Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

I found out that there was an aquarium at the Santa Monica Pier. On my last visit to the pier I didn't even now it was there so I thought, great! I love aquariums so I make a special trip, some 60 miles or so, lug my camera along and finally make it in after waiting for it to open. I paid $10.00 to park and $5.00 to get in. There was one room with two large tanks and three flat ones where you could touch some star fish. I was SOOOO disappointed. I wasn't in there five minutes so I don't even have any pictures to post with this.

Now, I understand that this is an organization dedicated to helping keep our oceans and shores clean and that maybe my $5.00 went towards a very good cause. Heck, I would have given them $10.00 if they'd said it a donation toward keeping our oceans clean. But I don't know what that $5.00 was for, at least not when they took it. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium only suggests a $3.00 donation.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that it's non-profit and I'm not telling you not to go. What I'm saying is, don't go unless you're also going to enjoy the pier and you've already spent enough money that another $5.00 is no sweat off your nose. The kids might get a kick out of it and I understand they have events or things that they do for the kids. What I'm saying is don't drive 60 miles to visit, waste all that gas plus $10.00 for parking. You won't be happy.

At one point I nicely asked one of the people if that room was all there was. I wasn't mad and I'm still not mad now, just disappointed. My point in asking was that I just didn't want to miss another room because I didn't see it. I was told that was all there was and though it wasn't the Long Beach aquarium it was local and featured only fish off the local coast. My thought was, "It wasn't local for me."