Subsonic Radio

I thought I would do an "off topic" trip report since this is non-Disney related. Work sent B-dude to Georgia for work, so my parent's and I tagged along and we did the Journey with Gentle Giants at the Georgia Aquarium. I would highly recommend this place to everyone! Even if you are not a diver, it's a wonderful state of the art aquarium, plenty to see and do for the whole family. They are doing alot of wonderful things there with educating, researching and rescuing animals! They are the only aquarium in the U.S. to house Whale Sharks! If you are a diver, put this on your bucket list!

B-dude couldn't go, unfortunately b/c of work. So my dad and I did the dive and my mom was the "bubble watcher". The staff and volunteers here are wonderful! They are really enjoying what they do and it shows. I admire what they are doing to try and help these wonderful creatures. So little is known about Whale Sharks. My dad and I did the WS Specialty, which gave us more down time, another certification and brought us inches away from these spectacular animals! There are 4 WS in the Ocean Voyager, 2 males (Yushan and Taroko) and 2 females (Alice and Trixie). They were going to be slaughtered but were rescued by the Taiwain government and then sent to Georgia!

Pictures do not them justice, they are graceful and beautiful. They are called "Gentle Giants" b/c unlike other sharks, they move slowly. They have very small esophugas and eat 11-18 lbs. of krill and other small fish a day. So, even if they wanted too, they could not eat you! They like to swim over the divers, the bubbles are like a massage to them! They also have 4 Manta Rays that span 8' across, they are amazing as well. Alot of sharks, sting rays, grouper and tons of fish! They are now the largest aquarium in the U.S. 6.3 million gallons, they did that on purpose to beat Disney out! Our greeter that day is actually a former Disney employee. He worked at the Seas for 3 years! He got a kick out of the fact that my dad had his "Dive Quest" shirt on.

Anyway, here are the pictures! We got video too....I will have to see if I can upload that! Enjoy, we sure did!!! It's going to be hard to top this dive!

Whale Shark


Feeding time, they feed the Whale Sharks by ladle. There are 4 lanes and each are trained to a specific lane, they make them follow the little boat, gives them some exercise!


Manta Rays:


Whale Shark feeding:


Their mouths span 4' across!


Pre dive:


My dad is on the left with the yellow goggles and I'm right next to him. Just to give you an idea of the sheer size of these creatures, the WS heading toward us is the smallest of the 4!




Waving to mom:


Swimming over tunnel:


They have alot of other nifty exhibits too:












http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

Awesome photos b-babe! Great idea doing a trip report. Those whales are very pretty ~ I can't believe how big their mouths are though That's funny about the bubbles being a massage for them. Interesting to see how they have trained the whale sharks to eat from the boats like that.
I love the manta rays ~ they're such graceful creatures!
Small world having the greeter be a former Disney employee!

The Georgia Aquarium is a great place. The Penguin area was under renovation and closed during my visit, which was a small disappointment. They did a great job with the place.

Amy- I agree, amazing they can get them to feed from a small boat! Their brains are the size of a human fist! Glad you liked the pictures! We enjoyed having a former Disney employee be our guide!

mindflipper- when were you last at the GA? The penguin area was pretty cool. You can stand up in this enclosure which is right in their habitat! They walk right past your face! I love penguins, such little personalities!!! I always say, they're all dressed up with no where to go!

The pics are awesome, b-babe!! You look like you had a fantastic time. Would love to visit the aquarium there now.

I visited the GA Aquarium back in 2009, along with the Atlanta Zoo. Thanks for your trip report! It's fun getting to see a side of somewhere you've been that few people rarely get to see.

Thanks Soarin! I would highly recommend it if you ever get the chance!!!

mindflipper- I wish we could've visited the zoo too! That looked nice from what I could see online! We hope to make it back again someday, would love B-dude to be able to experience that dive! Plus, I need my Manta Ray Specialty now!

Just found out last night...you can dive at the Mall of America! They have two tanks, one with cold water fish like Sturgeon and another tank with tons of sharks!!! They let you bring your own gear and you get to feed these incredible animals!!!! Now we're scheming to figure out a way to do this!

so no cold-water diving? thoought you could get in with the belugas as well...

Awesome pics!!! Those are some massive animals!!!! Bonus that your guide was a former CM too...

Thank you for sharing your experience!

We're wanting to go to the Mall of America as well...but not to dive

MmeLeota wrote:Awesome pics!!! Those are some massive animals!!!! Bonus that your guide was a former CM too...

Thank you for sharing your experience!

We're wanting to go to the Mall of America as well...but not to dive

You aren't that far from the Mall of America now are you??

dstrawn9889 wrote:so no cold-water diving? thoought you could get in with the belugas as well...

No, can't dive with the Belugas. That tank is very small compared to Ocean Voyager. We get enuf cold water diving around here!

Thanks Mmeleota! It was amazing!!! Been to Mall of America, but it was many years ago. Wasn't a diver and I don't think the aquarium existed then? That would be a cold water dive with the Sturgeon. Even if you don't dive, plenty to see, do and buy at Mall of America!!! Hope you are able to make it there!!!