Shimoda Coast and Aquarium

Me and Daisy at a scenic lookout just before the town of Shimoda. You can see the white sandy beaches at Shimoda in the background.
It's a lovely place!

The last stop of fun in the sun this weekend, after a drive along the coast near the town of Shimoda (where there is a gorgeous white sand beach and water blue like Hawaii), was the Shimoda Floating Aquarium. Click HERE for a link. The website is in Japanese but they do have a PDF file you can take a look at in English. You can also just click around on the Japanese site to see pictures etc.

The aquarium is located at an inlet right on the ocean and makes use of the natural landscape and fresh seawater. Daisy was allowed to come in too but had to ride in her little trolley. It was way too hot for her to wait in the car!

There was a little shallow sea turtle pool as you approach the entrance. They are Japanese sea turtles but look very much like the Honu in Hawaii. It was really interesting as this pool has a low edge and you can get very very close to the turtles and get an amazing look at their faces as they come up for air.

First we saw a dolphin show. It was very minimal which I thought was nice as mostly the dolphins were not over trained to do a bunch of silly things that are not in their nature to do like many other dolphin shows you might see other places. Here, the dolphins just jumped and flapped around their tails and fins and swam close to where we could all see them as they were fed by the trainers. Daisy was totally fascinated having a look right at the edge. She really got excited when they would jump. I took a video of her watching them for a bit, it's pretty cute (IMO).

Daisy also got excited at the sea lion pool. When they would swim by close to the glass she was so shocked at first. I think it made her want to play and chase. But she stayed in her trolley like a very good girl and did not even bark. The sea lions also were not overly trained to do crazy things but one thing that was so cute was they were taught to pose at the glass for photos, either just holding still for a bit vertically and two were taught to put their noses together as if they were kissing. Adorable!

Two Sea Lions posing for a kiss! Enlarge to see their faces
(all photos on this blog can be enlarged twice).

We enjoyed sitting and watching various fishes and sea life in a large aquarium where it was air conditioned. They had some California Sea Lions, King Penguins and other smaller black Penguins as well. There is an area you can pay to feed and touch the dolphins as well as a program you can sign up to join the dolphins in the water a few times a day. That is my dream someday, to swim with dolphins!

Even though it was SO HOT that I wondered at times if we might get heat stroke, it was a fun day! It's a nice little aquarium if you get the chance to go there sometime.

Here is some video and pictures... Aloha

Poser!

There was even the cutest toilet paper in the restrooms!
Ken says they were selling this paper in the gift shop too... ha ha ha!

Daisy riding in her trolley, on the way back to the car.
This trolley is also helpful for when the street is too
blazing hot for doggie feet!

And here is a video of the dolphin show and Daisy having a good time watching. The crazy music they were playing and the annoucer's voice is alittle loud, you might want to turn down your volume before starting the video.