A day of Penguins
Trip Start
Sep 16, 2006
1
12
Trip End
Sep 24, 2006
Mystic, Connecticut
Friday, September 22, 2006
It was a bit odd. They sold coffee, but they had ceased serving breakfast and were offering us Curry and lentils at 10:30 AM. Despite the nautical chill in the air and the gray fog threatening to eat us, we declined their offer of soup and went back to the car. We found a Tim Hortons, and being the adventurous people that we are we ate some muffins at that establishment and reminisced about our Montreal days.
After breakfast was Aquarium time. We went back to the place and were able to get in just in time to see the first feeding of their collection of African penguins. The playful little fellows frolicked and played in their tank, swimming about and generally being adorable. The trainers fed them squid and herring and recorded each penguins intake through a system of colored beads on each penguin's wing.
We left the penguins and visited my octopus friend again. A pool of Manta Rays was out and open, and so we walked over there and were encouraged to touch the rays. To do this you just put your hand into the water and let them "sniff" you. They are remarkably gentle creatures, or at least these ones were, and they have a velvety texture on them. I felt bad that their life consisted of being touched by tourists like me, but then one rubbed against me in an affectionate way and I felt better about it.
We missed the penguins, and so we went back and visited them again for the better part of an hour. They're so darn cute and playful! We even got a snap of Pingu with a real penguin, which was a lot of fun.
Sadly, our trip ended there. We bought me a toy Octopus (Squidney the Cephalopod) and we got Mel some hugging penguins, all of which sit in our bedroom now. Mystic was truly awesome, and I would recommend it to any curious or naturalistic soul.
