Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Today we went to the Churaumi Aquarium. It was massive! It's the second largest in the world. We could have easily been there for a few more hours. I was skeptical about how good it would be; we've been to the aquarium in Monterey, California. That is an impressive aquarium! I would say this ranks up there but for different reasons. 

In Monterey, I felt like that bug in A Bug's life that was going towards the bug zapper and said, "I can't help it, it's so beautiful!" The displays were amazing and jaw dropping to look at. The colors were unbelievable. 

Here, the fish were so exotic looking. And there were soooo many of them. The whale sharks were impressive. There was this massive tank next to the cafe where they had 3 whale sharks, schools of fish, manta rays that were of all sizes. Needless to say, we went to the cafe to stare at them for a really long time and ended up buying food. (Which was incredibly reasonably priced. In the States, we would have probably gotten one meal for what we spent on all three of us. We were stuffed on the way out.) We were pretty lucky and saw the whale sharks during feeding time. When they open their mouths to swallow the food, the water becomes this swirly vortex and the food is inhaled and then swallowed. The kids were cheering like crazy!

So a fun thing about being here. Everyone loves Olivia! Thankfully, she mostly smiles back at them. They come up to her and say Kawaii (like Hawaii, but with a k sound). It means beautiful in an adorable or cute sort of way. People come up all the time to poke her in the cheeks or forehead. She thinks it's funny although occasionally she's not in the mood. But generally, she likes it. On several occasions, teenage girls will come up in herds and ask to take pictures with her or of her. It makes Steven and I laugh because they are going to go through their pictures and it will sound something like, "look at this massive shark! That sea turtle was amazing! And this cute white baby in a tutu- we just wanted a picture with her to commemorate the moment."

These two are hard to take pictures of because they are too busy having fun together. I (not so) secretly love it. Thankfully, we purchased annual passes so we will have plenty more opportunities for picture ops. Here's their two best shots on the way out.

He was tickling her on the way to the car. She was laughing so hard, I thought she was going to burst an organ. I love her giggles.