Monday, Oct 24

I was feeling very weary while driving yesterday and realized that the last time I visited an attraction that was not scenic driving, just a photo stop or a short walk was six days ago at the Good Enough mine in Tombstone. It was, therefore, a pleasure to spend a few hours this morning at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.

Although the aquarium is small compared with others I have visited it was very varied and informative. As you might expect there are several exhibits about the Gulf of Mexico, such as saving native sea turtles and how old oil platforms form just about the only reefs in the Gulf, as well as more general displays of aquatic creatures, sea birds and educational material on preventing ocean pollution. The nicest feature of the place was that they have different live talks, presentations or shows every half hour. These typically last about 15 minutes which gives you 15 minutes to look at an exhibit and then go to the next presentation. The crowds were very small today so this was a pleasurable way to see everything they have.

After leaving the aquarium I took the short drive to Victoria, TX so it was a relatively car-free day. The video and map are here.

There was a dolphin show that involved trainers and tricks (called “behaviors) but, unlike SeaWorld, the trainers stayed out of the water and most of the tricks were very simple and without props.

You could also see the dolphins between shows behaving more normally.
The sea turtles were my favorite creatures of the day. This one is enjoying a healthy lunch of lettuce.

The Corpus Christi ship channel runs right beside the aquarium and this picture demonstrates why they need to make the bridges so high.

These wind turbine blades were in a compound next to the car park. Seeing them up close makes you realize just how huge these things are.