The aquarium hasn’t changed much since our last visit several years ago, they still have that same whale hanging from the ceiling from the opening in 1998. Long Beach doesn’t compare to the one in Monterey though, which is so much bigger, and I have to say so much better. In our younger days we spent a lot of time in Monterey and a visit to the aquarium was always included. But we did enjoy this one that day but probably won’t go back. A lot of the exhibits were lacking ‘oomph’, not very exciting. Photos were hard to take because of so much glare on the glass also. It ruined a lot of my shots.
Along with the Queen Mary and the Carnival cruise line, housed in the old Spruce Goose building, Long Beach is definitely a tourist destination. The Queen Mary offers packages for stays before and after a cruise. We met many people doing that. The 2028 Olympics will probably bring a lot of tourists here to enjoy those things too, plus fill up all the hotels. We see evidence of the city fixing a lot of problems lately to make the city presentable, and that’s a good thing.
We loved the octopus exhibit.
but this little boy wanted no part of them.
Because they have no bones they can fit in tight places even a crevice the width of a quarter. They can change colors and textures and can spray the enemy with a cloudy substance to get away quickly. Very interesting creatures.
We spent a lot of time at the octopus tank. They kind of look like aliens, but are so fascinating to watch. We recently watched a Netflix series about oceans of the world. They cover 71% of the earth, making us the ‘Blue Planet’🌎 We learned so many things we didn’t know. It’s apparent that all the oceans of the world are in some real trouble now.
The jelly fish an are always amazing too.
and the sea nettles
There were a lot of informational signs around the aquarium to read about the oceans, the fish, and climate change and what we can do about it. California is a leader in that area, but it’s still happening. We won’t see it in our lifetime but California is losing its snowpack.
But we will always still have things to make us smile;
a smiling lemon
and a praying mantis makes me smile🙂because it looks like it’s smiling
Hope you all have a very merry Christmas 🎄
stay tuned
💗jilly
Once in awhile-now and again-this is us 
Glad you guys enjoyed the aquarium. Liked all the animal pics and thought they were good and didn’t notice any glare. Thanks for sharing all the interesting aquatic facts. The smiling lemon cute. I thought looks like old time comedian Jimmy Durante. How nice of you to include Ray. Celia
The fish tank and jelly fish tanks look too unnatural – like what you see at a pet store. I’m surprised by that. We haven’t been to the aquarium since Emily and Amy were little and I recall that I was not very impressed. Monterey was really nice! I hope they make improvements in the downtown and shoreline areas – I would hate to see Long Beach go bad. I think we might move back some day! 😉
enjoyable post. I always like to hear about octopi because of their great intelligence despite their alien appearance. They seem so aware of things.
Hope Long Beach does some upgrading before the Olympics.
I also miss Ray. That is a great smily picture of him.
above post from Sharon – love you guys.
Octopuses! Pretty cool! I remember when the Aquarium opened in 1998! I’m glad it’s still in operation, but it doesn’t seem to be the shining jewel we might all like it to be. Long Beach does have a lot of fun stuff.
you take spectacular and make it magic and the less spectacular and make it sparkle with your unique point of view, Jilly. loved the star octopus themes. your talent for blogging is matched only by your deeds of loving kindness in the physical world.
We try to be conservative and bring our forks to fast food, we use our own containers for leftovers at restaurants so it’ll be less plastic to the ocean. I like the praying mantis, it looks like he was talking and smiling with you! Thuy
These are the most winsome pics of the aquarium that we ever have seen! You make us want to go back even though we’ve recently been there. The lectures on the first Wednesday of every month are said to be excellent. Thank you so much for your wonderful blog. You are true lovers of life. And octopuses 🐙