Monterey Bay Aquarium

It's easy to spend a whole day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have fantastic exhibits with all sorts of interesting sea creatures. We missed the otter feeding time, but we got to see the puffins and other sea birds in action. Then we stared at the ctenaphores as they drifted and pulsed hypnotically. Then came our favorites, the seahorses and sea dragons, the latter almost surreal creatures of spines and fins. We even got to pet one of the skates in the petting pool. So what, our excitement is showing.

One of our fishy friends

The otters were cute, but hard to photograph. One - not this one - went crazy for the ice bucket.

A ctenaphore, pronounced "ten a four"

Two ctenaphores

Feeding time for the birds

A pale seahorse

A sea dragon

A red shrimp

Another seahorse

A dark seahorse

Silver fish