Busan Aquarium

Last Sunday (Nov 8th), I visited the Busan Aquarium during a bonding exercise with my fellow new teachers. There are four of us, two girls, two boys, all went through adventure teaching, while three are from the Seattle--the fourth, a guy, is from Boston. One of the girls from Seattle also went to WWU, which was kind of strange to reminisce about a place so faraway in a land where I didn't think I would meet another Viking Alum; however, she was not the first WWU alumni I met over here.

The aquarium was pretty cool. It was stationed right on the beach, which will have to have it's own dedicated post--It's the most popular beach in Korea and for good reason. Everything but the entrance and ultimate exit was below ground. It reached two levels underground and even had it's own shopping/eating area at the end of the maze of aqua tanks.

The highlights were the Jackass Penguins, the shark tank you walked through and the seal observatory that was reminscent of a crowded, small and humid igloo. The entrance to the seal room was maybe two feet tall and crowned into a half moon shape. After traveling the three feet through the entrance, you entered the main chamber which was a nine foot bubble with air holes on the top; no wonder diseases spread so quickly over here. There was very little room and I was a giant amongst all the children, but it was still cool to watch the seal swim circles around you.

The shark tank was much more accomodating to it's visitors. The walkway could have easily accomodated a mini cooper and still left a lane for pedestrians. The tank also had the largest Grouper I have ever seen, it put some of the grey nurse sharks to shame. A grey nurse shark is a strange looking thing, with pointy jutted teeth that almost stick straight out from their oversized gums. We stayed at the shark tank long enough to watch the feeding frenzy. There were two divers, one feeder and one protector that prodded the sharks if they came in dangerously. It was pretty fun to watch, especially when the storm of fish and rays almost ended with the feeder losing a hand. Thankfully the secondary diver was skilled enough to prevent disaster; although one of the sharks, a small nurse shark (more annoying than dangerous), kept trying to feed on the diver's head.

It was a fun day capped with a lovely stroll along the beachline; mostly it was me exploring and the others following because they didn't know where anything was and thought I was intentionally going somewhere--it's surprsing how often this happens. We saw all of the fishermen/women's stores full of crowded tanks of any kind of sealife your tastebuds desire; nothing gets thrown back.

The day really ended with Karill(?) and I entering into a trivia contest at a Western bar, and winning last place. It was a good day.