The underwater realm has always held a mystery that's strangely appealing to me. That's why when my gf came back from the UK, she bought me a book on fishes as a souvenir. And when I was invited to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium a few weeks back, I jumped at the opportunity. I was skeptical at first, given that the brochure makes no mention on the existence of any underwater tunnels which typically separates expensive aquarium exhibits from pet shops. As I write this however, I must say that this is one aquarium that holds its own.

The complex is large, and is situated next to the Pacific ocean. There are many unique features about this aquarium - one of which being the fact that the surrounding ecosystem is an exhibit in its own through the high magnification lenses made available on observation decks like the below.

"You can see real wild seals and birds ngayap through the binoculars!"

Should you decide to turn your attention away from wildlife and just soak in the view instead, it is just as well. You can also spot people kayaking in the calm ocean, though I shudder to think what would happen if they capsized as the water is freezing cold out here!

"Steady... steady..."

Indoors, it was very dark and very difficult to photograph. It also happened to be a most crowded weekend. Anyway, the first exhibit we saw were the jellyfishes. They range in size from a mosquito (magnified through the use of concave glass) to perhaps a car pillow. Most however are about the size of a fist. This is an example of one of those fist-sized jellyfishes floating about in still darkness. If you could only watch them move - its simply ethereal. There's a tank that spans the entire wall, swarming with these little critters - and here's one of 'em, close-up, or up-close... or wateva.

"Am thinking of opening up a jellyfish exhibit by dumping a bunch of plastic bags in a tank"

Photography becomes easier for jellyfishes which can tolerate more light. In this more well-illuminated tank, I took several photos of fiery golden, relatively active, pillow-sized jellyfishes.

Its tail is long and just eeeeeu. Check it out here.

There's also the otter exhibit. Woo hoo - who can resist otters? They're active, playful and the crowd's delight! I did not manage to get any pictures as it was too crowded and they were too fast for me. All I got were these little paws scurrying underwater. *Fuk fuk fuk fuk fuk*! Can you spot 'em below?

One more notable attraction in the aquarium was the 3-storey tank. In there, you get a menagerie of GIANT tunas (I didn't know they could be that big), hammerhead sharks, barracudas, turtles and the strangest of them all - the dismembered floating head, the sun fish. Of course, it was too dark to take any photographs.

Others still are the deep sea octopus tank, the tide tank, the penguin tank, and the kelp tank (below).

A disenchanted and unmoving Mr. Fish bobbing up and down in the kelp tank.

Then of course, you get your daily dose of pet shop fishes/plants too. There was so much seen and so many that could not be captured on film. Wow - underwater life is amazing!

"Peek"