Had a great day.
I met up with Jeff (Goldenmean) and Alonzo at the Academy of Science in Goldengate Park in San Francisco. Turns out we both saw the same Discovery channel special on it. lol
They have the deepest coral reef display on the planet apparently. 25 feet!
And it has 212,000 gallons of salty goodness!



The entire building it designed to be extremely eco friendly and super green. Solar panels, fully planted roof, natural sunlight for the reef supplemented with metal halides.





There was a Northern California reef exhibit that was spectacular! I always thought it would be cool to do a regional coldwater tank, but always thought it would be colorless and bland. I was wrong.



In addition to the fishy stuff, there was a rainforest enclosure that was a huge acrylic sphere (3 stories tall) that you could walk a spiral staircase up to the top floor. Tropical birds & butterflies flying everywhere, giant FW fish swimming in the pool at the bottom, and informational exhibits on every floor.





Unfortunately we didn't get a group shot. lol We were spending so much time talking and pointing and ooohhhhing and ahhhhhing.
Alonzo had a real camera so hopefully he got some better shots than I did with my cell phone.

We then ate a really late lunch at the warf with a view of the bay bride (not the golden gate bridge) And I had a fabulous time. Great pair of guys there.
It's funny because it didn't feel like we were meeting for the first time.
I can hang with those guys anytime.

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Thank You.
The management. lol

Enter the land of the vikings. If ye' be not scared....
http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/

Thats really Great! glad you got time out to meet up, and good to see you again so soon Vic lol

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You just walked into Mother Nature's Thunderdome, friend. And in this analogy, you're not Max; you're the dead retard.

What a great trip. Next time I'm in San Fran I'm definatly going to visit this fantastic exhibit.
Diane:

It was really a great time. Some of the displays seemed out of place, like the iguana's down with the fish or the rattlesnakes next to the alligator, but many of the displays were by region, not necessarily by what I wanted to see.

I saw this amazing flame urchin. This picture just does not do it justice. It was bright purple with flourescent red.



Here is a picture with the diver and narrator for scale.
The triggers are around 12 inches. And there was almost every kind of fish imagineable. Not a lot of angels, but some. They even had a small view port to watch the garden eels. I saw tangs of all sorts, clowns, damsels, yellowheaded gobies, flame angels, anthias galore, and so on and so on.
My favorite were the bright purple niger triggers. They called them orange fanged? or red toothed? I don't remember.



Some great freshwater displays.
Angel fish and piranha.



I don't think any of us got a good photo of the leafy seadragons. They had at least 2 kinds that I could make out.

I don't know if I posted this one. It's off the rainforest pond from the underwater viewing port.

__________________
If I put LOL at the end of my post you are not allowed by law to be offended.
Thank You.
The management. lol

Enter the land of the vikings. If ye' be not scared....
http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/

Looks like a great day!

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The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
~albert einstein~

Awesome pics Vic!! And what do you mean no group shot??!!

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A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. ~ Albert Einstein

An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex. ~ Aldous Huxley..shssh! shes still looking!

Victor the Red Toothed is the Niger Trigger, they are one of my favorites and Im still thinking 5 of them for the new tank, the teeth go red when they are adult and are considered a reef safe fish, multiples of the same size with enough caves can be together, then I think about the Blue Throats? hmmm

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You just walked into Mother Nature's Thunderdome, friend. And in this analogy, you're not Max; you're the dead retard.

The diver did also call it the Niger Trigger also called the red tooth or the orange tooth. Sas seem to know more about it.

We too had a great day. It was great meeting Vic and he is right it was not as if this was the first time we had meet. Thank Vic for driving to SF to see us.
The California Acedemy of Science is truely an amazing place. We did get lots of pics and I'll post lots of them when we get home. We are taking the red eye home tonight so
I will try to get you all some photos Monday afternoon.

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Btw the fish depicted in the Refugium logo on the top of the page appears to be a Niger Trigger

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correctomundo! used one as a model lol

__________________
You just walked into Mother Nature's Thunderdome, friend. And in this analogy, you're not Max; you're the dead retard.