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As you may or may not know, this past weekend (3/19-3/21) was Camden Waterfront Attraction Blogging Days, wherein 200 or so local bloggers, having applied and been accepted, were invited to visit, for free, each of the three big Camden Waterfront attractions (the Battleship NJ, Campbell's Field, and the Adventure Aquarium) and blog their fair and unbiased impressions. Phillyist was one of those bloggers, so here's part three of a three-part series covering our weekend adventures.
My wife and I hadn't been to the aquarium since its pre-"Adventure" days, but we'd both heard good things and had been planning to go for a while, so this was a great excuse to finally make the trip. And I have to say, we were both very impressed. Of the attractions I saw this weekend, this one was probably my favorite. Photographs of the curved-glass-enclosed tanks, full of fish on the move, don't generally come out very well, but that didn't stop me from taking about 80 anyway. You can find the best 56 of those here.
The aquarium is very near the Battleship NJ and Campbell's Field, so it's just as easy to get to. You can drive and park in the large and convenient lot provided, like we did (although you will pay a rather stiff flat rate of $7, on top of the already rather surprisingly high entrance fee - which will be even more expensive if your kids also want to go see the Spongebob Squarepants 4D movie), or just grab the PATCO, change onto the RiverLine at the Walter Rand Transportation Center, and ride it to the Aquarium stop, which is, as you might expect, right in front of the aquarium. We chose to go early on a Sunday morning, which as it turned out was a fantastic idea. The aquarium was practically empty and we had most of the exhibits to ourselves.
We did make one mistake, though. The aquarium is split into four sections, each labelled by a letter. We went through the last one - section D - first, and it quickly became clear to us that you should really save D to cap off your visit, because it is easily the best and coolest area in the aquarium.
In section D you'll find a large tank and exhibit area meant to mimic an African lake and its shore. On the land are some birds, and in the water are some fish, but the real attractions here are the two hippos. They weren't too active when we were there, but they were still really cool to see.
Next up is the Jules Verne Gallery which, besides having an awesome name, is full of cool, creepy, glowing thingies. Then comes the really exciting bit: Shark Realm, and the fantastic shark tunnel. This is the bit where you get to walk through a huge tank full of gigantic sharks and other similar big fish and watch them swim all around and above you. None of my pictures of it really came out well, but even if they had, you'd still have to experience it for yourself, anyway.
Of course, even though section D is the best bit, there's plenty of other neat stuff in the aquarium, like the penguins, the shipwreck tank, and other random creatures and things. There's also plenty of fun games and such (although sadly some of these were down for repair while we were there) for the kids (or for adults like me, who turn into kids in places like this), and some informational plaques for those hungry for data on what they're seeing (although the aquarium is a bit lighter on these than you might expect, perhaps in order to focus more on the "Adventure" aspect). The point is, it's a fun spot, and if you can scrape together the cash to get a ticket in, I highly recommend it.
All photos by the author
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