mitsugirly

Well, it's really hard to answer that question about the price. It is definitely expensive for an activity in Mexico I feel like. It's definitely more expensive than even going to our local zoo, which is HUGE and well known because of Jack Hanna. But, I guess it was worth it for us because it gave us something to do for the day other than just walk around and explore or ride around on a tour. Sakari is an animal lover and it suited her well and she was excited to go so that made it worth it. I looked at it this way, we would have spent that on an excursion had we done it, so this was our excursion for the day. 🙂

Oh ok. I wasn't sure if you had kept up with those or not. Yea, not giving up cruising but we definitely love our land vacations as well. OHHHHHH I WANNA GO! That's been on my bucket list too: Costa Rica and Panama. I would love to do a Panama cruise in the canal. Can't you do ones that start in one place and end in another for a shorter cruise? I'm going to have to check this out. It's so hard for us to leave our animals as well. Oh that sounds dreadful. Do you have an iphone? If you have one, you can get the ear buds and they seem to be really loud. I always have to turn mine down they are so loud. Maybe that would help? Oh yea, I remember that story. Yikes! When you both first posted PTSD I thought you were referring to something I had posted that we were doing. But, I get it now. That would be a nightmare! I hope some day you get to swim with the whale sharks. It's the MOST AMAZING experience ever.

I'm going to call it a night for now. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow and need to get some sleep. I hope everyone is enjoying the review and our day at the aquarium. I will try to continue tomorrow with the rest of our day exploring.

We went to another bird show and they had several birds do a few tricks. They also brought out the owl and Sakari cheered! Well, we had pretty much seen and done it all. It was time to head out and explore a little bit. It was now probably around a little after noon.

Here comes a baby dinosaur...have you ever seen a dinosaur in real life Karl? Heading over to the flamingo area: We heard a commotion in a building and went to check it out. They were getting ready for a sea lion show. I guess if I can't swim with them, I'll watch them do tricks. Of course the entire show was in Spanish so no idea what they were saying but none the less, it was funny to watch them perform. This is Toby: This lady talked and talked and talked and honestly it got quite annoying. Maybe because we couldn't understand but it was really drug out a little too long. Just have him do the tricks already. We weren't the only one watching the show... Next was Tito: I felt like Tito did more interesting tricks but Sakari liked Toby better. Eh, they were both outstanding.

They had a big stadium where they had a bird show and we headed over to watch...only they came outside into an open area. This guy had 2 birds and another guy had 1. Before long, they were talking in Spanish and building excitement and we had absolutely no idea what they were saying or about to do. Then....they released them!! Wait what??? These birds took off into the sky and out of sight. Before long, they returned and just kept flying around for a VERY long time. They would circle the buildings, go out over the street area, around the building, it was just crazy to watch. My heart pitter pattered a lot during this flight display. They all stayed together during the entire flight. Sometimes they got really close to the audience as they zoomed by. Then their trainers walked to an entirely different area and called them back and in they came. It was just so amazing to watch. I don't know how they do it! I wish Sakari could train hers like this but I would never trust that.

A lot of birds up in the trees today We decided to head to the bird aviary because Sakari is a bird person of course. She absolutely loved this little owl. We actually loved they had a huge cage that you could go into with the birds. They were flying around everywhere and a lot of them.

We really wanted to see the penguins and headed over to that building. Now our espanol is muy pequeno... meaning very little known to us but sometimes enough to understand. 😉 We followed some signs and went into a building. It went up, there was nothing. We kept going up, still nothing. It was a rather large building. Um, ok. Maybe they don't have the penguins anymore? We continued and started to head back down. Hey at least they had some cute displays right? It made me want to head to Alaska now. I mean at least there it's SUPPOSED to be cold. Then finally...we found them. Once we got out of the building, we would notice that we had went in the wrong way and that's why we weren't seeing anything. Oopsy

We decided to head outside. But first we had to stop and get pop...which will cost you $3.00 for one. We stood on the walkway and watched some type of ?duck? and it would dive under and STAY UNDER forever! Then you'd never know just where it was going to pop up. It was super quick swimming and would make it half way across the water then duck under and come back. It was pretty amazing to watch. Gatorland...I don't really care for gators. They look creepy.

We have definitely seen our share of these lobsters every time we snorkel and dive. A nice view from above of the grounds. They also had a "petting" area. It was time to test Karl's guts ability. THIS GUY!!!! OH MY GOSH HOW I LOVE PUFFER FISH!!! THEY ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITES AND HAVE SUCH A CURIOUS PERSONAILITY!!! They had several of them in the tank. He kinda looked at them and moved on. Oh no you don't, get back here and touch something mister! We got to the stingray tank and it took quite a bit of courage to get Karl to stick his hand in there. He would put his hand in and wait for them to come and quickly pull it out. We finally convinced him to leave it there or we would make fun on him the rest of the day and go home and tell all his friends. Eventually he caved in. Tortuga!!!

The had an entire room dedicated to just jellyfish. Each tank was in a different color to make them light up as they bobbed around. I will spare you from having to look at each color. Same jellyfish, different color. They had an educational room for the tots. And one for the adults as well SHARK! Several sharks would swim in a big tank that went up and over you. The filtration is massive on these tanks. I can only imagine what it takes to keep them clean and running. My few salt water tanks I used to have had quite the set up including a filtration system in our basement as well. Oh how I miss them.

The eel tank...I have to say there was a lot of them in this tank. They were hiding in every crevice.

It was time to explore our favorite area...the aquarium. You'll walk to different rooms seeing different creatures and fish and excitement grows wondering what is around the corner. There are some curious fish in here. They have some VERY large display tanks...it kinda reminds me of the one we have here at our local zoo. I could spend hours just sitting and watching it.

We arrived at the Gran Acuario Mazatlan and headed inside to pay for our tickets. They charge $460 MX per person or around $30 US. About the aquarium: There are 30 habitats including an aviary, crocodile, flamingo area, penguin and sea lions but most important...the aquariums!!! We love our aquariums. In we went... We decided not to take the stairs up into the building because...well, I was saving my legs for all the walking we were about to do. They do have an elevator! Woo hoo! Up to the top we went.

Aww, glad you found the review. Hey, we were still vacationing (to the ports we visit while cruising) during the pandemic...did you happen to read any of them? We had such a great time! Where are you cruising in December to and what ship? Yea, I'm not a fan of the long flights but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined but still very long. Oh ok, I remember now. But honestly, the time we spent in La Paz it was pretty calm I thought so just didn't understand it.