This is a follow up entry to my post on Maritime Experiential Museum - it is a separate attraction but the good news is that your ticket to the aquarium includes entry to the maritime museum.
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Although located in the same building, you are required to queue up again for admission to S.E.A Aquarium (SEA should mean Southeast Asia). Why the hassle? Trust me, without this crowd control measure, you would enjoy it much lesser than i did.
Thanks to Vanessa, we were granted priority access! To be honest, the modest entry point said nothing of its Guinness record as the world's largest aquarium and was (honestly) way too similar to the nearby Underwater World!
The above is an exact scene of what you can get in Underwater World. Anyway, the pictorial journey starts from here as i am very lost when it comes to the ocean.
Maybe because of the hype, i was expecting more than the usual oceanarium. As far as the number of fish species is concerned, i wasn't too impressed with zone number 1; Strait of Karimata and Java Sea.
Remember the beautiful view after exiting the Typhoon Theatre at Maritime Experiential Museum? It's actually linked to this zone and showcased a shipwreck that evolved into an artificial reef system.
Zone 2 - Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea.
This featured a see through glass floor where sharks and stingrays lurked silently beneath every step you take. Sounds cool right?
Not when everyone was crowding around and blocking the way for less patient visitors to advance further.
Razorfishes - with snorts pointing downwards, they were not as menacing as they sound.
Double Edged Pipefish - i originally thought this was an oddly shaped seahorse!
Fish that was commonly seen in those island trips i did in Krabi. Did i mention i miss Krabi a lot?! Check out my posts here if you are interested to find out more.
According to a father who was educating his daughter, these tiny fishes would group together to make themselves appear bigger (and therefore more threatening) in front of a predator.
Find the fish in its almost perfect camouflage!
Circular Aquarium - once again, this is comparable to what you can get in Underwater World. As you could probably see from this photograph, it was super duper crowded and this might be the reason why i was less than enthusiastic.
I could not even get to the discovery touch pool! There were way too many kids and i figured it would be more beneficial for them to touch the starfish etc as opposed to a 33 year-old man.
Zone 3 - Bay of Bengal; and Laccadive Sea. For those who are unaware, fishing on stilts is unique to Sri Lanka and disappeared for a period of time after the devastating tsunami in 2004.
Believe me, i think mangroves would be interesting (even though such habitats are common in Singapore) but the sheer number of visitors made it extremely difficult for a person to slowly digest the information when most people were scrambling to take picture after picture.
I think i would return on a weekday with my parents.
Never compare visiting an aquarium with actual snorkeling or diving in the surrounding turquoise waters of an island; you would have to spend much, much more than the ticketing charge of less than S$30 in order to cover all ten zonal attractions for real.
Cuttlefish! I love to eat them!!
This was way too cute to be a local delicacy. Back in Underwater World, there was a section known as Ray of Fun where you can feed the stingrays using your bare hands!
These fishes on the walls appeared to swim together with the visitor flow. Nice!
The highly controversial bottlenose dolphins were not ready when i went a few weeks ago. I read from the local newspapers that they are now available for viewing.
Zone 4 - Ocean Journey.
It touched on cold water habitats housing creatures like the delicious giant spider crabs.
And my personal favourite; the slow dancing jellyfishes!
These looked like overturned mushrooms! Either that or they were on the verge of dying. I seriously have no idea since i have never seen jellyfishes like the above.
Indonesian Sea Nettle - i saw these while snorkeling near Redang Island!
Japanese Sea Nettle - the threatening tentacles gave a good estimate on its level of danger. How does it feel to be stung by a jellyfish? I don't have an answer although it would be nice to know. I am known to be a crazy man, for good reason.
Zone 5 - Open Ocean. The place where the ocean was spread out like a humongous television screen with one peculiarity; you are standing right on the ocean floor.
A failed panoramic picture that SHOULD have given readers a better perspective of its size.
At 8.3 meters high and 36 meters wide, the viewing panel was massive! It's totally worth purchasing the annual pass (currently out of stock) just to be able to enjoy the spectacular marine creatures parade right in front of me.
Darling of the aquarium; the gigantic manta ray!
Another picture. Like many Singaporeans, i was really looking forward to catch whale sharks (the biggest fish in the world) before the plan was axed.
Kindly note that there is a passageway beside the aquarium where you can step in further for a less cluttered view (by clutter, i mean the many many human bodies that appeared to have their ass glued to the carpeted floor) of the world's largest aquarium.
The passage would lead you to the Ocean Dome. For those who have the cash to splurge, you can book and hold events like a sit down dinner for a maximum of 30 guests in this facility.
A picture can speak a thousand words. Seeing the aquarium for real using your own eyes is definitely a hundred times better than one thousand words. In all, i am suggesting that most of the photographs hardly represent the "real" thing.
These windows belong to the ocean suites of 'Beach Villas'; imagine getting to bed with an enchanting view of the manta rays, leopard sharks, goliath groupers and other marine creatures at night! The rate for a night stay? At least S$1,200 and that's before taxes.
Interesting fact of the deep sea anglerfish! Lament the loss of the male anglerfish and celebrate his unconditional sacrifice to continue the species lifeline.
Last view of the aquarium and one where you can partially see the elevated three platforms. To be honest, this is a great place to take a snooze in a hot afternoon.
After the remarkable Open Ocean zone, i didn't quite keep track on which zones i was at. Pictures of the last five zones were therefore all over the place!
Taking photographs under low light condition with no flash, no tripod can be a pain in the ass and that also partly explained why i was too tired to concentrate on the zones. Sorry!
In addition, the throngs of people in the aquarium made it extremely hard not to have heads appearing in almost every photograph! I have already made plans for a second visit. On a weekday.
It was much later i started playing around with my camera's manual function. And damn i should have utilised the function back at Open Ocean zone! There's one problem.
Flash - with reference to the FAQ for "Am I allowed to take photographs within S.E.A. Aquarium?", the answer was nicely phrased as "Feel free to take as many pictures as you would like. For the comfort and safety of our animals we ask that you refrain from the use of flash photography."
I could not resist taking a few more....
Forgive me, fishy fishy.
Notice those glass panels? Can you guess their thickness? I thought it would be just two or three centimeters thick and i was wrong!
Alex willingly demonstrated the thickness of the glass; compared it to the width of his face, minus the ears.
Even though aquarium serves noble purposes in education and conservation, i often have to curb my craving for seafood after a typical visit. I bet i am not the only one to feel this way.
Giant Moray Eel - it has a second set of jaws that can move forward to tighten the grip on a struggling prey! Suspicion tells me the creator of the original "Alien" movie must have gotten his/her inspiration from the giant moray eel.
Zone 10 - Shark Seas!
Selachophobics might have a bit of trouble walking through this last passage to the exit!
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Website and Impt Info
Click HERE.
Map of S.E.A Aquarium
As above (click for a better view).