PHI: Manila Ocean Park

Independence Road, Manila, the Philippines

Daily: 10.00am - 8.00pm

Opened to the public in March 2008, Manila Ocean Park houses approximately 14,000 sea creatures, most of which are indigenous to Southeast Asia. It includes other attractions, such as Birds of Prey Kingdom and World of Creepy Crawlies.

As mentioned in the previous post on Hotel H2O, I went to Manila Ocean Park back in 2012. It seems that the packages have changed since then. At the point of writing, the cheapest is Deep Sea Rush 6. Priced at PHP 590.00 (~S$15.55), it includes six attractions.

I don't think those mascots are there anymore.

There was the Marine Life Encounter package that included four attractions back then.

My BFF and I started off the afternoon with the sea lion show.

Time for greetings!

Such a lucky lady!

After the show, we proceeded to the oceanarium. It's divided into seven sections, containing a total of 2,600 cubic metres of sea water from Manila Bay.

Giant arapaima!

"What are you looking at?"

Sleeping so tightly~

I'm not too sure, but I suppose the first section shown above is the Amazon River. I didn't exactly take note of the rest of the sections though.

About 20 million sea horses are sold annually as Traditional Chinese Medicine apparently.

Such oddly shaped creatures!

Big, big eyes~

Dory trying to find Nemo? :P

Unfortunately, Nemo was in a different tank.

You can learn about the developmental stages of fishes. Just something to share, I went for a research attachment in manipulating zebrafish embryos. at Singapore's A*STAR when I was a Junior College student

Let's move on to the next section.

I really don't like looking at barnacles. :/

I remember it was so hard to take a nice picture of this particular fish as it kept moving pretty fast.

"Is it time for dinner yet?" :P

As with many aquariums around the world, Manila Ocean Park features a sea tunnel, which is 55 m long.

Too shy! xD

The path brought us to an open area where we could witness the sunset.

Trails to Antarctica is the first penguin park facility in the country. We didn't get to see any penguins though as it only showed some exhibits then. The first baby penguin was born on 8 July 2014.

As of May 2017, Manila Ocean Park has successfully hatched 13 baby penguins.

Imagine encountering such a huge penguin now!

Do you like soft toys?

Melon's friends!

Jellies Exhibit showcases quite a few species of the dancing sea fairies that have been around for millions of years.

Black and white: a game of Othello, anyone? :P

That looks like an alien, no?

Alien invasion!

This species looks pretty menacing.

Floating gracefully~

It felt as if I was inside a secret underground laboratory.

Perhaps it's been more than 15 years since I last went for a merry-go-round.

Did you know that Manila Ocean Park is owned by China Oceanis Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of China Oceanis Inc., which is a Singaporean-registered firm?