• A look into the California Academy of Sciences

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    Jessy
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    Published on 06-25-2010 11:37 AM  Number of Views: 1789  
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    Last year I made my way up to San Francisco to visit the Cal Academy of Sciences with a friend of mine. We drove up from San Diego up the 5 and stayed at a friend's place. We went on a Saturday when it wasn’t too busy, but when I arrived I was told that the Planetarium was sold out for the day. big bummer. I was really looking forward to that most of all.

    I wrote this review of the place last year when I was there:

    My evaluation of the place. The building is wonderful and just great in its design. The exhibits were nicely done. The rain forest was an unexpected surprise for someone who enjoys photography like I do. Tons of cool flowers and butterflies to capture there. If you're a fellow photographer going, I'd suggest taking a fast telephoto lens somewhere in the range of 200mm or more. Those little butterflies can be a fickle bunch.
    Steinhart Aquarium left me torn. I think the exhibit architecture was some of the best I’ve seen in all the aquariums I’ve gone to. The place is simply beautiful to walk through. They have great aquascape and plenty of exhibits for you to see. A nice selection of fish, though there was nothing breathtaking like the huge fat morish idols of the Long Beach Aquarium. The coral selection however was dismal. There was this amazing “reef caves” exhibit that could have been my favorite spot, considering non-photosynthetic corals are some of my personal favs. There were a million and two places for suncorals, dendros, scleronepthias galore…but they just left it empty and you stared at nothing but an empty overhang of rock. In the reef exhibit there were a few softies and some other LPS, but nothing looked flourishing. It looks like there could also be some more light added to the tank.
    I can’t wait to see what the place looks like in 5 years if they get some stock in the tanks and let them grow out. This place has the potential to be a million times better than the Long Beach Aquarium, which happens to be one of my favs.
    I follow the Academy on Facebook and I noticed they posted a video of a dive into their Philippine Coral Reef tank. (embedded in the bottom of this article for your viewing pleasure.) Things are looking healthy and the fish look great. There isn't an abundance of coral, but they had plenty of other tank exhibits that may have grown out since last year. I think it is time for this Californian to make a trip back up there, and maybe get into the Planetarium this time. Check out the photos from my trip here in this album.




    Cal Academy of Sciences has the world's deepest living coral reef display. At 25 feet deep , the tank holds 212,000 gallons of water and houses over 2,000 colorful reef fishes.

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    1. smoothie's Avatar
      smoothie - 07-11-2010, 12:15 AM
      Very nice setup. Love the garden eels! At 1min50sec that is a monster clown tang that shows up.
      Reply