A close-up look at sea life

Yesterday, with extended family in town, we decided to take a trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  The aquarium is located in Newport, Oregon, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Portland.  It is most famous for housing Keiko the whale (Free Willy) for a couple of years before being relocated to Iceland.  

This was my first trip to the aquarium, and I was pleasantly surprised by the facilities and exhibits.  I guess I was expecting lots of fishy smells and unsupervised children running around with starfish in their hands.  The aquarium was, in contrast, much more contemporary and well-designed than I had imagined.

In the 2+ hour visit at the aquarium, we watched feedings of sea lions and otters, strolled through a sea bird aviary, watched a short film on luminescent sea creatures, and oohed and ahhed at the many different fish and sea life in the exhibits.

Here are a few photos I took from our visit.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is just south of the Yaquina Bay Bridge. 

My favorite part of the aquarium was the jellyfish exhibit.  I can see why artists like Yellena James are so inspired by sea life!

This is a photo of my brother-in-law in one of the acrylic tunnels.  The reflective lighting in there was fun to shoot.