When we went to Manila for my cousin's wedding, second to our list of places to visit and which was James' only wish and dream was the Manila Ocean Park. I am excited too since I had been seeing this in TV shows and stories from my colleagues and friends. I had imagined huge fishes and all sorts of sea creatures but whenever I think of these things, I miss Azule, Snow white and all our other fish pets.
Azule and Snow White were our first fish pets which we have to give up and give to a colleague since we can no longer cater them in our new home when we moved to another apartment. It was a smaller one and so we have to let go of some huge stuffs including the aquarium. So that's the story behind the two names I had just dropped.
An area on facts about birds were displayed at the entrance, my niece loved it!
We all knew how expensive it is to go inside the Oceanarium. It costs every head 400 Philippine pesos even the little ones but we understand why when we went inside. We were all excited specially my husband and my niece, Aiesha Zaila.
Here are the list of of prices for the activities inside:
Oceanarium - Php 400
Musical Fountain Show - Php 300
Swimming and Fun - Php 200
Sea Lion Show + Mariene Life Habitat - Php 300
Jellies Exhibit - Php 150
Aquanaut Voyage - Php 995
Glass Bottom Boat Ride - Php 150
All Star Birdshow - Php 300
Funtasea - Php 5 per token
Shark Encounter - Php 995
Penguin Talkshow - Php 150
Fish Spa - Php 150
Since we have kids and oldies with us, we opted for the Oceanarium. Huge Aruana welcomed us and other I-don't-know what kind of fish yet they were very huge and breathtakingly beautiful.
"Agos" or Flow
"Agos" is a Tagalog term for flow.
Oceanarium - Beautiful Samson's hair at the start of the tour plus some giant fishes.
The beautiful Samson's hair got my eyes star struck, I had seen this kind of plant at our Mantayupan Falls trip in Barili,Cebu. I remember seeing it at my previous team lead's residence too, it's a type of plant which has thin straight roots that hangs downwards to the ground like a curtain. This area was just the welcoming one yet we had a blast from the huge creatures we found, these creatures are fresh water fishes.
"Bahura" or The Reef
"Bahura" is a Tagalog term for reefs.
After that we went into a dark kind of room where the only source of light comes from the lightened aquariums. Numbers of small aquariums with variety of sea creatures in it were available on this welcome area.
The photo above shows some species of fishes which are also being nurtured.
I found Nemo there, sea horse, Patrick the star, Miss Puffer and all others; I wonder where Sponge Bob is though. Happily, I got the chance to see in closer look three stone fishes. One of them was swimming while the two were like sleeping or more of like resting. At first look, they were like actual stones until we stared at them and noticed there was something blinking or flickering, little did we know that they were the same stone fish that was swimming freely in the same container. Maybe it was because I guess of their color and structure.
Each aquarium has different kind of creatures in it and most of them I just saw the first time. This place showcases the artificial reefs human had created, in this way we can see ourselves how the marine corals look like.
"Laot" or Fishing Ground
"Laot" is a Tagalog term for deep sea or fishing ground.
My mom and dad with my niece at the center of the huge aquarium!
Then comes a huge area after the dark room where the aquariums were like huge paintings, indeed long tanks which also was like a sank-ship view. I don’t have an idea what type of fishes were inside but they are big ones which I suppose are good for cooking, hmm… I guess I was becoming hungry that seeing them made me think of food.
"Buhay na Karagatan" or Living Ocean
"Buhay na Karagatan" literally means living ocean. Buhay is alive and Karatan is ocean
That's me feeling the waters from the glasses.
Finally we had gotten to the main attraction of the Oceanarium, the Buhay sa Karagatan. This arch-y looking aquarium with mixed fishes, sharks, sting rays and all others would blow your mind off; I got dizzied because I was like in the actual bottom of the sea. It is a 25 meter tunnel with 220 degrees glass walls.
After the Buhay na Karagatan there were two more areas labeled Pagi or Sting Ray and Pating or Shark, in here the variety of sting ray and shark species live. We can see them swim over our heads through that glass ceiling.
That was like the end of the Oceanarium, it was just a short journey though so we decided to take a seat and rest for awhile. Just then we were ready to get out, a diver went into the aquarium with a bag full of dead fishes. Then all the children who were inside roam around in front of the glass wall and amazingly watched the man feeding the creatures. It's so hard to explain that feeling of joy while watching them eating. Some big mouthed fishes needed to be fed while the smaller ones were contented with the Chinese cabbage he placed in a string.
Some images I took while we were in the Shark Tank.
The sting rays were very hungry that they were like poking the diver for food. They don’t seem to be harmful though except that the flapping wings of the sting rays were covering the face of the diver just so to ask for food. After almost an hour of feeding, the fishes slowly gone away from the diver, looked like they were all full. We noticed there were specific fish which were shy and the diver needed to go closer to it and offer the fish. It was an amazing experience to witness it and I was glad we didn't leave immediately.
Here's the short clip of the feeding part:
The Ocean Park still has more to offer than just the Oceanarium, the fees will matter and the time of the show too. Business hours would start at ten in the morning.
Antarctica
My father carrying his granddaughter all our way from the start of the Antarctica towards the end.
Another highlight was the Antarctica tunnel which showcased the animals and other living creatures in the Antarctic. There were dim-lighted boards of information about these animals and surprisingly, whale sharks were listed too! I thought it was listed due to the fact that the whale shark is a huge fish and so it has a tendency of moving anywhere in the oceans and of course the Antarctic Ocean is part of it.
There's another board regarding the life and all information about the Penguins.
End of Oceanarium
While we were on our way to go out, we stopped at this free massage stall just in the exit part of the Oceanarium. Gecell, Ate Mae and I tried it since it was for free. I was hesitant at first because in my mind I thought they are trying to market the massage machine and would force us to pay for it but I was relieved when all they did was talk to us about it.
At the end of the Oceanarium experience, there were classic items like jeepney and an icecream portable cart.
It was a two hour experience and I never regret to get in there. I wish I had more time to check the other parts of the park but I have limited time and the rest of my companions were hungry.
That ends our Ocean Park adventure. James pretty was exhausted and indeed contented. Said he saw cichlids inside and as a cichlid lover, he want something like that too!
That sums up our Oceanarium experience at Manila Ocean Park.
Contents and Images are by Jean Beltran-Figues
All rights reserved.
Kindly see related posts below regarding my Manila Trip:
