ALMOST Under the Sea Experience

(Photos by Hazhazie: http://hazhazie.multiply.com)

I know! I know! Manila Ocean Park has been there for quite some time now… but being the frugal person that I am… No matter how much I love the ocean and its creatures, I still feel that spending Php400.00 per head was a total waste of money.

But since, me and my girlfriend was able to get a few extra bucks recently… we finally decided to go and check it out… plus I also registered for the Php99.00 promo for that Musical Fountain Show. In short, it was like getting in for free…



We only tried the Oceanarium, Glass Bottom Boat ride and the Musical Fountain Show. We wanted to watch the Sea Lion show but we were too late since the last show was at 4:30pm… I was trying to buy tickets at 5PM… if we went there earlier… maybe we could have seen it… but then… oh well… maybe next time.

First on our list was the Oceanarium. It was divided into a few sections that I forgot since I was so busy staring at the fishes and having my picture taken. EHEHEH

There was this huge fishes in this one tank… they were fresh water fishes that are actually bigger than me. They were enormous… I was actually surprised to see it since I had one like that back when I was still in my early teens. It was called Arapaima. Those at the Manila Ocean Park (MOP) were darker; almost like black/dark grey in color… we had the gold one way back.



Other fishes in that section was the usual fishes I see in cartimar like Oscars, arowana, flowerhorns, etc. Not so much my thing coz most fresh water fishes look the same and not colorful at all. They also had the crocodile (which got me bored) and turtles.

The next section was for the little sea creatures… I saw NEMO and DORY… which really made me stare coz of their bright and vibrant colors. But what I loved about this section is that there was this one tank where they held the baby shark sacs. You get to see how it develops from this tiny wriggly thing to a full grown baby shark. It was real cute…





Then to the bigger sea creatures… starting off by walking through the famous tunnel; it felt like I was walking right through the giant sting rays and huge sea fishes. I loved this, although I’ve been to places like this before… watching those creatures swim so freely made me feel so excited like it was my first time.






After the tunnel, you’ll get to the last section where real BIG BIG fishes are; namely sharks, huge sting rays, and that huge ugly fish that I’m not familiar with. I was so amazed at the thought that fishes this big exist. And that also got me thinking how it would feel if I were inside those tanks… scary… but I would love that.





That’s the last part of the Oceanarium… then you’ll be lead to the second floor for all the activities. They had the fish spa, glass bottom ride and that helmet diving thing. Since we are thinking of going to Boracay soon, we opt to try that helmet thing there instead. It was then a choice between letting the fishes eat my foot and watching the fishes from above.

Glass bottom ride won, so we bought two tickets worth Php150 each and off we went. But on our way to the boat area, we pass by the stingray tank… at feeding time! It was breath taking to see the guy feeding the giant rays… but watching them closely… it was like feeding your dogs… they were that playful… but unlike dogs… I couldn’t seem to figure out their facial expressions HAHA



Moving on to the boat ride, it was a bit boring. The boat guy there wasn’t as informative as I expected. I thought he would be explaining everything we would see like when you go in a museum or something. But no, he would only comment here and there about some fishes… but it wasn’t as educational. So we ended up just staring at the fishes, and laughing at some of the people inside the tunnel (coz the boat ride was actually at the surface of the tank where the tunnel was).





Over all, the Oceanarium was okay for me. Just one thumbs up but not two. But since it’s the only one of its kind here in the Philippines, it’s a nice destination nevertheless.

But what’s real nice about MOP is its Musical Fountain Show. It was more of family entertainment, but like bugs to light, I was totally amazed with how they played with lights, water and fire! Yep, you heard it right… the show had FIRE and WATER at the same time…







Words wouldn’t really be enough to express how nice Manila Ocean Park was. I wouldn’t say it was better than those abroad… but hey… it’s here… it’s near… so why the heck wouldn’t we go and check it out?