing sight to behold. I mean, look at that manta ray...and then look at the people. It's just massive.


I'm scared to scuba dive so this is probably as close as I'll get to that experience. I just got a little overwhelmed here. It's humbling to see something so large and you realize just how small you are. I was also so incredibly grateful that I was here, on this little speck of land looking at whale sharks. I did manage to keep in the tears though.


Thomas was flipping out. He was so cute. See! See! See! He was babbling and chattering away, telling us all about those fish. I wish I could understand what he was saying.

Hello sir, good day! I love this picture. I love my camera. Best purchase ever.

Thomas was pretty impressed with the shark tank.


We walked back through because there were divers in the tank. Josh was green with envy. There are actually dive programs here on island to go dive with whale sharks...I'm pretty sure Josh would sell his soul to the devil to do it.


You could even go in a tunnel and look at them from underneath. Thomas was quite impressed.


Once we got out of that area we stopped for some food. Thomas had his first corn dog. He's a fan.

Outside the main aquarium there were sea turtles, a la Crush from Nemo, killer whales, manatees, and dolphins. There was also a resort style beach. You could make this aquarium a long weekend getaway if you wanted.


Overall I don't think any other aquarium will ever be as good. This is a hands down, must visit spot if you visit me. The end.