On the road

When the Monterey Bay Aquarium announced free admission for local residents this September, I jumped at the chance to visit. 

Part of its mission is to educate coastal communities on how best to sustainably use ocean resources, so it made sense for the Aquarium to open its doors to local residents, free of charge. 

The Aquarium is a Monterey landmark on Cannery Row, the street facing the bay where sardine factories used to stand. Cannery Row is now the heart of the Monterey tourist area, a strip of land full of restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops and people.

The Aquarium itself is housed in a building that was formerly the Hovden Cannery, the largest sardine company in the Row until it shut down in 1973. 

The need to preserve the marine habitat damaged by the fishing industry is what gave rise to the Aquarium, which sits right next to the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, the oldest marine laboratory in the West Coast. 

First conceived of in 1977, the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened its doors for the first time in October 1984. Its history says:  

A group of marine scientists, local residents, and members of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation of Los Altos, California, formed the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. A one-time personal gift from David and Lucile Packard provided initial construction costs for the Aquarium, which ultimately totaled $55 million.

The Aquarium’s first executive director is Julie Packard who stepped down this year after more than 40 years. Packard is the daughter of David Packard who co-founded Hewlett-Packard. This is one project where tech money, knowhow, commitment and advocacy for the marine environment has truly made an impact. From its opening up to 2023, more than 70 million are said to have visited the Aquarium, a great many of them schoolchildren.

From previous visits, family members and I have seen the impressive collection of marine life being nurtured at the Aquarium. We stared at the sea otters, marveled at the jellyfish swaying and pushing, and watched as aquarium staff fed the different fish varieties. I particularly loved the Deep Sea section where the larger ocean creatures are kept. (The photos below show our youngest family member visiting the Aquarium before she could walk and then again a year later).

Each visit reveals something new.  This time, I spent some time standing mesmerized in front of the kelp forest where schools of sardines and anchovies, shiny from the glint of the sun, danced around the seaweed. And it happened to be feeding time, so I chanced upon two of the Aquarium’s staff members in the kelp forest, interacting with the fishes and the visitors. Watch my Instagram reel on this.

You could also just sit home and watch the camera feeds of jellyfish, sea otters or sharks, which are either live or pre-recorded if viewed at off-hours. But there’s really nothing like having the creatures of the ocean up close and practically in your face.

The time allotted for local visitors is 12-4 p.m. so it would probably take more than one visit to really fully absorb everything the Aquarium has to offer. And thanks to the free tickets, I am preparing for an aquarium encore.  ###

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