The best public aquarium

[Aquatalk]

Hit there what is the best greatest public aquarium in the US?
When I going to visit the US I want to visit some!

Thnx

 

[madasafish]

I've been told that the Monterey Bay (CA) and Baltimore Aquariums are the best. I've been to the Boston and New York aquariums, and was more impressed by the one in Boston. I'm sure there are also some good aquariums in Florida and Hawaii, too!

Monterey Bay: http://www.mbayaq.org/
Baltimore: http://www.aqua.org/
Boston: http://www.neaq.org/index.flash4.html
New York: http://www.nyaquarium.com/

(P.S. You'll see that some of the aquariums are showing a movie called "Volcanoes of the Deep". I just ate cake 5 minutes ago with the person who lead the expedition to film these "black smokers" at the spreading centers in the middle of the ocean! She and James Cameron put the movie together. She works at the same research facility I do. Cool, huh? )

 

[jmoore]

Monterey Bay is the best one that I have ever been to
Birch Aquarium (part of Scripps Institute of Oceanography) is quite an excellent aquarium as well http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/

 

[Crawling68]

Im not to far from Monterey, it rocks.

 

[liquidelusion]

ive only been to the baltimore national aquarium and i can honestly say it f'in rocks my socks. great place

 

[cginflorida]

Another vote for the Baltimore aquarium. It's awesome.

http://www.aqua.org/

 

[julicat]

Monterey is great and they devote a lot of their exhibits to the life of Monterey Bay itself, which rocks.

Went to the big Chicago aquarium a year or two ago. It was wanking! Just a thoughtless, graceless, overendowed, hypocritical pit, it was.

The San Francisco aquarium is under renovation...they moved all the sea life from the old, to-be-rebuilt site in Golden Gate Park to somewheres downtown until the rebuilding's done. I fear the New and Improved SF aquarium will mimic the Chicago aquarium, but that is an uneducated fear.

Go to Monterey. Besides the aquarium, the area offers fantastic natural history opportunities: boat trips into the bay; otters; Elkhorn Slough...

 

[julicat]

Wow, I can't say...can't say that which was beeped from my last post here. No chiefly British derrogations here. Interesting. Rhymed with "tanking" ...

 

[fishfreek]

There is supposed to be a great aquarium opening up in ATlanta in the next year or two.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I give another vote to the Baltimore Aquarium. Only complaint I have is that it is usually very crowded when I've been there. The exhibits are really cool, animals are healthy, and last time I was there, they had sea turtles (which is the bomb!!).

 

[fish_doc]

Im not sure what julicat saw in Chicago but they have everything there. Everything from Beluga Whales and whitesided dolphins to austrilian lungfish. There are three areas in the building and julicat probably never left the origional structure. The third area just opened last year and is a "shark wing". Shedd is known as the worlds aquarium because of its size and variety of fish.

But everyone is going to support the one closest to them. That is only normal but that is no need to slam the others. What you need to do is figure out where you are going and then find aquariums in that area. Do you know where you are headed when you get here?

 

[Bioworldmaker]

Between the New York and the Monterey Bay (the 2 I've been to) I vote for Monterey Bay (CA)...

 

[julicat]

I was really excited to go to the Chicago aquarium because of its reknown. I was not commenting on the breadth of its selection or variety of exhibits.

I was, admittedly, slamming the Shedd Aquarium. Not out of of localism or Monterey-ism or Bay Area -ism; my anticipation was met with a truly overwhelming, suffocating consumerism-environment. Drawing money out of visitors was so clearly the underlying ethic of the place...

I expected, really hoped for, a more educational environment.

I wholly expect the San Francisco Academy of Sciences to follow in the footsteps...in the fin wakes...of the Shedd.

This is clearly merely my opinion. Presented as nothing more.

BUT while I'm opining...: NO reason to keep captive marine mammals. To the best of my knowledge, Monterey keeps otters only because they were found in the wild unable to make it in the wild...perhaps I am wrong about this. And this is all quite species-istic of me. Penning up fish seems very different than penning up cetaceans.

 

[ChileRelleno]

Chattanooga, Tennessee - Aquarium of the America's

 

[shawmutt]

The only thing I dislike about the Baltimore Aquarium is that they won't let me volunteer there! Other than that it's great.

 

[Guest]

I personally liked The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago..But then again I have nothing to compare it to..

 

[greenfish]

Ok. This is a biased opinion. I am a member (aka annual contributor) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The place is really nice. The Jellyfish exhibit alone is worth the trip. The kelp forest is really cool just to sit and watch. The new shark exhibit is spectacular. The stingray's, the birds, the otters, etc. etc. etc..... Ok I better stop or you might think I'm on the payroll there

The first time I saw the jellyfish exhibit I was awestruck. If you are ever anywhere near Monterey it is a must visit.

I have been to Steinhart (sp?) in San Francisco, Schedd in Chicago, The Birch (scripps) aquarium in San Diego. They all are cool but Monterey is my favorite. Hmm I might be in Baltimore next year on Business so I may need to check that one out too.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

out of the three that i have been to...NY, Boston, and Mystic (connecticut) Boston seemed the best

 

[JG]

If you are flying into the Boston Area - visit the New England Aquarium in the city. Great jellyfish exhibit ! The jellies are worth the visit.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Check out the one at Myrtle Beach South Carolina it's very nice.
Of course it's the only one I've been to...