Just down by the water of Lake Ontario at 288 Bremner Blvd which has become quite the hub of Toronto's tourism is the Ripleys Aquarium.It situates itself somewhere between Toronto's iconic CN Tower and the Rogers Centre home of the NBA champions and has always been the least intriguing attraction to me since it's opening in October of 2013.
Particularly because I have a strong belief like most of us that aquatic animals should not be held in captivity (or any animals for that matter, unless of course they are already domesticated). This belief was about to change though -- well not for Marineland but for at least here.
This evening all started because recently my husband received a gift card from family for the COPA (Copacabana Ridizio) so we enjoyed a dinner of an all you can eat meat from bacon wrapped filet mignon to parmesan infused prime rib to top sirloin, lamb, shrimp and chicken.
Afterwards he wanted to make it a date night out of it, so we went to the Ripley's Aquarium which was about a 10 minute walk away (since it was his birthday, I was obliged to go).
I absolutely loved it! I totally felt like a kid again. At Ripley's, you will see everything from sharks to swimming green sea turtles and jelly fishes to eels and the most beautiful colourful tropical fishes and marine life you'll ever get a chance to see otherwise unless of course you have thousands to spend visiting the tropics.
Although they are in fact in captivity, I can't imagine a more beautiful home than here. Designers and engineers have painstaking designed every aquatic aquarium tailored to the marine life here. Either fresh water or ocean floors making sure the surrounding were like home to the animals right down to the temperature of the water as well as the water's content.The aquariums are spotless clear and cleaned and are monitored by computers and high-compression drums and gauges by skilled employees in marine biology. There is even a section where you are able to view this for yourself.
Here swims, floats and flutters any species of the underground world you can imagine and they all get along perfectly respecting one another space. They clearly are all being fed well or you would see a much different picture in the water.
Highlights for me were the blue lobster (which incidentally I never knew were rarely blue). In fact in a BBC news article, dated may 26, 2016 (cited: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36369687, BBC News: How rare are bright blue lobsters?) notes how rare they really are.
I also loved the touch and feel tanks where you can immerse your hand in shrimp tanks where little shrimps will crawl over to take little pieces of dead skin from your hand (you might not know they are there, but they do!) and I found it so cute and it tickles! The other highlight was to put your hand in a very large tank of stingrays and they will sense your heart beat and swim by you so you can pet them. As you might have thought they feel very slippery and smooth. I also petted the top of a baby shark and a giant eel. I was so happy to see how well they are living and looked after, although it was very costly getting indoors, we went after 7:00 at night, which is called 'Sharks After Dark', you can stay as long as you like up until 11:00. It is $7 cheaper than the usual price but you can still see all the exhibits so it's worth it.
I won't be going back again only because I have seen it already, but I highly recommend this place to go at least. Costs are steep at $39/each for adults, but check their website for up to date prices for kids and seniors and discounts.
