The Tampa area museums and zoos (MOSI, Florida Aquarium, and Lowry Park Zoo) partner in a cross promotion called Swaptember, where season pass holders to one attraction can attend the others at no cost. This popular program attracts crowds to these great venues.
As pass holders to Lowry Park Zoo, we took advantage of Swaptember and made a quick trip to the Florida Aquarium. We love the Aquarium and take Ajax and Buttercup on a regular basis. It’s always a great time, and like a good book, we always discover something new each time we go.
We made a quick trip to the Bays and Beaches exhibit to visit “Mr. Grouper.” This guy is the biggest fish we’ve ever seen, he weighs in at over 300 pounds! Buttercup loves the lookups, silvery fish that shimmer and shine as the school moves together. Then we decided to visit the stingrays and small sharks at Stingray Beach; we just have to remember to touch the rays with two fingers and don’t touch their tails, they’re sharp!!
Then we went to our favorite area, the Coral Reef exhibit the reef and fish in the aquarium make up every color of the rainbow. Our favorite exhibit is their showcase aquarium. It has eels, sea turtles, barracudas, and SHARKS!! We all love the sharks, as long as they stay behind the glass then we’re all good. We were surprised by some special guests, PENGUINS!! We don’t see the penguins every time we go, since they are scheduled periodically throughout the day. These guys are Buttercups favorite animal at the aquarium, and to see them was a special treat for us.
If you’re in the Channelside District of Tampa and have some time to spare, you should visit the Florida Aquarium. It is entertaining and educational for the whole family.