Monday at Manila Ocean Park

Spent Monday afternoon with my cousins at the Manila Ocean Park. We availed of the Deep Sea Rush promo and paid only Php 550 per person.

Image from Manila Ocean Park Website

I don't know if it's because it's a Monday and most establishments do their maintenance check on Mondays, but when we arrived the park attendants informed us there that there would be a 30-minute power interruption. So except for the Marine Life Habitat, we could not go in the other attractions.

We went inside the Marine Life Habitat and there was nothing there except the two divers who were cleaning the bottom of the pool. We stayed there for 20 minutes or so until the kids complained that they were bored. So we went inside and waited at the Oceanarium gate. The power interruption lasted for nearly an hour. All the people waiting outside were already complaining about the heat.

We were able to go inside the Oceanarium at 4:15 PM. In fairness, all the bad vibes and boredom we experienced at the Marine Life Habitat dissolved after seeing the Oceanarium. A couple of giant brown fish greeted us when we came in. And then there were alligators and piranhas and lots of strange looking fish. My favorite were these flat and elongated fish which looked like floating sea weeds. I forget what they're called. The blockbuster aquarium was the Nemo aquarium where lots of the visitors are huddled in front of the glass box ogling at tiny clown fish.

Image from the Manila Ocean Park website

My favorite was the tunnel area. Good thing nobody in the group was claustrophobic or ichthyophobic. Imagine the whole tunnel collapsing in on you and along with it the sharks and sting rays! Crazey! The glass tunnel seems pretty solid though, so no worries.

After 45 minutes we headed to the Jellies Exhibit. Going to the Manila Ocean Park was spur-of-the-moment, so I had no proper camera with me and I took pictures using my phonecam and these were the decent ones I got: 

My camera doesn't do these jellies any justice. They are lovelier and much graceful in person and up close! If you plan to go to Manila Ocean Park bring along a proper camera with you, and don't forget to turn off the flash when you take pictures. I am not sure what happens when you take pictures of the fish with flash (maybe they get blind or something) but it's a no-no in Manila Ocean Park! After the jellies, we proceeded to the Sea Lion Show, which was a drag for me. The kids love it but I found it meh.

We capped our trip with the Musical Fountain Show at 7 PM. Had a lovely time with the family. Manila Ocean Park is a place for kids. It's both educational and fun. But maybe try not to go on a Monday, I think Monday is their maintenance-check-day so you'd see most of the park attendants cleaning the area and there'd be power interruptions. Also, it's best to go as a group, going there alone is no fun!