Waikiki Aquarium

Waikiki Aquarium

2777 Kalakaua Ave.

Honolulu, HI. 96815

808.923.9741
http://www.waquarium.org/

The Waikiki Aquarium is the third oldest public aquarium in the United States. A part of the University of Hawaii since 1919, the Aquarium is located next to a living reef on the Waikiki shoreline. Armed with this information, I was waiting to be impressed with the magnificence of the water creatures housed in the building. Sadly, I was disappointed. Upon walking from our Waikiki beach hotel to the Aquarium, we mistakened the Waikiki Zoo as our final destination. But as we continued our short trek, I was a little disappointed with the size of the building. Is that it? I'm paying $9 admission fee to see....?

The only reason why people should visit this place is to get out of the sun during the mid-day (and use their $1 off coupon) or take their kids to see cute fishies. But why take them to an aquarium when they can go to Hanauma Bay and experience it directly? Otherwise here are the highlights of the Aquarium. A self-guided audio tour will give you a thorough explanation of the exhibits, however if you are like me....you'll get bored after the first dozen listenings and be more interested in taking pictures of the fishes. A thorough viewing of the 60 exhibits including the sole monk seal in the outside tank took about 90 minutes. I thought the seal was a little lonely but it gave us quite a show during the time we were there. It would not hold still for us to get inside the picture! Here are some that we took using the 'aquarium' setting on our camera - It was the first time that I used it and it made for really nice shots.

And to take advantage of my camera's video feature, here is a short clip of some cool lagoon jelly moving about the tank. Ignore the little boy's voice in the background, hehehe.