The Georgia Aquarium – add it to your bucket list!

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago for work, photographing the Arts & Entertainment Conference (check out the blog post here) and I got the amazing opportunity to visit the Georgia Aquarium with my awesome friend, Ashley (she even took the day off work to go with me!).

Well, WOW, the aquarium is amazing!!  I took some photos and videos but really, they all pale in comparison to being there in person.  So I will just encourage you to add ‘Visit the Georgia Aquarium’ to your bucket list and check it out for yourself!

Here’s a fun video I put together from my visit and below are some photos I took.

My visit to the Georgia Aquarium from Vanessa Embling on Vimeo.

Me and my friend, Ashley

Below: Entering the tunnel to the ‘Ocean Voyager Exhibit’ aka the giant tank…

Below:  My first view of a whale shark… from below… they are HUGE!

Below: The WALL.  I could’ve stayed in this room for hours.  It was amazing.  The tank holds 6.3 million gallons of water.  Yes. Seriously.  The acrylic wall (or looking glass) is two feet thick.  The tank is home to four whale sharks and four manta rays (the only manta rays in a U.S. aquarium ever) and it is simply spectacular.  I heard a rumor that they hold sleepovers in this room and I would like to know where I can sign up.

Below:  Me, watching the whale sharks…

Below: Ashley watching the manta rays…

Below: Me, watching the manta rays…

Below:  There are a couple of places where you can actually touch the creatures… rays, sharks… etc… so cool!!

Below:  Lion fish

Below:  I just loved the way this fish looked when he was looking straight at me… awesome teeth dude.

Below:  Who doesn’t love sea turtles??  Forever will remind me of ‘Finding Nemo’ and the ‘do you speak whaaaaale?????’ part…hahahaha

The octopus and the eel and other sea creatures… I was so enamored with the octopus and thought it was so cool that I caught it moving on video…

Below:  These guys are a type of seahorse called the Weedy Sea Dragon – they are really cool

Below:  Then, we found the penguins… and of course I crawled through the kid-sized tunnel….

To get up-close and personal with the penguins!!  How fun! 

Below:  Jellyfish terrify me.  I went to Australia and death by jellyfish was a very real and present danger that we faced.  No thank you!  You can watch a full documentary by the History Channel on the deadly jellyfish HERE.

Below:  An albino alligator…what!?

Below:  Piranhas!  I was so excited to see the piranhas but was totally disappointed when I realized they had their teeth removed so they wouldn’t eat each other… the gold specs they are rocking are cool though… makes it look like they are wearing sparkly sequins all the time.. how fun!?