Churaumi Aquarium

 Evening Greetings from Okinawa, 

     While settling in, we've allowed ourselves some day trips here and there instead of running endless errands on the weekends to get everything in order. First up on the list was a trip to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium! I'd heard stories from Adam about his visit here on his deployment but I couldn't properly imagine everything this space had in store for us! 

     When we first were talking about the island, I thought it was much smaller, maybe an hour top to bottom and twenty minutes across. Given the infrastructure and slower cars and speed limits, the trip from top to bottom is closer to two and a half hours, but the twenty minutes across stands (on most parts). We rarely drive anywhere further north than where Adam works which is only about halfway up the island. Everything else north is farmland and jungle, a nature reserve. The Churaumi Aquarium rests on the edge of this more rural terrain and the city of Nago. 

    Once again, to my surprise, I found out the aquarium is a part of the much larger Ocean Expo Park- it is massive! There are gardens spanning miles with different experiences inside, ranging from a traditional Okinawan village to a planetarium to, of course, the aquarium.  This involves several facilities including a dolphin show, manatee and sea turtle refuge, and then the main aquarium itself. Everything outside of the main aquarium is free so you could really spend the whole day just walking around and not even have to go inside! But, given I'm writing an post about it, we did indeed go inside. I wanted to go for the learning experience (to see what kind of wildlife we can expect, and more importantly avoid, when we go out snorkeling) but also the peacefulness. I love just staring into the big blue, watching the entire ecosystem work in tangent, all gliding along so effortlessly. 

     The greatest attraction the facility is known for is the whale shark! I wish they had a much bigger tank for this beautiful creature but I believe they are working with what they have. The aquarium does an extensive amount of observational research on the animals in their care so they can learn how to better help the oceans around Okinawa. The people here are quite dedicated to taking care of the environment and serving nature as best as possible. 

     My other favorite part was the tropical fish exhibit. There are so many types of fish here and all of them are so colorful and unique. No pictures of those below, but think rainbow fish the book and any other colorful scale you can think of. They are all so fine and graceful. 

     After learning all about the creatures we may see out in the ocean and so much more, we finally started to head home with one last stop in mind- the port side sushi shop I mentioned in the last post! The food was outstanding and recharged us for the drive home. 

The entrance ft Adam

The gardens stretch on for miles with a lovely view of the ocean

The sea turtles! Sea turtles flourish in the ocean around the nearby Camano Island

They have several gorgeous public beaches in the park

Peep the whale shark! My phone camera doesn't do it justice but this tank is incredible! A whale shark, several species of giant rays, lightning fast barracuda, and sharks. 

Adam saying, "please just let me eat"