Our visit to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is a freaking two-hour drive from Naha City. Since I was travelling with small kids, this meant that I spent the first day just getting to a hotel that was situated in the middle between Naha City and the aquarium.
Travelling with kids also meant that the projected one-hour drive from our condo hotel to the aquarium easily turned to more than two hours. The son suffered from motion sickness and performed a heart-sinking projectile vomit show 🤮 during the car ride. Luckily, we chanced upon a Blue Seal ice cream store. We ate ice cream; he played at the indoor playground; and we resumed our journey, spirits shaken but not defeated.
So the question running through a pragmatic traveler’s mind is: Is the Churaumi Aquarium worth the long journey? Different individuals will come to different conclusions but for the son who hurried us through all the exhibits so that we could get to the Kuroshio Sea tank, he would answer in the affirmative.
We arrived at this tank and awed at its main attraction – the spell-binding jinbei zame (whale shark) in silence. For me, it was a mind-blowing sight since the world’s largest fish turned out to be more humongous than I had expected. For the wife, it might incur slight disappointment since it was smaller than she had envisioned. Regardless, we enjoyed a few minutes of peace because the son was enraptured by the jinbei zame. He might also have been fascinated by the huge manta rays.
The aquarium also presented insights on how to do business since two fake jinbei zame were strategically planted in front of the souvenir store. Of course, we would take advantage of the photo op. Gotta love how the staff dangled postcard-sized photo-cum-calendar as gifts. Of course, I was gonna accept these free shots and fork out money to buy our family photos that were attractively framed.
The Churaumi Aquarium was part of a bigger facility called the Ocean Expo Park. This was where people could feed turtles and dolphins for a few. These enclosures faced the sea and sky. Primary school students would probably have a field day utilising all the adjectives they used to pen their sensory descriptions in their compositions.
Sapphire, turquoise, azure come to mind readily. The dolphin photo op was even more impressive. We sat on either side of the dolphin which waited patiently for the photographer to do his thing. Even animals in Japan are exceedingly well-trained.
Finally, my own POV. Was the trip to the aquarium worth it? I think it was since the aquarium was closed for cleaning the first time I visited Okinawa. Of course, I derived satisfaction from knowing that my son who loves jinbei zame dearly had so much fun viewing it in real life. I think his enthusiasm elevated my experience.
