Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

Nicole and I headed to Hakkeijima Island on the Seaside line a couple weekends ago to check out the roller coasters and aquariums near Yokohama. Well, we got a late start so we decided to only check out the 3 aquariums. For 2700 yen you could get a combo ticket to see all 3. Next time we go back we'll have to try out the rides.

The Aqua Museum aquarium was fantastic. It not only had a dolphin and whale show, but it had animals other than fish. They had pengiuns, seals, walruses and polar bears too. I also love that in Japanese, you call all animals -san. So a pengiun is pronounced pengi-san which means Mr. Pengiun. How cute is that? We caught the polar bears when they were very active and they would jump in to the water, wrestle eachother and then do it again. It was so neat to watch!

This aquarium also had a huge tank with sharks and the biggest school of fish I've ever seen.

After the Aqua Museum we headed over to the Fureai Lagoon area. If my nephew were visiting or I had young children, I would definitely take them here! The Lagoon's mission was to give visitors the closest experience to the animals. Which meant you could pet, touch and feed dolphins, beluga whales and many other sea creatures.

There were only a few opportunities each day to touch the animals so Nicole and I were sure to get in line for "Friendly Time" as the schedule called it. They gave a bunch of warnings and instructions in Japanese, but all we ever understood was "one touch". Got it. Take your turn and get out of the way!

There was one area of the lagoon where kids could take off their shoes and walk through the "tide pools" and touch a star fish and feel sea cucumbers. Very interactive for children! Fun for Nicole and I too. :) Too bad many of the star fish were minus a leg or too despite the signs that said not to pick them up.

Pengi-san playing soccer! Too cute! We didn't know what they rest of the show was about or what he was saying, but it didn't matter. They were so cute! The goalkeeper is not a real penguin though. :)

Hakkeijima island has a lot to offer and only takes about 65-75 minutes by train. I definitely recommend a trip there!