dragon boats and jellyfish

Technically NOT dragon boats but tourist pedal boats similar to the swan boats in the Boston Common. These things were all over the harbor. In the foreground, a famous submarine responsible for saving lots of lives. The harbors were full of these historical ships

It is early morning now. I am waiting for rush hour to subside and then  I go back to Michigan going on a new route. Yesterday we visited the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. Steve and I were there once 30 years ago and then went on to DC to stay with Soulmate during The 20th anniversary of MLK's walk on Washington. The heat and humidity the South is known for returned so it was good to be inside the National Aquarium for most of the day. Some consider it the best in the country with its 4 story rain forests. From its  many glass windows, one could see the tourists in their cute dragon pedal boats exploring the harbors. The best exhibit by far was the jellyfish. They  also had a dolphin show that was fun to watch. They also had many exhibits that had nothing to do with swimming creatures such as the Australian one that had flying fruit bats and their multicolored birds. Also the cliffs of the Northern Atlantic with the puffins (Nothing Like a Puffin!!!) who eat fish and live near water but really aren't living in it.

 

(It is a day later and I am trying to edit all the stuff I couldn't do on the poorly designed Blogger ap with a real computer..can not get rid of those lines!!!!!)

We walked along the harbor to Little Italy for an excellent dinner and then back to the house for another round of catching up 

While some of these jellies swam right side up, most were upside down. Jellies are fun to see in tanks, but not pleasant to swim through as I have found out numerous times. Also they are signs of an unbalanced eco system. Fertilizer runoff cause them to bloom and take over.

Focus Sue, Focus!!!! Of course, I didn't have Steve to trail behind me taking photos with the 'good ' camera so sadly lots of my attempts are not as good as they should be

Looks like the milky way, right? Lots of tiny, pulsating creatures opening and closing their umbrella bodies. Largest were the size of a nickel.

Smaller versions of these I have swam through and have been stung by. If you are in the water with them, you can not see them at all unless you look on the water/air interface, but you certainly feel them.

love these parachute type (they all had names but I didn't write them down) 

Extremely large sea turtle with a normal sized scuba diver (he's feeding the fish) conveniently swimming by for scale

Where's Nemo? There he is!!

Anemones. Usually my favorite. This is where the Shedd aquarium of Chicago(and almost every other aquarium) outshines them by far.