We visited Monterey Bay Aquarium on a sunny day in late October 2024. The aquarium is located right on the Pacific Ocean in Cannery Row, Monterey, California. The museum, and the Cannery Row area have repurposed old sardine cannery buildings to create an attractive tourist area with a variety of hotels, stores and restaurants.
We were fortunate to visit on a mid-week day so crowds were relatively light. We were told by staff that the aquarium was at about 20% of its capacity on the day we visited. It is easy to imagine how crowded the aquarium must be at full capacity. Although the aquarium doesn’t have its own parking, we were able to book parking on-line in advance at a nearby parking lot right across the street.
The aquarium had recently opened its newest exhibit called “Into the Deep” featuring the largest collection of deep-sea animals in North America. We particularly enjoyed the spectacular sea jelly displays. We spent several hours at the aquarium and were able to visit all of the exhibits. We enjoyed the variety of ocean life on display that included fish, corals, crustaceans, wading birds, sea otters, and penguins. Having visited several large aquariums, the Monterey Bay Aquarium stands out to us as one of the best.
A gallery of some of our photos from the visit are below. Click on the thumbnails to view the photos.
