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On Friday, June 14 your Delta Nats Executive was invited to visit the Vancouver Aquarium by Danny Kent, a Curator there for 25 years. Danny is a good friend of the Delta Nats Society and has given a number of Presentations to the Delta Nats at our monthly meetings over the years. He and his family live in Tsawwassen. The Tour was at the instigation of Ursula (our Speakers’ Coordinator), who unfortunately could not attend as she is on her Cross Canada Tour. So, Jonathan & Lorraine, Ken B, Annie K and Hans-Ulf joined me and daughter Erica at the Aquarium entrance at 9:30 a.m. on the 17th.
Danny met us promptly and took us in through the Side Door. First stop was the Seals (Fur?) and Steller Sea Lions where Researcher Billy and his staff just happened to be feeding/training them. This was fascinating. Then we toured the innards of the Aquarium where Danny explained the various tanks and what plant and animals were in them. It was a bit mind boggling; too many names to remember.
Jellyfish seem to be the current focus of the Aquarium, and Danny is an expert on these as well. So many beautiful shapes, sizes, ages and colours in various tanks. Ken, Erica and Jonathan took lots of photos which I hope we will see soon here on our Blog and/or on our Picasa site.
Danny left us at 11:00 a.m. to attend a meeting. Before leaving, we cajoled a visitor to take the obligatory Group Photo. Then we were on our own inside the Aquarium and it was packed. We wandered around for a couple of hours; some went to the 4-Dimenensional Theatre, the Beluga Whale Show, the Penguin Show or just wandered around aimlessly, trying to avoid being trampled.
It was really awesome, but I felt on leaving that there was so much more to see and learn there that I missed in a short morning visit. Hans drove Ken and I back to Ladner (pleased that we didn’t get a parking ticket from the overly zealous Parking Nerds) and Erica joined us at the RiverHouse Pub for a tasty lunch. It was indeed a very pleasant morning.
Tom Bearss, President of Delta Naturalists’ Society
Delta Naturalists Society 
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