We took "school" to the S.E.A. Aquarium on Sentosa this week.

We got ourselves the family pass. 2 adults and 1 child is considered is considered a family so we had to pay to add one more child. MsI is still free at 2 years old. This annual pass was about the cost of visiting the aquarium twice, and we've done that in just 3 days.

We actually walked there and home with our own two feet - no public transportation required. Our first visit was a Sunday. I was not impressed with how crowded it was. It was hard to get the stroller close enough to the aquariums to let MsI see the fish; and it's hard to keep track of her in a dark room with a lot of people, if she's out of the stroller. Our next visit was a Tuesday morning and it was great. There were still quite a few people, but it wasn't crowded. The exit underwater tunnel was empty instead of a wall of people.

The aquarium goes in a circle, so there is a clear one way direction, but I chose to do it backwards. I knew we I didn't want to do the whole loop that day. There is a large room with a giant aquarium which is about half way though the aquarium and the dolphins are in the second half and MsI was asking "to see the dolphin dance." The touch pool is in the second half too.

A weekday morning in the tunnel.
Feeling the various Star Fish in the Touch Pool. 

Because we had no intention of seeing everything the girls spent a long time in aquariums that caught their eye. They had received kids packs with their Annual Passes. They completed the Bi-Monthly Challenge to "find the marine animals who can change colour" on their first visit; and used the new mini-clip boards they received to record facts and draw their favorite fish on their second visit.

MsC stayed in this spot for at least half and hour.

MsE chased sting rays around the largest aquarium forever. The Leopard Whipray is her favorite. We also read this week about how Sting Rays are a threatened species due to climate change and over fishing for their use in Chinese medicine.

We lucked out and saw scuba divers all though out the aquarium: feeding the fish and also cleaning fish tanks with a scrub brush and vacuum. I'd never considered how these giant tanks are cleaned before.

I think I'll go in the proper way next time, but I liked how going in backwards took the pressure off trying to see everything. When we were done we just turned around and walked out to the usual exit.