We have been wanting to visit the New York Aquarium for the longest time but never really got around to it. When we found out about Bank of America's "Museums on Us" promotion, we jumped on the opportunity to head out to Brooklyn to visit the aquarium. The "Museums on Us" promotion is pretty good actually. Anybody who has a Bank of America card, be it credit or debit, gains free admission to over 70 museums nationwide every first weekend of the month. The NY Aquarium happens to be one of the participating museums.
The NY Aquarium boast over 350 species of aquatic life, with exhibits featuring over 8,000 animals. It is located on the south section of the Coney Island boardwalk, just next to the Atlantic Ocean. Our day started off pretty early. We had no problems in finding the aquarium (just punch in the address in the GPS) and was really pleased to get a parking spot right next to the entrance in the aquariums parking lot. Feeling really happy about that, we wondered where all the other cars were. We found out later that if we were to drive a down the street, there were many other private parking lots and street parking that cost between $5 - $8 per day. We paid $12 at the aquarium. Oh well, at least we got to enter the aquarium for free ( Admission fee is $13 for adults and $9 for children). Another way to get in with a discounted ticket is to go on Friday. This is when they have Friday Afternoon Specials. You can gain admission by paying-what-you-wish. Keep this in mind if you are planning to visit the aquarium.
Here are some photos from the Conservation Hall as well as Glover Reef.
We then visited the Sea Cliffs. This is a 300 ft long rocky coastline that exhibits marine mammals (sea lions, seals, otters..etc), penguins and fishes. There is an outdoor section as well as a underwater viewing area.
Next up: the Aquatheater to watch a sea lion show.
Our last stop was the Alien Stingers exhibit. The whole exhibit is in total darkness. We managed to see all kinds of cool colors emitting from the jellyfish and other sea creatures.
Overall, we had a very fun and educational morning. I was really glad that we managed to pull ourselves out of bed early on a Saturday morning to visit the aquarium. After that, we decided to head out to the boardwalk to explore the ever famous Coney Island. What did we see? What did we do? Well, that's reserved for the next post :D
New York Aquarium
Surf Avenue & West 8th St,
Brooklyn, NY 11224
Tel: 718-265-FISH
Web: http://nyaquarium.com/
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