Okinawa's Aquarium!

On Saturday we finally ventured up to the Northern part of the island so we could see the aquarium! I have been wanting to go to this aquarium since before I learned we were moving over here. It is one of the biggest aquariums in the world and it didn't disappoint one bit! They even had a specimen of a giant squid--one of the few ever captured!

Here we are down by the turtle ponds:

This is the view when you first walk in to the Ocean Expo. It is so amazingly gorgeous! There are all sorts of attractions, including an orchid garden, a butterfly exhibit, the aquarium, turtle coves, a dolphin show, etc! Some of the things you have to pay for, but others are free. For the aquarium it was about 1800 yen (~$18) per adult.
They had so many of these "animals" that were made out of plants--so cool!
This is the actual entrance to the aquarium:
Michael was obsessed with the big ugly fish, hence the pictures of them.
One of the neatest things about this aquarium is that it is divided into categories. It starts with a touch pond, goes into the coral reef and areas a little deeper, and then goes to the DEEP parts of the ocean!! I'd never seen half of these critters before!

This is a Spider Crab...it was so spooky looking. It was hard to get a picture of the animals down in this area b/c it was kept dark to help simulate their natural environment.

This was the neatest tank I have ever seen! It was GIGANTIC!! There were 2 Whale Sharks in there (each about 25 tons!).
This was another funky looking lobster that I took a picture of. I'm going to stay far away from these guys if we ever get around to diving!
and finally...the turtle ponds! They have a "breeding ground" where they've been the only successful aquarium to have Hawks Bill Turtles hatch!
They were so big!

This was the beginning of the breeding ground. The cement rocks gave way to actual sand where they could lay their eggs.
Baby turtles!
Anybody that comes to visit we will definitely have to take up here--completely worth the 2 hour drive!