The really cool thing about it, though, is how all the tanks incorporate real sunlight into the tanks because of the aquarium's location literally on the shore of Waikiki Beach.
The Waikiki Aquarium is the premiere coral research and nursury in the world. You can learn a lot about this giant living organisms...
The largest structure made by a living creature is the coral reef create by the living coral polyps in Australia. It takes thousands of years to grow an enormous coral structure.
Consider the size of our boys in "coral years..."
If David or Bretty was a coral reef, they'd be about 140 years old!
You'd hope they'd learn how to pick up their dirty socks by then.
The Waikiki Aquarium is filled with all kinds of colorful reef fish...
With some of such vibrant and bright colors that a photograph cannot do them justice...
The kids were most fascinated by the many varieties of jellyfish...
The undulating invertebrates vary greatly in size, but most have a sting which really can ruin your day. The Box Jellyfish's sting can actually kill a person.
That must be why cousin Ed is working so hard to save the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle -- they eat jellyfish!
Malia and Nalani were most fascinated by the large open ocean fish that swam rapidly by...
And David jumped back when looking closely at a morey eel and a hand suddenly thrust into the tank...
It was there to feed the eels, but it still was a bit freaky!
When I was a kid, I was always intrigued by the chambered Nautilus...
They still are the most amazing creatures.
We know so little about them, but the Waikiki Aquarium is the only place in the world where they are bred in captivity.
The Nautilus is considered a "living fossil" because it hasn't really changed much in the last 500 million years. The spend most of their time at the deep bottom of coral reefs -- often as deep as 1000 feet - so they are rarely observed in the wild and live in near total darkness (sunlight generally cannot penetrate the water at that depth).
Pretty amazing creatures.
David, however, was much more interested in seeing if his head would fit in a giant clam...
Over the last week or two, it seemed that every day ended with someone or another falling asleep exactly where the sat.
Alyssa spent the last few days on Molokai and, well, she didn't get much sleep. Last night she slept for some 12 hours and and still is only beginning to catch up.
So as we sat there at the aquarium, she began to stare off into the distance...
And finally the lack of sleep caught up with her again...
Another of our little girls falling fast asleep!
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