Well, I finally made it to the Newport Aquarium. I've lived only a block away from it for about a year now. For the most part, I enjoyed it. The displays were impressive. There are a lot of tunnels going through them and you have the fish swimming on both sides and even above you. Nifty.

The layout was disappointing. You have to follow a predetermined course and once you get to the end, there's no going back. That's fine if you've seen everything you want to see, but I'm the sort that likes to be able to wander around at my leisure and go back and look at things again.

I doubt the guards would get after you if you simply turned and wandered back the other way, but by the time I figured out the setup, it was too late.

I missed the Aviary altogether. I saw the exit to it, but never did see the entrance.

I did get some interesting pictures. Most came out kind of dark and blurry because I didn't want to use a flash. I had the ISO set at 1600, which is as high my camera will go, and the shutter speed as slow as I dared set it. Fortunately, most of the displays had a wall or ledge I could lean against and try to keep myself steady. Without a tripod, I don't like going below a shutter speed of about 160, especially if the subject is moving. Some of the pictures I took today were at speeds of 10 or less. Gads, it's a wonder you can see anything at all in them!

All in all, I don't think it was quite worth the price of admission. I'll probably go back, especially now that I know what to watch for. Next time, I think I'll get a membership. The memebership is good for a full year and only costs about the same as two visits at the regular price. (For a single adult, at any rate.)

Below are some of the photos I got today. They're a little grainy because of the ISO setting and some are not as sharp as I would prefer. The final shark photo is a might on the blurry side, but I liked it and had to post it. You can see his teeth. Cool.