New England Aquarium

During our trip to Boston we hit up the New England Aquarium. My son Luke is really into whales and sharks. He was looking forward to seeing a real live shark . He had never seen one before.
The Aquarium is located at 1 Central Wharf in Boston. It is literally right on the water. The Harbor boat tours port right next door. The Aquarium is promoted as one of the best in the United States. It has a great architectural design as can be shown in the image above.

They have a room off to the side that is called the "petting" area. It is filled mostly with Rays. The have two extremely large leopard whiprays. They were about 4 feet wide. They came to the front of the tank a couple of times but spent most of the time hiding in the back. Many of the smaller rays seem to enjoy being touched and would swim back and forth accross the front of the tanks where the kids (and parents) were located.

If you were to head down stairs, there was a shark room called "Science of Sharks". It was extremely educational. There were many samples of shark teeth and jaws. There were interactive screens on the wall as well.
Did you know that 80% of sharks are less than 4 feet long? All of the sharks in the science of shark room were part of this 80%. My son kept asking where the big ones were. He did enjoy the room and we spent at least 20 minutes in there.

The larger sharks shown below were in the aquariums main tank.

The Aquarium has a main room that contains the Penguin exhibit at the bottom and a continuous platform that spirals around a large cylindrical tank in the middle. The main tank holds most of the larger salt water species including some sharks and sea turtles. On your way up to the top you can wander off on each floor and examine multiple tanks on each. These tank house things like arrowna, eels, dragon fish, piranhas, octopus and more. They have an outdoor sea lion exhibit and you can witness them feeding both the penguins and sea lions.
Below are some of the other species seen. My favorite by far were the large sea turtles.

The aquarium has a food court, and Imax theater and a large gift shop attached. We stopped by and Luke picked out a stuffed animal as usual. You can bring in your own food and eat lunch there if you please. We spent about 3 hours in the aquarium from start to finish. If you are really into sea life (like I am) you could have spent more.
It was great for all ages. Kids and adults alike. Afterwards you are in walking distance of the harbor front trail and Quincy Market as well. Definitely a great choice if you are visiting Boston with children!

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Darryl (@dadview) is a loving husband and father who enjoys spending time with his family no matter the activity.
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