Visiting an aquarium is one of those touristy activities that I don’t normally seek out. I grew up in Baltimore, home of the National Aquarium, and I think I subconsciously believed that my home aquarium is the best in the world and there is no point in visiting any others.
This was wrong, of course. Ray suggested visiting the Two Oceans Aquarium during our Hello Weekend trip to Cape Town back in June and it was one of the best activities of the weekend. I had forgotten how much fun aquariums are. I also realized that the Two Oceans Aquarium is a really fun place to take fish pictures.
The aquarium’s entrance hall.
Instagramming the fish.
We arrived at the aquarium about an hour before it closed so we didn’t get to spend a ton of time looking at the exhibits. But we did have nearly the entire aquarium to ourselves, which was great. And I was there long enough to learn that Two Oceans Aquarium, besides being a lovely tourist attraction, is a world-class institution doing great things to conserve South Africa’s underwater ecosystems. (Read about the aquarium’s conservation work and sustainable practices.)
Fish. (Update: Two Oceans Aquarium tweeted me to say that this is an evil-eye puffer fish. Best fish name ever.)
Fish. (Update: South African butterfly fish.)
Fish. (Update: Coachman fish)
Loggerhead turtle! My favorite.
Ray particularly enjoyed his role as Two Oceans Aquarium model.
Ray inside the clown fish tank.
Lord of the Prawns.
Fish-gazer.
I see more aquarium fish photography in my future.
The Two Oceans Aquarium is located at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront and is open every day of the year from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It’s the perfect Cape Town tourist activity during bad weather, or whenever you find yourself downtown with a couple of hours to kill. Click here for more information.
My trip was provided courtesy of Cape Town Tourism. Opinions expressed are my own.
I love aquariums and I think I’ve gone to quite a few in just about every country (and state) I have visited. And fish photography presents a different challenge, eh? Looks great!
Yes, I really need to start giving aquariums more love. They’re great.
Ha! I wish I had known you when my kids were smaller. I would have hired you as an aquarium-goer. Every new city we went, we were dragged to go see the aquarium. To me they are all pretty much the same.
Having said that, the Two Oceans Aquarium IS cool. Do you remember I blogged about it a few years ago when we took our son to go shark diving in the tank there? That’s another great thing that aquarium offers.
Oh, I don’t think I saw that post of yours! But my friend Fiver also did it and wrote about it in her book. So cool.