WHOOOOSH!

Fur seal at the New York Aquarium.

Haven't been to the New York Aquarium for a long time - maybe even this time last year. I guess I tend to gravitate to the aquarium in the wintertime, when I'm tired of all the icy greens & browns & grays & whites & am starting to crave sunlight filtering through blue water. Sure, I'd rather indulge that craving with a day of snorkeling, but since that's not an easy craving to indulge this time of year, in my chosen city of residence, sometimes I just end up at the aquarium instead.

Nice on cold days in the wintertime, too - tends to be a little quieter.

Interesting changes over the last couple of years.

Last time, the dolphins were gone & their old tank was occupied by a graceful school of rays. The dolphins had always looked a little cramped. For the rays, these were some spacious digs.

This time, the beluga whales were gone, and the fur seals had been moved from a smaller tank to the relatively wide open spaces of the old beluga tank. The decor may be sparse, but this seems like a better for these guys. Amazing to watch them swim - they used to move pretty well in their old, smaller tank, but in this one? I think everybody who walked up to the tank said some variation on rocket, missile or torpedo.

WHOOSH!

I could have watched them for hours except that I think someone rang the dinner bell - it was getting towards closing time when I found them, and one minute, it was whooooosh, whoooooosh, whooooosh - the next, not so much as a whisker!

I sometimes think that if I could be one animal for a day - it would be something in the seal or sea lion range. Although river otters always look like they are having such a rollicking great time, that might be fun too. But I remember standing on a cliff somewhere near San Francisco when I was a kid & my folks were there, and there were sea lions playing in the breaking surf, and it just looked so amazing.

Not a sea otter. Sure, you'd be the cutest animal in the ocean - but way too much grooming time for a person who doesn't even own a blow drier.

Only thing is, if you got to be any of those for just one day - don't you think that that might just ruin watersports for the rest of your life?

Except maybe sailing. Sailing, you'd have to pick something more like a bird to never really enjoy it again...