When we were in Oregon, we went to the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. It is fun, interactive, and educational. We went there on a field trip during home school. The main exhibit there is an octopus. They had only had him in the tank for a few days when we got there (they had recently released the previous octopus). They got this new octopus from a fisherman who found the octopus on his fishing line. He was worried it might be hurt so he took it to the science center. They only keep each octopus a few months and then release them back into the wild.
We got there in the early morning just after the octopus and starfish got their first feeding. A starfish happened to get a piece of fish, a piece of fish that the octopus wanted. This is a picture of what happened next.
This is a more zoomed out picture. If you look towards the bottom you can see another starfish that wants the fish also.
After the octopus tank we decided to move on to the fun interactive exhibits. There was a whole section on wave experiments right next to the touch tank. There, you can see erosion in action and test the strength of Lego houses that you can build!
Is your house strong enough to withstand a tsunami? Find out here. After reading about different materials, (the Lego brick's color represents a different material and they are actually accurate! The Legos that represent the stronger materials are actually stronger than the weaker Lego bricks that represent the weaker materials) you can test your house building skills. You can set the wave maker to normal waves, or...A TSUNAMI!!!!!!! I have only seen one house survive the tsunami! One!
After you leave the wave exhibits, you will find a bunch of other exhibits on tons of different topics!
There are also lots of fish tanks with helpful signs naming the fish and describing them(as you can see in the left of the picture).
Here is another helpful poster full of facts about the environment and different animals.
A sea cucumber in the touch tank
The live octocam website.
This is what we first saw when we looked into the tank.
The sun star finally got there for a piece action (or the fish).
After laughing for awhile and watching as the octopus stole the piece of fish, and then watching him check the other starfish for uneaten food, (that's a fast learner if you ask me) we headed over to the touch tanks.
There, we were able to touch starfish, sea cucumbers, and anemones, among other things.
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| The erosion exhibit where you can test a before and after affect of erosion after using different ways to protect the beach. |
Me,
my mom,
and my brother, all liked the Lego house building exhibit
Basically, a before and after effect of the tsunami wave test exhibit
There are signs everywhere with info and cool facts everywhere.
The entrance to the other half of the marine science center
That's a big exhibit!
They have fish tanks that totally make me jealous!
When we first got here that muscle was closed and was intact. Now...not so much.
They also have invader or not invader exhibits. This crab is an invader!
A sign that describes three types of fish and fun facts about them.
An exhibit on Hypoxia in the ocean
An interesting Tube Worm exhibit. Wouldn't want those eating me from the inside out.
My Grandma got these pictures while we were there.
She and my Grandpa are professional photographers.
You can check out their website at...
If you look closely, you can almost see the beak of the octopus.
"I'm watching you."
Star Pile!!!!!!!
Wow
A stunning picture of a sea anemone.
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Even though we have only been here once, it was still a fun educational and amazing experience. Next time we come to Oregon we will definitely be coming here again!
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