Sharks

Two weeks ago, I went with a couple of friends to see the new Ocean Park behind the Quirino Grandstand. Unlike my friends, I've never been to HK or Singapore and, thus, could not brag about having been to the aquariums in those cities. My Nana told me about the Manila Aquarium which was built, as she said, around the same time that the Manila Zoo was built. Never got around to seeing it as it went kaput before I even had the notion of going there.

For a newbie aquarium-goer, the place was awesome (not in a Parting-of-the-Red-Sea kind of awesome, just the garden variety kind).

The fish were great: the sharks, the stingray (relative of the one that deprived the world of the interesting lunacy of Steve Irwin) ,the eels (the regular and the electric), the mollusks, the huge groupers (around me people were thinking aloud the same thing "Sweet and Sour"), the equally huge arowana looking fish near the entry (I forgot their names), the zebra fish and the starfish in this shallow holding aquarium where you were encouraged to touch but not press. All in all, for me, the stiff entrance fee was worth it if only for the pictures.

The only fly in the ointment was, yes, you guessed it: people. Sadly, the thing that's going to make the Manila Ocean Park a success is also the one that's going to turn-off people who want to go there to get a feel of the ocean's serenity. I noted to a very apologetic usher how the loud and obnoxious the kids were - she told me that the Management had tried everything: I suggested whips and/or threats of being thrown into the shark pool. The usher was nice enough to smile at the suggestion - but the only thing I could read in her smile was her frustrated "If only...".

So go and enjoy - but bring an MP3 player playing Ocean or Whale Sounds to drown out the screams of a thousand unruly kids. Because you can't really drown them and not face serious jail time.

By the way, speaking of sharks - read the letter of Inday Espina-Varona chastising another shark: the political shark. It's funny and biting - deep and serrated, as it should be to penetrate the tough hide of the bitee - here's the link: http://rpscarredcat.blogspot.com/2008/02/and-heres-memo-for-sen-madrigal.html