Part 2 of Penguins and Pyjamas at the California Academy of Sciences

Phase III: A Fishy Business! 

So after conquering Butterfly Mountain, our explorations took us next downstairs to start to explore the aquarium.  I'd been to the aquarium before, during one of their Thursday night Nightlife events where it was completely packed full, but this time, again, we pretty much had the place completely to ourselves. There are number of different areas of the aquarium, showing different types of habitats, fishes and sea creatures - here are some of the main areas below as listed on the Academy's website:

At a depth of 25 feet and holding 212,000 gallons of water, the Philippine Coral Reef is one of the deepest exhibits of live corals in the world. It houses a broad range of aquatic life from the coral reefs and mangroves of the Philippines, one of the most diverse reef systems in the world. These animals include delicate soft and hard corals, blacktip reef sharks, stingrays, and more than 2,000 colorful reef fish.

The 100,000-gallon Northern California Coast tank replicates the habitats of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. A walkway along the surface allows visitors to smell the seawater and witness the filling and draining of tidepools as waves spill onto a small beach. A large, L-shaped underwater window reveals the eels, anemones, sea stars, rockfish, herring, sardines, and urchins that live beneath the water's surface.

What was very cool indeed was that we could look up, and we were directly underneath the Tropical Jungle that we'd just been in - we were looking up through the 100,000 gallon "Flooded Forest" tank where freshwater fish were cruising overhead.  Additional nearby tanks featured an ENORMOUS giant sea bass - probably the biggest fish I've ever seen!!  I think it was a good million feet long and had the density of a small black hole.  Unfortunately, due to said cosmic properties, there wasn't enough light escaping its gravitational pull to take a decent photograph, so you'll just have to imagine a ruddy great big fish instead.

Would you like to touch my starfish, little girl?

There was also a very weird Pacific octopus which seemed to have an embarrassment of tentacles, sporting at least 12 (maybe more!) of the wiggly digits (do octopii have digits?).  I couldnt get a photo of him either cos of the thickness of the aquarium glass so we just stood and waved at each other for a few moments (it took him a while), and that had to suffice.

Then, however, it was time for a much more interactive experience, as we rounded a corner and discovered the Discovery Tidepool!  Yey!!  Slimy creatures we can touch that we don't happen to be dating and have to have dinner with!!  It was staffed by a couple of lovely volunteers who i think were bored to tears because there were so few people around.  The chap seemed particularly happy to have someone to talk to, as he went on for ages!!  I can't remember exactly what he was going on about (he did talk for a looooooong time, so i kind of switched off after about 10mins and instead had a staring contest with an anemone) but we got to prod (gently does it) a couple of starfish, so it was time well-spent.  Chana had also joined us by this stage, so our little group was complete.  Tearing ourselves away from the thrilling Echinodermata narrative, we made our way back out of the aquarium, to go get something to eat and drink.  On our way through, we passed some BEAUTIFUL jellyfish and sea horses - just gorgeous.  I could have stood and watched them for hours, but - alas - there were wagons to fall off and much mischief to be made, so onwards and upwards we went.

ooOOOoooo - the jellyfish equivalent of fireworks...

Lori wishing upon a star(fish)

En route to the bar and restaurant, we were just in time to play with a snake ("snakes....why did it have to be... snakes?") which, contrary to my overly dramatic expression below, really wasn't all that scary.  If truth be told, I actually quite like snakes - granted, its a little difficult to take them for a walk and they're probably not the most warmest (blooded) pets you can buy, but they have their own certain charm.   Although I think if I ever heard a snake meow, that would be quite something.  (umm...where's Dylan??)

Anyway, enough snaky fishy business - it was a Friday night, we were in the mood to party and we were about to get into our PJ's in the California Academy of Sciences, for heaven's sake!!!  How cool was that!!!  So we decided to celebrate with a very tasty cocktail and - yes, I'm afraid my will power crumbled like a shed snake-skin as I thought "sod it" and gave in to the siren lure of a very tasty lemony vodka drink.  Well, it had lemons in it, so that's good for antioxidants, right?  Plus, I was drinking it in spitting distance (not that I tried to measure it) of some cavemen exhibits, so that meant it was Paleo-compliant, no?  If the rules of the Paleo diet are that you can only eat or drink it if it was something that a caveman could get, well - the bar was right there.  Totally open to any and all passing cave men who were thirsty after clubbing baby mammoths and spearing sabre-toothed tigers all day.  There wasn't even a line.  No Paleo problemo.   And - by the same logic - that meant that the cafeteria and all its contents were also fully Paleo-approved, so no need to hold back on those desserts... *happy sugar rush sigh*

Thunk.  Falling off the wagon for a cheeky cocktail (or two...)

100% Paleo-approved

Designer animal PJ's no less!!

But the fun was truly about to begin as - cocktail in hand - it was time to get into our PJs!!!   As we'd been going round the Tropical Rainforest and listening to the 3hr lecture on the dating habits of starfish, the museum had started to fill up, and there was an excited buzz in the air, as hundreds of adults started appearing, dressed in increasingly elaborate and impressive animal-themed sleepwear!  Lori and I scampered off to the big tent out the back to retrieve our stuff and then went to the restrooms to change.   My evening wear-du-jour (if that's a term) was a pair of Angry Birds pyjama bottoms with a Doctor Who t-shirt, stylishly topped with a little blue velour zipper sweat jacket with an Angry Pig and An Angry Bird out of each pocket.  Inspired fashion.  Lori was looking suitably stylish too, with some very fetching polar bear PJs, specially purchased for the occasion.

It didn't take us long, however, to realize that - should we do this again next year, we seriously need to take it up a notch.  Some of the costumes were simply stellar!  You had to wonder where on earth some of the sleepwear came from, especially the guys!  The couple examples pictured were actually pretty tame - there was one woman who was wearing a handmade bra made out of a bedazzled puffer fish.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that, cos it would have been a bit too weird, but I loved this guy in the blue penguin sleep suit - just hanging out with his (regularly-dressed) mates, drinking a beer, like its a pretty normal Friday night for him.

Which maybe it is.

Anyhoo, we were at large, in slippers and up to no good, so let the mischief begin....

Stay tuned for the Exciting Finale of "Penguins and Pyjamas: A Legend is Born"......