On a trip to Atlanta, I wanted to use my time wisely and was amazed at how many of the city’s attractions were located right next to each other on Centennial Olympic Park. There was CNN’s headquarters, the World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium...just a few steps from one another.
The Georgia Aquarium was the largest aquarium in the world when it opened until 2012; it is now the second largest. I spent nearly five hours there, and that was before they opened up additional exhibits since that time. The aquarium is laid out in various “zones,” each housing a particular environment with its own animal inhabitants.
Not only is the Georgia Aquarium the second largest in the world, but it contains the world’s largest single aquatic exhibit—nearly 6.3 million gallons of water are contained in its Ocean Voyager section. That exhibit holds whale sharks (which are extremely rare at an aquarium), giant manta rays, and thousands of other fish. You can see in the photograph how large the viewing window is (it’s 23 feet tall by 61 feet long) and how large the whale sharks are compared to the silhouetted people in front of the glass. And that glass is 2 feet thick to keep back the immense pressure of the water.
Another unique feature of that exhibit is that the aquarium offers visitors the opportunity to snorkel or scuba dive in the tank. How amazing an experience that would be, if I weren’t terrified to do either one.
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