Week three - second half Océanopolis

Olivia gets up close with a crab.

Saturday was the optional excursion to Océanapolis, the largest aquarium in France. 18 of our 23 stagiaires came on the excursion. The others spent time with their French families (like Chloé, who spent the weekend on a boat with her family; I’m SO jealous!).

Océanapolis is divided into biomes; Tropical, Arctic, Bretagne and the Sentier des Loutres (the path of the otters). We explored them all for over two hours. It is such a fascinating place. (If I were on my own, I’d spend four hours there, reading each plaque and display.) The seals, otters and the penguins were the biggest hits among our students. 

Who always knows where the camera is?

Some of us got to see feeding time with the penguins. It was really interesting. They feed the big ones first, then the little ones. If the big ones intrude on the little ones, the workers push them into the water. It becomes a game for the penguins.

It’s really hard to stay together as a group since different things interest different people. So don’t fret if your student pictured. It just means that neither I nor Noëmie caught up with them.

I could get a picture of Tara or the otters, but not both.

I think the otters pleased Sophia and Alisa.

There are shark displays, fish displays, interactive pools with fish, jellyfish, coral and just about anything else you can imagine. This is always a student favorite.

In the end, some students went to a café for lunch, others went in search of a Kebab (which is different than what you might think). Several students were later to head to the summer festival at Guipavas with their families and other stagiaires.

They were pretty darned cute. The otters, I mean.

 

There was a display to show just how cold the ice was for the seals,
I think Alisa was surprised.

This may be the best picture I have created this summer.

Maria communing with the fish.

Le gang de cinq.

It was a great end to a very busy week. Week four: le bowling!