Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved all sorts of marine biology; my parents lived and scuba dived in the Caribbean for multiple years, and have passed their love of ocean life onto me. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I found out I would be going to the National Aquarium to learn about our job in preserving natural habitats. 

Our adventure at the aquarium began by us splitting into three groups for a behind the scenes tour, mine being led by the incredible Sue. In the center of the aquarium was a “coral reef,” housing one of my favorites sea creatures from the trip, Zuri the Zebra Shark. Above the aquarium was a skeleton from the 1800s of a Fin Whale. Fun Fact, they had to remove 11 of the skeleton’s to fit him into the 4 story building!

Although I am not native to Maryland, there is an entire water cycle of the state that is! We learned about the Chesapeake Water Cycle and animals that come along with it. 

A special part of our tour was getting to see the shark hospital! They explained to us the whole process of how they move sharks out of their tan, and bring them here. Thankfully, no sharks were there today! We also had the opportunity to walk on a cat walk over the shark tank! It was very nerve racking, but Sue ensured us that these sharks won’t eat us. Unfortunately, I was not able to take any pictures of that part. 

Although the crabs were eating and we couldn’t touch them, we could touch the jellyfish! They were very slimy, very smooth, and weirdly satisfying!

The final main part of our tour was a real show stopper: the dolphins! We were introduced to Bailey, Spirit, Jade, Chesapeake, Bo, and Foster! In the back pool the girls were playing with their toy balls, bouncing to themselves. The boys in the front pool loved doing flips underwater, eating the ice that keepers were throwing to them, and of course coming to say hi! We learned about the Aquarium's plans to remodel their pool, and incredible stories of dolphin teamwork! We even got to watch foster and bow work together to pull a hula-hoop!

We had an incredible time at the aquarium, and are so grateful for all the staff that helped make our experience the best that it could be! My LEADs Day left me with a greater view of what our future global blueprint will look like.