Yesterday, my son and I went on a trip to the Camden Aquarium. Unfortunately, we rushed out of the apartment and I forgot my cell phone, which prevented me from the opportunity of taking pictures. However, the mother of the other child that we went with did take pictures and promised me that she was going to send some my way, which would be good. Hopefully, they will come soon, and when they do, I will try and add those pictures here.
It was the first time that I had ever been to the Camden Aquarium, although I had heard about it quite a bit. For that matter, I had really only heard good things about it. So, I was intrigued.
And when we were invited by the parents of one of my son's friends, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to do something both fun and educational with my son, realizing as I did that the time and opportunity to do such things this summer was quickly running out.
The Camden Waterfront itself was not unfamiliar to me, having seen a couple of concerts there, including at least Pearl Jam and Roger Waters, and possibly other concerts that are not immediately coming to mind. During those few trips, I remember hanging out some at the Camden Waterfront both before and after the concerts, and admiring the Philadelphia skyline across the Delaware River. That part of Camden really is quite nice, actually.
Of course, Camden itself does not have such a glittering reputation. In fact, I have heard that it is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country, the type of place that you would rather not be in after dark. I would not know, other than those few times that I drove through it after a concert. In fact, the few times that I did drive through Camden, it was admittedly driving right through it, and not really actually visiting the city itself. Truth be told, other than what is at the waterfront, I am not familiar enough to know what it in Camden. Somewhere, Rutgers has a campus there, and there is also Rowan University. That's pretty much all I know.
In any case, there is the aquarium, and we finally did get to visit it yesterday. And it is a nice aquarium indeed.
The first thing that we saw were the Hippos, which surprised me a bit. I knew that hippos spent a lot of time, if not most of their time, in the water. But it never seemed that it would follow that these would be creatures that you would see in an aquarium.
Still, it was pretty cool to see them. They are truly huge. At first, they were far away, and either sleeping, or relaxing. But one way or the other, we could not get a true sense of their size. Later on, however, when we passed through this part again, the hippos were much closer. Right by the glass, actually. And then, we could get a better sense of just how enormous they were.
Admittedly, they did something very gross while we were there, and I am not sure if hippos generally do this, or if these hippos in particular do this, because they are in captivity. But without going into too much detail (which is almost impossible), let us just say that each of the hippos took turns going to the bathroom, while the other hippos rushed over to...umm, consume the waste.
Nasty? Yes, to say the least. Even nastier when you can see it up close and personal, in all it's glorious splendor. I can honestly say this was not what I expected.
There. Enough said on that particular subject. Moving on.
There were a lot of great exhibits throughout the aquarium, and these included plenty of sharks, including the hammerhead, and numerous other types of sharks (I am admittedly not informed enough on the subject to describe the various species of sharks that were there). There were also some enormous turtles - one in particular was sharing space in a tank with some sharks, but it was far too large to be or feel threatened.
Also, there was an outdoor section where you could see penguins. That said, it was quite a hot and humid day, and I always thought that penguins thrived in cold weather regions, and would not fare too well in excessive heat. But at least there was a pool, as well as some water raining down from a sprinkler above, to help keep them cool. The penguins were mostly inactive, probably lazy because of the heat. One did jump in the pool, and I always am amazed to see just how fast they can swim. It is impressive!
The aquarium offered a 4-D movie about giant sea monsters of old, and this was pretty good. Every now and again, they would spray the viewing audience with water (these must have been attached to the seats somewhere, but it was too dark for me to see where exactly these were). It lasted roughly about half an hour, and it was pretty good and informative, actually.
My personal favorite part was the touching exhibit. There were sting rays and small sharks (in different tanks) that you could pet. I do not know if I ever touched a sting ray before, although I definitely had never touched a shark before. They feel decidedly different. To put it bluntly, sting rays feel soft and sort of slimy, while sharks felt scaly and rather hard. It was a thrill to touch both species, and entirely new to me!
I'm always up to try some new experiences like that.
Otherwise, I doubt that this is a necessary warning, because most people are aware. But just know that prices inside are kind of expensive. For one adult ticket and one child ticket, I paid a little over $48 (roughly $26 for the adult ticket, and $19 for the child, plus taxes or fees). The movie tickets were $3 each no matter what (per seat occupied, presumably). Finally, the souvenir shop and food court are outrageously expensive. Luckily, my son was not hungry, and refused to eat much, so I got him some fries. For myself, smart food, and two drinks for both of us. All told, that put me out over $12, just for snacks that would probably total about $6 or so bucks elsewhere. Again, this is not the kind of place that you want to literally do everything in, or you will find yourself spending quite a lot of money. There are other ways that you can spend your money inside, such as souvenir medallions, and other things like that. So, if you plan a trip and want to stay in budget, just be forewarned.
All in all, however, a pleasant trip, and a nice and informative, educational day at the aquarium. I learned some things personally, and hope that my son did, too. Truth be told, towards the end, both he and the other boy were running around, hiding from one another and then pretend shooting at each other.I suspect that they were feeding off of one another's energy - and they both had a tremendous amount of energy! By that point, we realized that they had pretty much had enough, and there would be no point in prolonging the experience. They had gotten as much out of it as they likely were going to get, and that was okay. It was shocking to see, when looking down at my watch, that we had been there for the better part of five hours!
So, if you are interested in aquariums or some such experience, particularly if there are children involved, I would definitely recommend a trip here, if you are in the area. I have been to a few aquariums in my adulthood (and probably more going back to childhood). There was one at the Jersey Shore (forgot which town), and the one that my girlfriend and I took my son to last year, in Charleston, South Carolina. I cannot say with certainty how this one compared, although this one was most comparable to the Charleston Aquarium.
A good and positive experience overall. Hopefully, I will be able to add pictures soon to this blog entry. Stay tuned!
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