As my boyfriend nor I had visited the Tennessee Aquarium for quite a long time, it seemed the perfect opportunity to make a trip down to Chattanooga. I was pleased to discover that the aquarium is opened until 8 p.m. as neither of us wanted to wake up early in the morning so we would have time to tour the entire complex. We realized that we had forgotten to look up the directions to the museum but that was no problem as there were plenty of signs pointing us in the right direction after we got into Chattanooga.
Located towards the edge of downtown near the river, the Tennessee Aquarium is a very well maintain complex of buildings with restaurants, a picturesque bridge, and various little water areas with sculpture. I was surprised at the amount of children swimming in the water areas and the families that seemed to gather there with no intention of going to the aquarium. From the aquarium you could see them lying on their towels and sunbathing! I suppose the staff is alright with it but some of those areas seemed rather dangerous as they were most likely not intended for little kids to be swimming in and there did not seem to be a lifeguard. I'm sure it is a situation I am not aware of but it seems like a lawsuit just waiting to happen.
Ticket prices were not too bad and there was the option of adding an IMAX movie to the price for five dollars extra. I am glad I went with that option as the Hubble IMAX show was very enjoyable and well worth the extra price.
The aquarium is divided into two different buildings, "Ocean Journey" and "River Journey"; we decided to visit the Ocean section first. After being directed to an escalator we entered the stingray petting room that is my favorite part of any aquarium. This one was unique in that visitors were able to feed shrimp to the stingrays. Feeling adventurous, I gave it a try and was given a piece of shrimp to hold between my fingers. After a little waiting, a stingray took the bait and it was such a weird feeling! Its teeth gave me a little nip and their bodies are so slimy! It was a truly unique experience and I am glad I was brave enough to try it. I have been to a number of aquariums, including Monterrey Bay Aquarium, and have never gotten the opportunity to feed a stingray, only pet them when they flap against the walls of the tank.
A "Butterfly Garden" was the next stop, kind of surprising for an aquarium but something I am interested in. I was really disappointed when the garden at Dolly World was closed because the butterflies would escape or people would steal them. The Tennessee Aquarium has staff members posted at each entrance and throughout the room to ensure that minimal butterflies damage is sustained. It was fun to watch the butterflies flutter around and I would have like to have stayed longer but it was so crowded and humid. After checking to make sure we did not have any stowaways, we moved on to the next escalator.
The next room was dominated by a huge tank that was several stories tall and held sharks, stingrays, and other creatures of the deep. Unfortunately, this is when visitors notice how narrow the hallways and exhibition spaces are and it becomes much harder to actually be able to look at the animals. At the risk of sounding old, I have to say that the children were extremely rude and annoying and their parents did nothing to discourage their behavior, even encouraging it. I know that kids are excited about everything but they really made the visit extremely irritating. I paid for my ticket the same as everyone else yet the other visitors seemed to think that it was perfectly fine to butt right in front of me and not even apologize. Apart from the poor planning by the architect that made navigating around exhibits to be a nightmare, the staff really should consider limiting the amount of families with small children in at a time as they make it impossible for older and well mannered people to actually enjoy the exhibits. Whoever gave the aquarium an award for visitor satisfaction must have gone on a day when no one was there because I felt like I had to rush through the exhibits to avoid being stampeded.
After a dark room full of eerily glowing jellyfish, visitors are directed to an exhibition in conjunction with the Hunter Museum of Art entitled "Jellies: Living Art," that incorporated jellyfish with glass art resembling their floating counterparts. I am quite interested in glass art so this was a pleasant surprise. A later exhibit in the "River Journeys" building compared the shells of turtles, such as the Indian Star Tortoise to the vaulted ceilings of cathedrals. It is an interesting comparison to make as mathematicians have calculated the golden ratio on objects like shells in nature and the architects of the Gothic cathedrals were rediscovering the principle from the Ancient Greeks and Romans. This is an interesting attempt by the museum to attract the art crowd and elevate the status of the aquarium.
The river building was even less well designed than the ocean building. The design is interesting but you have to go up and down a series of escalators, one extremely narrow and claustrophobic; it would be disastrous if it ever broke down with visitors on it. There are plenty of staff members to point you in the right direction but it seems so unnecessarily complicated. The horse sea exhibit was very interesting but again, it was designed with no thought of crowd control at all. There was no clear direction to view the exhibit and no space in which to stand and actually watch the sea horses. A simple solution would be to limit the amount of people into the aquarium at a time, especially families with small children, but I suppose the aquarium just wants your admission fee. When you did get see the creatures, they were so cute! I love how they would zoom around and wrap their tails around plants and hang upside down.
Several of the rooms were meant to look like a wooden trail by a river, hence the name of the building, and was very enjoyable to walk through. While part of the aquarium definitely had a fishy smell, the river sections were more natural and you almost forgot that you were not in a park. Again, the paths could have been planned with much more crowd control consideration. The rest of the building wound around an atrium with narrow, collision inducing gangways, flanked by giant tanks of river creatures, mostly sturgeon as they were featured a lot in the aquarium. I really enjoyed the "Rivers of the World" section, despite the pushy crowds, especially the Japanese section of koi, of which I am very fond.
My trip to the aquarium was fun, my biggest complaint being, of course, the inconsiderate crowds and extremely awkward building design that made it impossible to stop moving without being in someone's way. I think I have already given my suggestions on those problems. My irritation was abated after we saw the Hubble IMAX show as it is truly amazing. We wrapped up the trip with a visit to Red Lobster, which seemed extremely appropriate.
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