Visit to New England Aquarium, Boston (Part 1)

It was an amazing experience for me to visit the New England Aquarium. New England Aquarium is located at the Central Warf of Boston port line and is very famous for the variety of sea animals that it hosts. Surprisingly it is one of those rare aquariums having a very detailed website. Individuals can plan their visits by browsing this site as well.

In this "Part 1" post I have mostly covered clicks Jelly fish and a bunch of anonymous small fish. One of the exhibits that I liked the most was Shark and Ray touch tank. Unfortunately I was not able to take any clicks because the tank is pretty much at ground level and in this particular case it is not the picture that matters but the experience. They have got like 30-40 baby Rays swimming in a tank and you can touch those swimming Rays and Sharks. Believe me they don’t bite and it is a hell of an experience.

Just opposite to this Shark and Ray touch tank you would find another tank that has a variety of small and colorful fish. It is just like watching the entire sea bed in “Finding Nemo” movie come alive in front of you. Below are few of the clicks that I was able to grab. I am not a fish expert so I was not able to name all the below listed fish but they are very colorful and nice to watch. Any comments regarding their names would be helpful for me to put a caption for them.

Marine Fish

Below are few clicks of different kind of jelly fish that are maintained by New England Aquarium. Every type of jelly fish is kept in separate tank with a name plate having description about the jelly fish. I have tried to list them as per their type and as well have tried to put the description present on the name plates so that it becomes more interesting to read.

The European Moon Jelly (this is one of my favorites)

Description: Moon jellies are found worldwide and are commonly seen in New England waters. They are important consumers of zooplankton.

Japanese Sea Nettle

Description: These are often found in swarms in temperate zones of the North Pacific Ocean. They can be seen both on the ocean surface and in deep water.

Blue Blubber

Description: These Australian jellies are also referred to as "edible jellyfish" and are used in several Asian cuisines. They are also used to treat arthritis in traditional Chinese medicine.

Australian spotted jelly

Description: These natives of warn Australian waters and the Indo-Pacific have been accidentally introduced into warm Atlantic Ocean waters. They have been sighted throughout much of the Gulf of Mexico, in Puerto Rico and on the east coast of Florida.

Mediterranean jelly

Description: No details regarding this jelly fish were listed on the aquarium plate hence I tried to search on web for its details. In this process I stumbled upon following link which lists down different jelly fish and their details. These are the details that I got for Mediterranean jelly fish "Very abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, especially in bays. In 2009 it was more frequent in the southern part of Italy, showing a preference for warmer waters, but this was not confirmed in 2010 and 2011, since this species was very frequent throughout the whole Italian coast, especially in the second half of the summer."

Atlantic sea nettle

Description: These nettles are the summer residents of the East Coast, commonly ranging from both coasts of Florida to southern New England. Juvenile harvest fish and butter fish are often found swimming in the tentacles of the jelly fish.

Pacific sea nettle

Description: These nettles are often found in large groups called smacks, in the northern temperate Pacific Ocean. They can be seen both on the surface and deeper waters.

Visit to New England Aquarium, Boston (Part 2)

This is a post in continuation of my previous post "Visit to New England Aquarium (Part 1)". In this post I have listed clicks of:

• Penguins
• A whale skeleton
• Longnose Gar
• Red bellied Piranha
• Dying poison arrow frog
• Green sea turtle
• Northern Fur Seal and
• Few anonymous fish

The descriptions are majorly taken from names plates kept in front of individual fish tanks in the aquarium.

The Aquarium is home to more than 80 penguins who live in a bustling colony found on Level 1 of the aquarium surrounding the Giant Ocean Tank. The Aquarium breeds African penguins as part of a species survival plan and promotes education programs about penguins.

African Penguin

Rockhopper Penguins

Apart from the Giant Ocean Tank one of the eye catching monument that you get to see once you enter the aquarium at level 1 is huge skeleton hanging from the ceiling. It may look like a dinosaur skeleton, but it is actually the skeleton of a juvenile North Atlantic right whale. The Right Whale Research Blog describes a lot about these incredible, but unfortunately critically endangered, animals.

35 feet whale skeleton

The Aquarium estimates that there are only about 430 individuals of this species still around. In fact, the name right whale comes from the fact that they were considered the right whale to hunt, due to their slow movements and the fact that they float after they’re killed. I picked up these details from the New England Aquarium site page.

Longnose Gar

Red bellied Piranha

Description: All 20 or more Piranha species are equipped with powerful, vice-like jaws. Some such as the red bellied here, use knife like teeth to slice the flesh of their prey. Other species of Piranha crush seeds, fruits and nuts.

Dying poison arrow frog

Description: Frogs live everywhere in the Amazon, from the depths of river to the heights of forest canopy. Wherever they go they somehow find a watery place to mate and reproduce.

Green sea turtle 

Though above clicks may not indicate the actual size of this turtle but as a note I would like to mention that this is a very big turtle and watching it swim in the  Giant Ocean Tank (with all live coral around it) is a marvelous experience. More details regarding this species of turtle on New England Aquarium link.

Northern Fur Seal Swimming upside down

Northern Fur Seal About to dive under water

Anonymous Turtle

Anonymous Fish

As I have mentioned in my previous post for New England Aquarium, there are lot more species of fish to watch and experience than what I have listed in my two posts here. Usually you don't even get to take pictures of all of them due to light conditions. Don't miss an opportunity (in case you get one) to visit this place.

A Visit to Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen

This is the first post in a list of posts that I am planning to do for my Boston visit. Hopefully I would try to cover and post as much photos I can. This post is about my visit to a small town called Methuen which is close to the town of Waltham where I was staying. The entire credit (of course excluding that of photographs) of this visit and details that I have put in this post goes to Mr. Vikrant Gogri without whom this visit would have not been possible. In fact without whom my entire Boston visit would have been an utter boredom and just official work. It was Vikrant who told me about this place and a special musical event that he was planning to attend in the evening. As it was a musical event I happily agreed and then we started our drive from Waltham to Methuen.

Below is the click of majestic  piano (if I may call it in simple words and as Vikrant described it to me initially). This majestic piano is called as “The Great Organ” and you can get the entire details regarding it from following official site.

The Methuen Memorial Music Hall with 'The Great Organ'

Just so that you don’t end up making the same mistake that I did when I first saw it, the reason I called it majestic is because of its structure. The organ is not just the table with keys kept on the center stage but it also consists of the celestial metal pipes that you see in the click. When the musician operates keys on the so called piano, air is blown through those metal pipes and then sound is produces. Now you know what I am talking about. It is just amazing to listen to those notes.

Once you enter the musical hall you could still get the glimpse of old architecture that decorates the entire premises. Below are few clicks depicting the same.

Hall Ceiling

Hall Ceiling

On both side of the wall we could see carvings of Edward F. Searles who purchased the Great Organ and built this hall for it.

Edward F. Searles

Nice wooden carvings can be seen all over the stage and around the musical organ.

Wooden Carving

Wooden Carving

Wooden Carving

Below are the clicks that allow us to take a closer look at the key board of the instrument. Yet another stunning fact about the Great Organ is while playing the musician not only operates the keyboard but also have to manage the numerous paddles that are located below the keyboard. So it is the combination of hand and leg movement which produces the music.

Keyboard with Paddles

Keyboard with Paddles

And here is the man of the day Mr. Vikrant Gogri.

Finally the stone plate in front of the hall.

Stone Plate

To actually admire the beauty of this instrument one should hear it. No modern instrument can produce the kind of soothing music that this instrument produces. Once again thanks to Mr. Vikrant Gogri for allowing me to accompany him for this memorable event.

A Visit to Waldan Pond, Concurd

It was a sunny weekend (fortunately...) in Waltham and as we did not had pretty much planned anything in-advance, Vikrant suggested we visit Waldan Pond which is in Concord town close to Waltham. The google map location for Waldan pond are at this link. It is a not so vast body of water but at the same time it serves as a good weekend family hang-out on a sunny day.

Pond Bank from other side

On top of it if you love to swim or have a kayak/surfboard at your disposal it is a party time for you.

Surfboard Enthusiastic

Lot of people around Concord visit this pond on weekends. By the time we reached the location (which was around 2:00 PM) lot of families were already enjoying the sun and water.

Apart from the water body it also has got a very nice trail around the pond. During my visit I ended up clicking lot of photos of the nature trail. Following are the few good ones…J.

Trail with Trees on its Side

A Squirrel Enjoying Her Food

One of my favorite leafs. The Maple tree leaf. I was not able to find lot of Maple trees around the pond. But Pine trees were a lot.

Maple Tree Leaf1

Maple Tree Leaf2

Small Wooden Bridge On Trail

Common Holly Berries

I got to see two different types of Pine tree leaves. Both of them are pictured below.

Pine Leaves in Sun

Tiny Pine Leaves

As can seen from below picture the trail is well constructed. Lot of visitors were using it for jogging purpose as well.

The Trail

Tall Pine Trees

You don’t get to see them back in India. I think the Indian equivalent tree to Pine tree is Ashoka tree. You almost find them everywhere in India.