The Rio Amazon exhibit displays piranha and other beautiful fish that are found in the Amazon River. You can marvel at the animals in the sea life collection, such as a giant octopus, sea anemones, coral, jellyfish, a seahorse, and an array of dazzling fish. At the Sea-For-Yourself Discovery Center, you get a chance to hold a horseshoe crab or pet a gentle ray. A dive show and marine education classes are presented hourly.

The big attraction by far is the Dangerous Reef, a 750,000-gallon tank with the world’s longest moving glide path at 330 feet. Here you glide your away through a tunnel of beautiful and brilliantly colored fishes, rays, eels, and more. You also get a close encounter with quite a few sharks! Kids, both small and over 21, will love this. It is such a thrill to be this close to sharks. In fact, it was after seeing this that we decided to get certified to scuba dive, just so I could get closer to the sharks. When we were here, the glide path was off, offering us a chance to take our time going through the tunnel.

There is a café and gift shop on the premises. There are also several chances to have your picture taken for a souvenir. As soon as you walk in the door there is someone waiting to take a picture. For more information, to find out what is happing during your trip, or to purchase advanced tickets, you can go to www.ripleysaquarium.com. You can also purchase tickets right in the front. If there is a long line outside, duck into the visitors information store right on the corner. You can purchase tickets here, as well as tickets for most of the shows in town.

The day we decided to visit, it was overrun by schoolchildren whose main ambition was to locate Nemo. A lecture was being offered just as we arrived. Sharks. We learned about all the different species in the aquarium by becoming familiar with their jaw formation and size. It is refreshing to know sharks don’t really like eating humans; however, they will bite in order to identify an object.

Next we walked past the piranha tank. Ferocious as they are, they look harmless. Another fish, the Anthunae, a grouper, can change its sex if there’s a shortage of males or females. Next we went to Rainbow Rock, a cave-like room. There was a presentation and dive show (a diver was inside the tank and an interpreter talked about what was going on). The habits and appearance of huge swarms of fish were discussed as the diver gave them food.

From there we entered Dangerous Reef. A glidepath (conveyor built) rode us through a glassed-in pathway. Six-inch clear acrylic walls allowed 12-15 foot sharks to swim over our heads. The nurse shark smiled at us with his many rows of teeth. He can’t close his mouth or he’ll bite himself and bleed to death. He sucks in (nurses) his prey and swallows it whole. The sawfish, another 10-footer, glides through the water expecting no danger.

The stingrays were kid-friendly because their stingers had been removed. We watched the dive show and then went upstairs, where the diver encouraged everyone to pet the stingray. One little boy was leaning over the edge of the tank and the fish whipped up and brushed him with his nose. The boy decided to look from a distance after that.

We bought the tickets for all three Ripley attractions for $34.50 Senior price. The Aquarium only would have cost $16.95. It was well worth it. The aquarium is open seven days a week 9am-6pm.

Went to Ripley's Aquarium and paid $16.95 to go to something that was so not worthwhile. When you go in, it's one big room and you can pet stingrays and turtles. Then they have a moving sidewalk that moves in a circle around the large room and it is entirely glass all around you. Above you and to the left and right. They have sharks, jellyfish, other fish, etc., in the tank. Which I suppose is neat, but I won't pay it again.

I suppose if you have kids, this would be a neat place to go. They would probably like it a little better than two adults would.