This weekend was Ocean Day. All about fish and creatures of the sea :)
Oh my goodness was it fun! There were all sorts of tanks and buckets along the dock for the kids to investigate like this up close view of an octopus' suction cups :)
It was actually quite comical when the octopus showed up. We were standing there watching a big halibut when a fisherman zipped up in front of us and dumped a giant orange blob of jello into an empty bucket and starting to fill it with salt water. Well the octopus was less than amused and shot water out in a big gush at all of the little kids peering in :)
My youngest screamed and jumped back. If I hadn't caught hold of him I think he might have flown right off the edge of the dock finger we were all standing on and plunged into the ocean LOL. He wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with it anymore *grin*.
Other kids found it absolutely fascinating and would pick up his wayward tentacles that tried to escape the bucket and would put them back in!
A more docile lingcod allowed them to pet it and feel it's slimy scales...
there were all sorts of different sea stars to be picked up...
and of course there were stranger specimens like this spiky sea cucumber...
and this very interesting Nudibranch which I think is actually a member of the sea slug family. Ewww LOL.
Just a little further down the dock we found a large box of frozen fish. At first we weren't sure what they were for since nobody was there but we quickly found out what to do with them when we noticed a very large harbour seal swimming down below the dock :)
Each time we tossed in a fish the seal would come out from under a boat and take the fish to eat. So neat!
There was lots of fresh fish to be bought as well. This fishermen had lingcod, snapper and rock fish for sale by the pound. Some of it was frozen in the hold....
others were still alive and being held in little net pens off the sides of the dock like this one full of lingcod :)
Once we were finally all finished oohing and ahhing over the fish and getting our fill of touching them we headed over to the tents to pick up the fish prints that we had made when we first arrived.
Each of the children got a chance to make a print of a salmon...
and this very interesting China rock fish. Just look at that giant eyeball and mouth!
I just love how they turned out :)
After two hours, mild sunburns and a handful of stickers and posters each we finally called it a day and headed home. For the next hour as I drove us home the kids relived each and every moment so it must have been a great day *grin*.
Hope you all had a great weekend to!
Hugs,
Rosina
what an incredible opportunity for all of you! such incredible creatures.
ReplyDeletethat sounds like an extraordinarily grand day out. we would've loved it! they should do that in vancouver, great fun x
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a lot of fun!! so much great hands on stuff.
ReplyDeleteWow, you would not be able to do that in the Midwest!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun day!!!I loved how the fish print turned out.
ReplyDeleteOnce when we were in the Carribean on a beach we waded out into the water and were bending down to pick up shells when suddenly we looked over and my husband had picked up a rock so he thought, Sitting on top of the rock was a tiny little octopus,his little eyeballs were just wobbling around.
Within seconds he jumped off the rock and back into the water. As the Carnival cruise cameraman was running over to find out what the excitment was all about,he was nearly knocked down by all of us running to get out of there....it suddenly occured to us we didn't know where this little creature had gone to!!
We sure did laugh a lot later though.
Great fun! Ella would love to do something like that. We're a ways from the ocean.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun day! We're looking forward to seeing some of the sights on your island next week!!
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