National Geographic’s Ocean Wonders at S.E.A Aquarium

[ We are running a Tickets Giveaway till 30Mar 2018, Facebook link ]

No more shark fin’s soup. Our family pledged that sharks should be admired in their natural environment, and not served up in bowls!

I visited S.E.A Aquarium with Boon Xin recently, and it was another opportunity to explore Marine conservation with the kids.

Hey President Trump, even my 9 years old girl knows about the impact brought by climate change. Pollution, excess harvesting are destroying our ecosystem and depleting the fish stocks.

Many animals will disappear from the wild in this generation. Not extinct yet, but it means the only place to see a tiger or whale shark might be in zoo or aquarium! So Sad.

From now till 20 May, Resorts World Sentosa is hosting the first ever National Geographic Ocean Wonders event featuring the Ocean Record Breakers exhibition, Marine Photography Adventure and the National Geographic Ocean Exploration Children’s Workshop.

The Maritime Experiential Museum™ is reopen after an extensive revamp.

We followed some of the pioneer explorers and visited ancient Singapore. When Singapore was still a fishing village, the time before Sang Nila Utama, when merchants (and pirates too) used to ply the sea around Singapore.

The pioneer explorers

Braving treacherous sea conditions, ships were the only means of transport for goods and human.  We could traced how spices were transferred from Asia to Europe, or Gold from Middle east to Asia. Cultures were exported via sea route too.

Trade, barter, economics, livelihood. Where the ships go, ports flourished and cities bloomed. This was the Maritime Silk Route.

Our girl understood more about the adventures and perils of an adventurer, and we had fun with the workshops.

 

Muscat was berthed outside last time, this boat was constructed with old workmanship and sailed all the way from Oman. Sailors used traditional navigational aids, no GPS or satellite back then 🙂

Photo below, can you guess where is the Head (aka loo)?

 

Left Muscat, and right Chinese Junk

Our junior explorers pickup some life skills in the workshop. We need to understand North East South West before we can start navigating.

Seamanship requires us to be resourceful and adaptable. The Ocean is a harsh environment and rope skills secured our goods and ourselves.

 

Kids had an opportunity to craft their own yacht, or sampan. Just make sure your boat can float 🙂

With all the skills they pick up, we were ready to explore the Marine Silk Road on a Chinese Junk. However, we did not expect Typhoon to be so devastating!

The 4D experience was supposed to allow us to follow China’s emissary to somewhere in the Middle East… (fast forward) the crew encountered a Typhoon and our Chinese Junk became a wreck.

In another corner, we noticed “Noah’s Ark”  (the huge wall of giraffe, elephants etc) has been transformed into a pirate cove.

The second part of our exploration was the exploration of S.E.A. Aquarium. The highlight was S.E.A Aquarium’s newest resident, the sand tiger shark.

Kids are invited to go on a photography adventure and take part in an Ocean conservation mission.

Boon Xin is looking out for her Sand Tiger Shark.

Mr Bala told us Sand Tiger Sharks are harmless to humans, but the rows of menacing teeth told us otherwise :p

S.E.A Aquarium
S.E.A Aquarium

Save our Oceans! Protect the Marine Animals.

Beautiful corals. I shared with Xin that Great Barrier Reef (Queensland Australia) is the largest living structure, and the only one which can be spotted from Space! Unfortunately, coral bleaching is threatening to wipe out the reefs, and a vast habitat for organisms 🙁

  

 

Chocolate Chip Sea star 🙂

I hope the kids will have a better appreciation of our ecosystem, and we can all play a part to conserve our Ocean.

No more Shark Fins! Sharks are more graceful when they swim, not in a bowl.

Some of the featured animals (and experiments) from National Geographic and S.E.A Aquarium.

How can the cute colourful frogs be poisonous?

I shared with the girl that Nature has a unique way to shout “Don’t eat me!”. Leave the most colourful and brightest animals alone.

 

We need to talk about Recycling in the same wave as Conservation, they goes hand in hand.  We are dumping too much plastics and by-products into the ocean. All these rubbish follow the currents and end up somewhere.

Marine animals which mistake plastic for food choke their stomachs and die a miserable (and suffocating) death.

Ocean Record Breakers exhibition, the name is self-explanatory.

We saw some of the monsters, and all are still living in our oceans. I would recommend the kids to stay clear of the Giant squids. They are sperm whales’ favourite snacks, and not the delicious version we see skewed at Old Chang Kee.

Wow, 18m squid is longer than our 11m buses!

I hope future generation will have an opportunity to see the majestic Orcas, Mola (sunfish) and whale sharks in the wild, not in aquariums.

The other fishes in S.E.A Aquarium does look cuter. But I told Xin puffer fish are actually voracious hunter, they will tear their preys apart!
So much for fugu.  

You can take part in a photo contest too, simply submit one of the featured animals in S.E.A Aquarium to Instagram (public profile). Tag @rwsentosa and #rwsoceanwonders And you might be one of the lucky winners every month 🙂

I showed the kids additional videos on how we humans are damaging the Ocean.
-Trawler and dredging basically scoops everything  off the seafloor, there  must be a more sustainable way of harvesting.
-Plastic Ocean!

Video (YouTube link) : Sea Aquarium, Conservation

Thank you for the education experience, S.E.A Aquarium, I hope my kids will appreciate Mother Earth’s fragile ecosystem more.  I hope they play a part to conserve our  ecosystem and marine habitat for future generations.

Workshop and Ticket details are available at this link http://bit.ly/SEAANatGeoOceanWonders , read RWS’s review too.
Do follow RWS website and Facebook for latest updates.

Spooky SEAs at Sea Aquarium

[ Media invite and Tickets giveaway ]

Spooky SEAs is brewing under the oceans at SEA Aquarium.
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SEA Aquarium has always been a favourite haunt and we know the usual suspects.
I am referring to the sharks and rays, not the kids.
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The urchins and the moray eels, we wonder why the urchins never prick the fish?
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Cute Axolotl, read about their pre-historic background here Sea Monsters.
The black one resembles toothless!
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Told Boon Kang whaleshark is not a whale but a shark. Although it can reach 10m and weighs 20 tonnes easily, this gentle shark is harmless. I invited Boon Kang to snorkel with whalesharks if opportunity arises.
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Big fish tank (Open Ocean), watching the Mantas or grouper glides across, we sometimes wonder whether this inhabitants are eyeballing us humans. Time passed easily when we are seated infront of the Ocean.

Therapeutic.
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SEA Aquarium added some skeletons to remind us that Halloween is around the corner.
Some bones are in fish tanks, others around dining table.
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Spooky SEAs pirates and “witches”. Not scary, cause all of them so friendly 🙂
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A lot of activities to entertain the kids, puzzles, treasure hunts, and of course the promised loot of “sweets and kit-kats”. Who is afraid of skeletons 🙂
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Sea Aquarium spooky sea
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We see tombs and pumkins at strategic spots too.
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Kids have not seen so many pumpkins in one place before. Even the resident stingray seems to be fighting over pumpkin possession.
Sea Aquarium Halloween

Divers performing pumpkin artwork.
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Spotted a cute vampire stingray, it is not scary at all.
Spooky SEAs

Good news for SEA Aquarium Fans!

1) From now till 31st Oct, win a staycation at Hard Rock Hotel, join “Spooky Seas Photo” Contest.

In summary :
Step 1: Hunt for skeletons at S.E.A. Aquarium
Step 2: Take 3 photos of the skeletons including one selfie
Step 3: All 3 photos are to be submitted to digital@rwsentosa.com, together with:

(i) Full Name
(ii) Identity Card or Passport Number
(iii) Contact Number

RWS SEA Aquarium spooky SEA

2) Thanks to SEA Aquarium, we have three pairs of tickets to giveaway.

1. Contest is on our Fanpage and Blog, but you can leave your comment on either platform
2. Fans must first LIKE SengkangBabies and Resorts World at Sentosa Fanpage.
3. Do indicate who you would like to bring along to SEA Aquarium and why.
4. Leave your name and email on our Fanpage (or you can message email address to us)
SEA Aquarium contest

5. Share this page (refer step 4) on your Facebook Wall and tag @SengkangBabiesBlog
(so that we know you are participating)

6. If you are leaving comments on our blog, no additional step is needed.
*7. If you leave comments (can be identical comments) on both Blog and Fanpage, you will get one extra chance. (Do highlight to me)

8. Contest ends 16 Oct 10pm, and three winners will be randomly picked

Additional T&C:
– Winners who fail to respond within 48hours will be disqualified
– This contest is only opened to Singaporeans and PR

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Our SEA Aquarium experiences are listed on this link, and photos are uploaded on our Fanpage album.
Spooky SEAs runs until 15th Nov.