Correction appended
Kina Bell really wants a fish, and dipping her dead-fish-filled hands into a pool swimming with sharks and manta rays made her want one even more.
"I really, really want a fish now," said the 5-year-old looking at up at her mom. She'll have to settle for a membership to the Portland Aquarium, where the Bell family and hundreds more flooded Monday for a sneak peek of the new aquarium.
The for-profit aquarium south of Milwaukie on McLoughlin Boulevard opens to the public on Saturday, five months after two Idaho brothers announced they were eyeing the old Black Angus Steakhouse for an educational aquarium geared toward children. Ammon and Vince Covino opened the Idaho Aquarium in Boise a year ago with the same idea of having exhibits that let kids get their hands wet.
Well, their hands and probably their whole upper body, Ammon Covino said. "We definitely suggest bringing an extra shirt," he said with a laugh.
Covino said the aquarium's 12 hands-on exhibits, which include hammerhead and bamboo sharks, manta rays, starfish and more, are unprecedented in the aquarium world. Covino recently visited the Miami Seaquarium and said there were just two hands-on exhibits, and one of those was swimming with the dolphins at a price tag of $100.
Portland Aquarium
Address
:
Hours
: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily
Admission
: Free under age of 2; $4.95 for ages 2-5; $8.95 for ages 6-11; $10.95 ages 12 and older; $9.95 for seniors and military
Website
:
Phone
: 503-303-4721
The rays and sharks exhibit and a netted space with lorikeets where visitors can feed the nectar-loving birds, are the new 11,000-square-foot aquarium's standout attractions, Covino said. While submerging your hands in a shark-filled pool sounds inherently dangerous, Covino said there's no need to worry since most of the sharks are babies without teeth. The sharks with teeth have ones so small it's not a threat, he said.
Also, don't be surprised if some animals come to you. Aquarium employees walked around with a python, parrots and an iguana on Monday.
If you're more inclined to press your face to some glass, there are options for that, too, with exhibits for an octopus and numerous jelly fish. This spring, the aquarium will add puffins and river otters.
Covino credited Monday's big turnout, when a line curled through the parking lot, to an offer of annual memberships at a 50 percent discount in the months leading up to the opening. It also helped that the opening coincided with the holiday season, he said, so people bought memberships as Christmas gifts. Joseph Bell , Kina Bell's dad, said his family used to have an Oregon Zoo membership, but it was difficult to enjoy the zoo when the weather was bad. "Now, no matter what the weather is like, we can come here." It might also result in fewer trips to the coast, where the Forest Grove family often goes to explore tide pools. The aquarium offers a similar experience, he said, without the drive.
Before 5-year-old Kina and her 8-year-old brother Connor stepped up to feed the sharks and stingrays, Joseph Bell knelt down next to them, reading to the instructions on a TV screen above the pool that showed how to best feed the animals. Neither of the siblings was successful in getting the animals to eat straight from their hand, but they enjoyed it nonetheless.
"The interaction is great knowledge for them," Joseph Bell said. "It's not just looking at a tank or looking from afar."
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This article reflects a correction published Saturday, Dec. 15:
Kina Bell's name was spelled incorrectly in a Metro story in Thursday's (Dec. 13) newspaper.