We Admit...It Does Smell A Little Fishy.

Mother Nature may have tried to make our last day of 4-H Biotech day camp all wet but we didn't let her get the best of us.  Our campers hit the road early today as we travelled to Fort Fisher Aquarium outside of Wilmington, NC.  On the way to our destination the skies opened up and the storms hit causing the aquarium to cancel our educational crabbing experience due to safety.  That was ok.  It just meant more time for our campers to explore the aquarium.

  We started at the entrance by introducing ourselves to an alligator and explored some native aquatic, and not so aquatic animals from there.  There were alligators, turtles, and even an eagle waiting to be seen.  A few steps further in and we were having conversations with turtles and petting stingrays and horseshoe crabs.  It was quite an adventure.  As we headed to see all parts of the aquarium we stopped by to visit with one of the divers and check out his equipment (by check out we mean try on and walk around in it) and ask all sorts of questions.  Before lunch we did have a little time to check out the educational session on sharks in the moray eel cave.  Lots of great information on our favorite predictor of the sea.

  The sunshine came out just in time for us to enjoy our lunch outdoors.  Shark Bites, the aquarium cafe, prepared a bag lunch complete with burgers, chips, and a bottle of water for each of us.  After our entertaining lunch with the birds (seriously the birds swooped down to hang with us), we were ready to head back inside.

  First on our list was cozying up to the nurse sharks as we reached into their tank to let them.  All of us came out with all digits in tact.  Of course we had to check out the jellyfish, because they are awesome, and the rest of the displays with fish, stingrays, and our favorite turtles.  At one thirty we headed back to the eel cave to learn about turtles.  Did you know that they have a brain the size of your thumb?  That's what makes it hard for them to determine if they are eating human floating trash, or their favorite food of jellyfish.  We also learned that it is important for us to recycle and keep things clean so as not to harm the environment.  

  After the turtle workshop we got ready for the main show which takes place in the main tank.  The divers went into the aquarium with all the fish, eels, sea turtles, and fish to educate a large group on the amazing feature.  We learned tha the windows are actually made from acrylic and are eight inches thick to hold in the huge amount of water used in the display.  Through technology the diver was able to talk with us from inside the tank and we even asked questions to see if we could stump the diver.  Our own Laci was able to stump both the diver and the educator, asking if sharks are afraid of dolphins.  We did learn that the reason there are not dolphins in the display is that they do not have enough room to adequately take care of them.  

  After the program it was time to head back and fill out our evaluations before saying our goodbyes.  Yes, it was a long week of travel but more importantly it was a week of fun and learning.  One suggestion from one of our campers....to have biotech for two weeks next year.  We will have to see about that.