Under the Sea - Atlanta Part 2

The grand finale of the day, and by FAR my favorite. The Georgia Aquarium was AMAZING. We saw tons of great exhibits. The only thing we didn't LOVE was the huge crowd, but with the attractions they had, you can't blame the masses for coming. On a side note, if you are ever thinking of going to Atlanta and want to tour the Coke Factory and the aquarium, BUY THE PEMBERTON PLACE PASS!!!! We bought it online and it let us into the Coke factory earlier than our scheduled time, without waiting in a huge line and the aquarium line, just to get tickets, wrapped around the park in the afternoon heat. It was gross. We luckily had our pass and got to hop right into the entrance line (less than 5 minute wait) instead of the 2+ hours. That alone, made the whole thing even better. We got in and headed for some lunch. we snapped this cute picture of the girls. We LOVE having the Nichols to hangout with. We don't have to worry about Saylie SCREAMING HER HEAD OFF in the car on the ride home (Sorry again you guys) and we soo look forward to coming back and watching these girls grow up together. They are so cute.

The first exhibit we went to was the Coldwater one. It was full of CRAZY animals that I hope to NEVER see face to face. These crazy guys were HUGE. I don't think the picture does them justice because there isn't a good reference point, but they stood almost a foot off the ground. Their bodies were about the size of a dinner plate.

This nasty guy was an albino alligator. He was so pretty but also so creepy.

This guys was Beta, the Beluga Whale. They were so awesome. I love the way this picture turned out. He just kept swimming into the frame and it looks so cool. They were vey smart and very playful animals. They were huge, but not nearly as big as I was thinking. For some reason I just thought Whale meant humpback or something.

This snazzy little thing is a Dragonfish. Closely related to my favorite, the Seahorse! Those appendages look like plants so that they can camoflauge.

This is a piranha. It always amazes me how small these vicious little suckers are. You could see their snarly teeth are so sharp.

Next we moved on to the Ocean Voyager Exhibit. This one was my favorite! See why below...This is just the midsection of one of the three Whale Sharks. As you can tell, they were MASSIVE. Again, pictures don't do it justice, but it was just beautiful.There was a giant tunnel that went through the shark fish tank. You could walk through and see the fish on all sides and overhead. There was a sawfish, a Manta Ray, sharks, and tons of other crazies in there.
This was the nasty hammerhead. They freak me out....a lot. I feel like I could never get away because they could always see me. Lastly, we moved on to the Tropical Dive section. These little guys were Sea Nettles. So small and so pretty, but again I NEVER want to meet them in person. I prefer the tank.These Jellies were so pretty to watch. They looked like eyeballs.

More Jellies. Still pretty...Still prefer not to be stung.Saylie sported her festive Seahorse onesie to the aquarium so naturally, we had to get a picture of her by the seahorse. These are by far my favorite animal in the WORLD. I love love love them. I will perhaps write a post about why in the future.This is Saylie with her seahorse friend in the gift shop. We both love us a Saylie bug.

And that my friends is the end...FINALLY!!