Vacation Pictues: Ripley's Aquarium

Ripley's Aquarium is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Myrtle Beach. It has a really large walk-through section, wherein you go through a giant tube and are completely surrounded by fish, sting rays, and sharks. There's also a section where you can pet the sting rays (stingers removed, of course!). The sting rays are rather large but completely not afraid of people; they swim right up to you! They feel... well... slimy is the best word, I guess. They don't have scales, so they don't exactly feel like a fish. It's sort of like touching slimy undulating skin under the water. Not altogether unpleasant, but not exactly what you'd expect either. I was all for it, but Chris said he didn't want to get anywhere near something that killed Steve Erwin, even if the stingers were removed. I did manage to coax him into poking two fingers into the water as a sting ray swam by, and his reaction was... there really aren't words to describe it. The closest I can come is horrified, grossed out, scared, and repulsed. All in all it was VERY funny! The aquarium also has a tank where you can pet and pick up horseshoe crabs, which are about as big as a basketball except flat on one side. I touched a lot of these and even picked one up, but we forgot to take pictures of that. Chris again didn't want anything to do with it, but eventually he stuck in one finger and grazed the topshell of the smallest crab in the tank. And his reaction to that was exactly the same as for the sting ray. For me, it was both funny and endearing to see him a little off stride. Usually he's so laid back and self confident about everything, which are some of the reasons I fell in love with him, but it was so out of character to see him around those animals that it made him that much more adorable to me! He, of course, thought that seeing all those sharks swimming so close to us was the most amazing part of the aquarium. It was definitely a good part of our vacation! And now to the pictures!!!



Me petting a sting ray...
A closer view of the sting rays... this was actually one of the smaller ones!

A shark overhead

Stingrays through the glass of the aquarium

A sting ray swimming overhead


Sting rays in the deep end of the holding tank

Chris after seeing his first shark of the day!

Me in the Giant Clam photo op... I actually had to stand in line with a bunch of kids and wait my turn for this picture!

A star fish and some tropical fish

The body of one of the larger sharks as it swam by.

A sawfish (which is more like a shark than a fish) swimming overhead.
A shark circling the fish.

One of the larger sharks!

Shark swimming overhead... check out those teeth!!!

Tropical Reef fish

Me in front of one of the coral tanks.

Chris in front of the megalodon jaw replica. Megalodon were like prehistoric sharks... I made Chris stand in front of this so people can appreciate the scale of that jaw... For those of you that don't know, Chris is around 6'1"!
Me in front of the pirahana tank.

Those are the best pictures from the aquarium. Some, like the octopus and sea horse pictures didn't turn out very well. It was really neat overall, though... especially seeing those sharks swimming around! I'd definitely make the venture back, and I'm trying to talk Chris into heading up to Chicago to visit the Shed Aquarium at some point. I remember going there when I was a kid, and as fun as the Ripley's aquarium was, I remember the Shed aquarium being even more awesome.