Manila Ocean Park

Last Saturday, March 1, I had the chance to explore the depths of the sea courtesy of the Philippines’ newest attraction - Manila Ocean Park. Actually, I’d been eyeing its opening since last year and after a couple of postponements (December, then February . . .) it was finally soft-launched. For the amazing price of 400 pesos for admission I expected to see a lot of amazing creatures. Well…

I was driving all the way from my grandpa’s house in Baesa, Caloocan and I stupidly took the Edsa to Pasay to Quirino Grandstand route. It was early Saturday afternoon yet traffic was horrible! It took us 2 hours to reach Ocean Park. Along the way I chanced upon Bayani Fernando’s HUGE poster near Cubao. GRRRRRRR! Why do politicians and government officials always have to parade their accomplishments? They get paid to do that so that’s their job. Moreover, it’s our taxes at work, not money from their own pockets and yet they make us feel indebted to them. But wait, there was more! Upon arriving at Manila Ocean Park, a big poster with GMA greeted us. WTH?

A long line was formed outside the building, it was hardly moving. After convincing ourselves that it was worth it, we fell in line. Boy, things were really disorganized that day (of course it was the opening day). Tickets ran out which led to further delays. Tempers were flaring and voices were being raised but after an HOUR we were finally in.

The first part of the tour was kinda shabby. Small aquariums holding ordinary looking fish greeted us. Fake corals made up the décor which really turned me off. Then things began to get better. I saw Nemo (clownfish) in his natural habitat, sea anemones. Stonefish, Lipstick fish, giant spider crab, moray eel, boxfish – these were just some of the tropical fish on display. However, sorely lacking in that part of the tour was air conditioning. I nearly passed out due to the heat from hundreds of bodies.

Near the end of the tour, I found myself in a large room with huge tanks on all sides. There were giant groupers (lapu lapu?) schools of fishes in different colors and sharks. Then we entered the 25 meter tunnel which was truly awesome. Stingrays, sharks, schools of fish and more stingrays swam around us. It was mesmerizing!

The tour ended all too soon and though I felt that I overpaid, I realized that I had fun.