A visit to Manila's Ocean Park

Every year during summer, our office goes out of town for ‘teambuilding’ but it is actually just an excuse for us to get out of the city rut, leave the stresses of our daily routine tasks and together with our families visit a province to relax, have fun and enjoy the scenery for two whole days. For the past few years, we have been to San Juan-Batangas, Pagbilao-Quezon, Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, Donsol-Sorsogon for butanding-watching, Pagudpud and Ilocos region, Baguio City, Puerto Galera and so much more. These are the kinds of places that we would never be able to go to on our own and at our own expense which is why we always look forward to these outings as valuable opportunities to visit places that we want to go to (anyway it is the company that would pay for everything!)

But this year, our plans were severely hindered by the fact that our office vehicles could not anymore survive the wear and tear that we will be inflicting on it if ever we decide to take it to another far-away place. We were originally planning to go to some exotic beach/island in Romblon or visit the new Boracay of Bicol region – Caramoan. But alas we were forced to go someplace near so as not to inflict anymore damage on our ten-year old FXs. We figured that since we cannot go to a beach to swim and play with the fishes we’d just watch them inside a huge aquarium within the city limits of Manila. Thus, our office outing ended up to be a visit to the Manila Ocean Park and afterwards a short drive to a pool in Pagbilao, Quezon.

It was almost ten when we arrived at the Manila Ocean park and contrary to the reviews I have read in the web, there were only a few people milling about waiting for their turn to enter the park. Maybe its because school is out so there were less field trips going there… we only waited a bit because our group was still incomplete and it took sometime to acquire about 40 tickets (although it was already booked in advance). We finally entered after about thirty minutes of waiting. The first stage is called AGOS (Flow), so named because it featured about eight huge water tanks that contained fresh water fishes and river rays that they say came from South America. There were Giant Arapamas, considered to be the largest freshwater fish in the world. They seemed as huge as small sharks but looked tame like eels. There were also pretty Oscars, silver Arowanas, electric eels, Indonesian tigerfish, red-tail catfish, etc. The aquariums were set in a pretty cool open-air enclave complete with an artificial waterfall. The last tank in this area was a Touch pool where my kids had fun touching the starfish and gazing at the baby sharks.

The next stage was BAHURA or reefs which contained numerous small and large tanks that depict the country’s colorful coral life forms. The tanks here were indoors and quite dark so we weren’t able to get that many decent pictures since flashes were not allowed as it might disturb the fish. We saw angel fish, (nemos), longfin bannerfish, razorfish, pajama cardinal fish, double-tooth soldierfish, hawkfish, marine file snake, ribbon snakes, long-horn cowfish, seahorses, giant clams, and the crowd fave – the giant spider crab. Here it was admittedly quite hot despite the aiconditioning since there were too many people crowding around such a little space. We wish the tanks were not quite so small or even if they were they should have been a bit farther apart from each other so that the people won’t have to crowd around an area so much.

The third stage was LAOT (Fishing Ground) and we were thankfully able to breathe and move much easier because the four big tanks were placed along the sides of a wide circular enclosure with an open space and some chairs placed in the middle. This area features fishes that can be found in the deep part of the ocean and are often fished by commercial fishing vessels – snub-nose pompanos, barracudas, and others whose names I can no longer recall.

The next stage was touted to be the highlight of the entire oceanarium – the 25-meter underwater tunnel which boasts 220-degree curved acrylic walls that can rival those of the Ocean Park in Hongkong, Singapore’s Underwater world in Sentosa Park, Siam’s Ocean World in Bangkok, Thaliand and the Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia because theirs use the standard 180-degree curved tunnels. The glass tunnels afforded the park visitors a glimpse of the rich underwater world – truly an amazing experience! There were playful giant manta rays that swam close as if inviting the visitors to touch them through the glass; and all kinds of different fishes swimming around the huge tanks. It is just so bad that the tunnel seem so short… the kids thought that the entire park would encompass the tunnel. What’s even more disappointing was that the kids cannot anymore go back to the previous stages even if they wanted to because there were guides that restrict such movement. Hence, they were unable to return to those other tanks they so hurriedly gazed over in their excitement to see the underwater tunnel… too bad! At least, my daughter and I took our own sweet time with each tank because we took videos and pics of each one…he,he,he.

The last room was called the KALALIMAN (The Deep). This is where we found the sharks – again another disappointment because they were all still quite small… maybe by next year they would have a greater and fiercer collection of sharks that would be a fitting cap to the entire tour. Also, there were no dolphins, seals or turtles to be seen…they would have been a great addition to the marine park’s collection. What is good about the park, however, is that near the exit to the park there is an area that allowed actual interaction with the fishes. On one side, there was the ‘foot spa’ where numerous tiny fishes bite and feed on your foot calluses for one hundred pesos. Then there was a feeding area where one can actually feed the baby sharks and giant manta rays in the overhang tanks.

In all, the experience was generally satisfying because there were a variety of animals and encounters that the kids enjoyed and that will surely be remembered. But if one considers the actual cost of the tour (400 for adults and 350 for the kids) and considering the financial crunch that our country is currently experiencing, it is not exactly the kind of amount that I could easily fork over just to see those kinds of fishes… so I guess we should be just grateful that an opportunity like this came along.