The National Aquarium has 16,000 animals including 660 species of fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The USS Torsk is moored next to the aquarium in the Inner Harbor.There are several exhibits in the National Aquarium. One of our favorites was the Blacktip Reef which features zebra shark, rays, blacktip reef sharks, green sea turtle, and lots of fish. This exhibit is located on level 1 but also has an underwater viewing area. As you make your way through the aquarium you can always look to the center of the building to view the reef.Other exhibits include: Maryland Mountains to sea, surviving through adaptation (featuring the Banggai Cardinalfish staying safe among the spines of a sea urchin and longsnout seahorse), living seashore, sea cliffs, kelp forests, pacific coral reef, amazon river forest, upland tropical rainforest (featuring blue poison dart frog) and Atlantic coral reef (featuring the pig nose turtle).Once you have reached the top level, you can walk down through two huge aquariums. The first is the 335,000 gallon Atlantic Coral reef with nearly 1,000 tropical fish. The second aquarium is shark alley. Shark alley is a 225,000 gallon ring-shaped aquarium housing several types of sharks including the sand tiger shark and largetooth sawfish. You could spend hours watching the sharks glide pass. Another favorite exhibit is the Jellies Invasion. This is housed in a connected building with the dolphin discovery exhibit. The Jellies Invasion exhibit features nine different species including the Pacific Sea Nettle and Japanese Sea Nettle. Fort McHenry National Monument preserves a special place in the United States’ history. Francis Scott Key saw the US flag flying over the fort after the Battle of Baltimore and it inspired him to write what became the United States’ national anthem (the “Star Spangled Banner”). The fort and on-site exhibits teach the history of the War of 1812 and the US Civil War.
You could easily spend several days exploring all that Baltimore has to offer. The Inner Harbor area alone has many attractions to explore. Let us know if you’re ready to explore.
