Waikiki Aquarium With Mom

There's not a whole lot of places on this small island where we've not taken mom.  Then we remembered the Waikiki Aquarium.  Although we'd taken KC there last year, mom hadn't come with us.

When we mentioned it to mom, she said she'd not been there in decades.  Well, this would be the year to go since they'd really upgraded it.

I was happy to be told that the admission covered a free Audio Tour Wand that also came in Japanese.

Great!  Mom loved it!

The varieties of coral were truly amazing!

When we came with KC I must have been paying more attention to her than the exhibits because I couldn't remember seeing these.

Mom was fascinated by these giant clams.  She wondered if you could eat one.

They made an announcement that a Monk Seal demonstration was going on outside so we dashed to the pool to see the show.

This monk seal had cataracts in both eyes so he would not survive in the wild.

 

Back inside again it was surprising to learn that so many sharks are killed each year.  I would have thought more people had gotten killed by sharks since we've had so many incidents in Hawaii lately.

We went outside again and saw various Hawaiian plants.  I've seen the delicate Ilima leis, but I didn't know what the plant looked like.  I was surprised to see that they are low growing vine like plants.  It takes a whole lot of these little blossoms to make a lei.

You see these Naupaka plants everywhere in Hawaii.  There's a mountain and shore variety.

The small reef exhibit outside was a lot of fun for mom to see.  She felt she'd really learned a lot.

Although we'd only been there a couple of hours, mom was pretty tired and ready for lunch.  We went to Marukame restaurant in Waikiki again because we knew how much she enjoyed their udon noodles.  She tried their curry, but said that although it was delicious, she'd have their Kake Udon soup broth next time.

All in all, a happy day and mom was ready for a  nap.  Me too.