Serenely swimming along behind a thick wall of acrylic plastic, a big whale shark moves through a crowd of a few thousand of his finny friends at the Georgia Aquarium—located just across the street from the Georgia World Congress Center.
Spanning about 20 to 30 feet, whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea, and the Georgia Aquarium is the only one in North America to house them in its 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager habitat. Visitors can view these giants rippling along beside thousands of other fish, including zebra sharks, sawfish, leopard whiprays, bowmouth guitarfish, humphead wrasses, pompano, and several species of rays, groupers, grunts, and snappers from a window that is 63 feet long, 26 feet high, and about 2 feet thick. About 500 species are represented overall.
Sea stars, sea urchins, sea horses, African penguins, and the ghostly beluga whales are the stars of a separate Cold Water Quest exhibit, while a nearby Tropical Diver section hosts a variety of colorful, warm-water creatures like the palette surgeonfish, the yellow tang, and the entrancingly named spotted sweetlips.
In the Aquanat Adventure: A Discovery Zone, children and their parents are invited to explore fresh- and salt-water habitats, learn how animals thrive in extreme environments, and even catch a glimpse into what it’s like to have a career in aquatic and marine sciences.
Visitors of all ages can also participate in “behind-the-seas” tours, where they can learn about daily operations at the aquarium and gain access to topside decks of Ocean Voyager, Tropical Diver, and the beluga habitats. These tours are an additional $15 and run every half hour, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Can’t resist the urge to get your feet wet? The Aquarium even offers the chance to swim ($235) or scuba dive ($335) with thousands of fish. The two-and-a-half hour program includes a 30-minute swim or dive in the Ocean Voyager exhibit plus an insider’s look at other parts of the Aquarium. (Scuba participants must be certified.)
A portion of the proceeds from this program supports the Aquarium’s 4R (Rehabilitation, Responsibility, Rescue and Research) conservation program. The Aquarium rehabilitates and returns loggerhead sea turtles back into the ocean on the Georgia coast, studies manta rays in the Atlantic, and tracks whale sharks off the Yucatan Peninsula in collaboration with Georgia State and Emory universities. ■
The Georgia Aquarium is located at 225 Baker Street, N.W. More information, including hours, admission prices, and exhibit details, is available on their
website.
