Hey Mom, the school bus is here.

A while back, I wrote about my fear of the murky deep---and specifically sharks. Well I'm going to revisit why I am afraid of sharks and let’s see if I can bring a few of you into my camp. There is a surprise at the end, so it’s probably worth reading.

Today I had time in between meetings and was fortunate to have my camera along with me. Near what I thought was my afternoon call, I was about 1/2 mile off, was the world’s largest aquarium. For my brother, eat your heart out---they have 7 million gallons of water. (A pittance to your measly 400 or so gallon aquarium you have in your home.) To say the Georgia Aquarium is amazing is not giving this “living ocean” it’s credit. It is flat out breathtaking to experience. The largest aquarium is about 25 feet high, 50 feet wide and 2 feet thick. As it was explained, “the acrylic is so thick that it literally can not be penetrated.” I was hoping, as I sat there, no plans were being made to put this statement to the test.

In the tank are small fish, say 2 feet long and larger ones---about 14 feet long; these are the whale sharks. I think you can guess which are which. One thing they didn’t discuss on the tour that stopped in front of the tank was how you transport a fish that large from point A to point B. Oh while you’re at it, they have 4 of these monsters in the tank. I can only imagine when the postal service gets a call about transporting a fish the size of a bus they probably take a pass. I mean if they lose letters and packages, what would happen if they misplaced a shark that ways a ton or so ? I am reasonably sure the aquarium used a different service.

Here’s a trivia question for you. How was the Hope Diamond delivered to the Smithsonian Institution? Yep, the trusty U.S. Mail. Can you imagine if the postal worker knew what he was carrying how nervous he would be? By the way, it was insured, but no one was told what was inside his satchel that day.

So back to the aquarium. In addition to this monstrous tank there was an exhibit on fresh water fish; this is more my speed. One of the tanks held about 75 Discus fish; in a previous “Snap. Shot,” I wrote about how I had purchased a Discus fish in Florida and carried it on the plane with me back home. The good news is, I am now into photography and not raising fish, so I took photos of these absolutely beautiful fish.

The photo above is of one of the Whale Sharks in the tank. I had no idea which one it is, although they all have names (there was no name tag on it) but I can tell you, it is one big ol’fish. Although not full grown by any means, the expected length is around 40 feet or the size of a yellow school bus---the full size buses, not the smaller ones. So, what’s the surprise ? If you were to meet up with one of these guys in the ocean you would probably die; not from being eaten but from the shock of thinking you are going to be eaten. But, even though they have mouths 4 feet wide, if you were to be swallowed, their throats are the size of a quarter. Yes, the one with George Washington on it. Probably the worst thing that would happen is you might lose a finger; but then again based upon the shock of meeting up with a 40-foot monster of the deep, I am sure you would be more than happy to live!

Thanks for stopping by.