Public Aquariums

In the bleak midwinter, there is still another world, without ice or snow. Even in the penguin exhibit.

Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration and The New England Aquarium in Boston are great places to go to leave winter behind and contemplate the wonders of the deep. Sometime this spring, the Maine Aquarium, formerly in Saco, is scheduled to re-open in Biddeford, Maine, so we have ever widening opportunities for exploring, without getting our feet wet, the creatures of the ocean.

Note the reflection of the dad and little girl in the glass of this tank. The New England Aquarium, located on Ocean Wharf in Boston, was first opened in 1969. The Mystic Aquarium, located on Coogan Boulevard in Mystic, Connecticut, opened in 1973. Their educational exhibits and research programs make the experience visiting public aquariums a far cry from the days of P.T. Barnum where the emphasis was on the unusual, the freakish, and the outright phony. Have a look at this portion of the New England Aquarium website that discusses the 19th century history of aquariums in Boston.

It’s a good time of year to plan a visit with your friends. You can bring your human friends along, too. For more information, please visit these websites:
New England Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, and the Maine Aquarium.

Been there? Done that? Bought the T-shirt? Let us know.