Summary: Boston has a great aquarium with so much to do for people of all ages.
I love going to the aquarium. When I travel to a new city, it’s one of the items on my to do list. Thus, I’ve been to a few great aquariums. Keeping that in mind, I’d have to say that the New England Aquarium in Boston is one of the more fun aquariums I’ve been to. Aside from having lots of penguins, seals, and a huge variety of sea creatures, they have a touch tank. Well, they actually have two touch tanks: one with creatures such as starfish that has been there for a while, and a more recent one with stingrays and sharks. The stingray and shark touch tank was one of the more fun exhibits so if that’s what you’re interested in, you can skip the bottom of the review. (There are also whale watching tours that start next to the aquarium, but that deserves a review of its own.)
Penguins, so many penguins
If you love penguins, you’re in luck! There were soooooo many different penguins from a few different species. If you go at the right time, you can see them get fed, but they mostly just stand still and do nothing. If you happen to go later in the afternoon, well then you’re in for a special kind of show. That’s the part of the day when they are finished ‘processing’ their meal and… well… what goes in must come out.
Seals
There are a few seals that you can see right outside of the aquarium. Once inside the aquarium, there is a big section of the aquarium built for small shows. To be honest, I only stayed briefly and skipped out to other parts that I was more interested in.
Huge turtles, sharks, sting rays, fish, jellyfish, and all sorts of creatures
They have a huge variety fish throughout the aquarium. The centerpiece of the aquarium is the central tank that spans several floors. That tank also has a couple of very, very large turtles. I was able to capture a small sample of the aquatic life there and will let the following videos do the describing. I’ve only included a few videos here to keep the post a reasonable length, but you can see all the videos in previous posts:
Shark nursery
There is a shark nursery at the aquarium where you can see sharks before they are born. These egg sacs are colloquially known as Mermaid’s Purses. I thought this display was quite beautiful as the egg sacs are specially lit to let you see inside. There were epaulette shark embryos at different developmental stages, from a few weeks after conception, to a month before birth.
Shark and sting ray touch tank
One of the most fun parts of the aquarium is being able to touch sharks and sting rays. This exhibit lets you interact with a range of sting rays and sharks. The animals seemed to ignore us as they swam around the open tank. I spent quite a bit of time touching all the different sting rays and sharks that cared to venture close to me.
Summary
The New England Aquarium in Boston is one of the more fun aquariums I’ve been to. Aside from having lots of penguins, seals, and a huge variety of sea creatures, they have a touch tank where you can touch sting rays and sharks. If you’re in Boston and want a fun activity for yourself, or your children, the aquarium is a good bet.
Adventures for two 