June 2007
GOING PLACES:
Seattle Aquarium Celebrates New Digs
Seattle Aquarium emerges this month from a two-year remodel that kept most of the facility intact while adding a new façade, entrance hall and café, an expanded gift shop and two major exhibits. The aquarium is open this month during remodeling, except for closures June 8 and June 21 to prepare for the reopening. The entire new facility will open to the public starting June 22.
The new entry off Alaskan Way welcomes visitors directly into the impressive, three-story Puget Sound Great Hall. Second floor viewing platforms give visitors an alternate look into the exhibit below, while the new Aquarium Café serves light lunches with a view.
The crown jewel of the hall is “Window on Washington Waters.” This 120,000-gallon exhibit is viewed through a massive 19- by 39-foot window, which tilts out from the top, drawing visitors in and making them feel a part of the underwater scene. This tank includes salmon, rockfish, sea urchins and other marine life that typically inhabit the underwater cliffs of the Neah Bay area on the northwest Washington coast. Divers will enter the tank twice a day, fitted with special masks that allow them to talk to visitors about the sea life. (Hint: If the exhibit is crowded, slip around the bend to find a surprise peek-a-boo window with an alternate view.)
The second new exhibit in the Great Hall is the open 40- by 8-foot “Crashing Waves.” As the title suggests, this exhibit features surging waves and examines how the inhabitants of the Washington shore survive the constant ebb and flow.
Continue on to the existing Seattle Aquarium exhibits, where you’ll find all of the colorful, fascinating and sometimes odd animals that make a visit to the aquarium so much fun. Not to be missed are the “Ring of Life” (mysterious moon jellies floating through a 12-foot crystal arch that visitors can walk under), “Life on the Edge” (two large, well-stocked indoor touch tanks staffed by naturalists eager to answer questions) and “Pacific Coral Reef” (a 25,000-gallon tank featuring fish and sharks swimming around and through a man-made coral reef).
See strange and unusual sea creatures in “Ocean Oddities,” and check out tufted puffins and other sea birds diving for their food in “Birds and Shores.” The Underwater Dome, a spectacular 400,000-gallon fish tank, allows you to watch fish around and below you. Watch the playful antics of fur seals, harbor seals and the ever-popular sea and river otters in the “Marine Mammals” exhibit.
Be sure to check out the animal feeding schedule (it’s included in your ticket packet and also posted throughout the facility). Naturalists give short talks during feeding and training activities, which can be quite entertaining and informative, and sometimes have unexpected outcomes. During a recent feeding, a lone seagull stole the fish, and the show, from under the harbor seals’ noses.
If You Go
Location: Pier 59, 1483 Alaskan Way, Seattle.
Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily (exhibits close at 6
p.m.)
New admission fees effective June 22: $15 adults, $10
ages 4 to 12, free 3 and younger. Order a Seattle CityPass and receive
a booklet with admission tickets valid for nine days to the Seattle Aquarium,
Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, Museum of Flight and Argosy
Cruises Harbor Tour. The price is $39.50 for adults, $24 for children;
www.citypass.com/city/seattle.html.
For more information: 206-386-4320; www.seattleaquarium.org.
Nearby Attractions
- The Pike Place Market Hillclimb is right across the street from the Aquarium. Take the stairs to experience all that Pike Place Market has to offer. There’s an elevator if the climb is too daunting for youngsters. www.pikeplacemarket.org.
- Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, a few blocks south at 1001 Alaskan Way, has been a Seattle waterfront institution for more than 100 years. The store is stuffed with tourist souvenirs and knickknacks, as well as oddities such as mummies, a two-headed calf and shrunken heads. It’s open 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily. 206-682-5844. www.yeoldecuriosityshop.com.
- Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center, north of the Aquarium on Pier 66, 2205 Alaskan Way, consists of four major galleries featuring more than 40 hands-on exhibits exploring anything that has to do with the maritime industry in Puget Sound. Admission is $7 adults, $5 seniors and ages 5 to 18, $2 ages 2 to 4, free younger than 2. 206-374-4000. www.ody.org.
Where to Park, How to Get Around
A limited number of metered spaces are available on Alaskan Way ($1.50 per hour, with a two-hour limit).
A Diamond parking lot across Alaskan Way from the Aquarium charges $7 for one hour, plus $3 for each additional hour.
Catch one of Metro’s Route 99 Waterfront Streetcar Line buses for a free ride. The bus stops in front of Seattle Aquarium and Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center, as well as by other spots along the waterfront. The entire route makes a loop from the International District, through Pioneer Square and along the waterfront all the way to the north end of Alaskan Way at the Olympic Sculpture Park. The waterfront trolley is not running this year.
Dining Options
Besides the Aquarium Café, nearby family-friendly options on the waterfront include Steamer’s Seafood Cafe, Ivar’s Seafood Bar, Red Robin, Elliott’s Fish and Chips, Anthony’s Fish Bar, The Frankfurter and two ice cream spots.
Chris Stay is the Seattle’s
Child calendar editor.
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