S.E.A Aquarium is one of the latest additions to the attractions in Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore. It is dubbed to be the largest aquarium in South East Asia if not the world’s largest oceanarium. It boasts over 100,000 marine animals of more than 800 species in 45 million liters of water that made it the home to a majestic manta rays, enormous Goliath grouper, napoleon wrasse and other gentle giants of the sea.
This is my first visit to Singapore and would also be my first “oceanarium” experience. While I don’t have any idea what would it be like inside, I didn’t set my expectations too high but the fact that it is in Singapore, I expected it to be a descent one with respect to world standards as I had witnessed in various media.
My visit to Singapore is not mainly for leisure or some sort of vacation but for business purposes. My counterpart (project owner) in Singapore had asked me for business travel as it is deemed necessary for the current project. The trip was supposedly just for the weekdays but we decided to extend my stay for the weekend (with my own expense of course) to enjoy and experience Singapore over the weekend.
I stayed at Park View Hotel in Beach Road during the weekdays and transferred to Clementi Area over the weekend at my boss’s residence. Checked out from the Hotel early morning on Saturday after having my breakfast at the hotel and headed to Clementi immediately after.
I took the EW train bound for Joo Koon from Bugis Station going to Clementi Station (around 30 mins travel time with few stops) and heeded to Celementi Mall as it is my pick up point as agreed with my boss.
After having our quick lunch, my boss asked me where I want to go but i had no idea about the place as I was not expecting to stroll around the city in the first place, instead I asked for their recommendations.My Boss and her husband then decided to tour me to some places in Singapore starting with Sentosa.
We hailed a bus from Clementi Bus Interchange (near Clementi Mall) going to Vivo City. The travel is approximately around 45 mins to 1 hour.
From Vivo City, they asked me if I want to ride the mono rail train going to Sentosa or walk our way there. I immediately chose to walk to savor the scenery as we journey going there.
Here are some snapshots of the place along the Sentosa Boardwalk that I took as we walked for few minutes.
The Wine Company along the Sentosa Boardwalk.
There are few bazaars along the way too.
After the fun walk despite the humid atmosphere and kinda burning heat from the sun, we finally reached at the Resorts World Sentosa.
My boss’s husband immediately took pictures of the place but turns out to be my subject. 🙂
This is the scenery few meters away from the entrance.
Since it was on weekend, it was really a bliss that we had purchased the tickets ahead via their online ticketing site and saved the time of a long queue. It is also a blessing that the ticket was free ( treat courtesy from my good friend / boss).
My boss had this pose taken at the entrance to the S.E.A Aquarium.
S.E.A ticket includes admission to the maritime Experiential Museum. The museum is said to be the first and only museum to
showcase the maritime history of Asia. I was awed by thee life-sized replica of the Treasure Ship sailed by Admiral Zheng He with a massive fleet.We also experienced how to navigate through the seas using the “kamal”, an ancient Arab navigation tool.
As we roamed around I managed to have some photos taken of the displays inside.
After wandering around the museum for few minutes, we were about to experience the wrath of the sea in the Typhoon Theater. It is a sort of 4D experiential theater that showcased a 360-degree multimedia experience that takes visitors on a perilous voyage on board of a 9th-century Chinese junky. The ride was restricted to the faint-hearted person or individuals that had motion sickness.
With an important mission and laden with cargo, the ship runs into a storm. The sea roars on anger, the gloomy skies darken, lightning interminably flashes on the sky and the ship rolls, pitches, turns and finally sinks. At the end, we find ourselves in the depths of the ocean, up close with the shipwreck.
– And that was the entrance to the Aquarium.
At long last, I am about to witness and experience the marine life in its diversity, so excited to have a face to face encounter with more than 100,000 inhabitants of the aquarium. I admit that it was my first time to see up close to most of the species of marine life in there. Indeed the experience was like immersing yourself in a magical marine world through the planet’s largest window to the ocean.
Here are few of the photos that I took in S.E.A Aquarium along the journey to the marine world. I do not have any tripod brought with me and if I have one, its too difficult to setup one because the place is crowded with myriad number of visitors, so I was in a bit of struggle to at least take a descent shot with the camera hand held. (but its not that descent i guess).
They also have the world’s largest viewing panel that is (36m wide x 8.3m high). On our visit, there is some sort of activity held in front of the large viewing panel wherein the host have a nice talk about marine life.
Viewing panel
As we journey to the magical and mesmerizing world of synchronized fish, having the closer encounter to the diverse collection of marine life, our stomach craved for something to eat. Its really nice to get those fishes and grill them right? Hahaha, but no ! It can’t be.
Kidding aside, when you feel hungry while enjoying the majestic realm of marine encounter, there is a perfect place for a quick bite, the S.E.A side snacks. They offer a variety of tasty hot dogs, squid balls, pastries and refreshing beverages. We had squid balls and hot dogs for our snacks while we continue to get an up-close underwater view of the fascinating dolphins – one of the world’s favorite animal species, schools of glistening sweeper and silver bat fish, scalloped hammerhead sharks, lion fishes, schools of glistening sweeper and silver bat fish, and engulfing the magical realm that is the home of the gentle giants of the sea like leopard sharks, Goliath grouper, saw fish and the never-before-seen squadron of magnificent manta rays.
Some may say that it is just like another “Ocean park” experience or the like but for me, having the opportunity to visit this kind of attraction in S.E.A Aquarium is really a memorable one. Truly the experience is magnificent at its best!
After the S.E.A Aquarium, we got the chance to visit also the Trick Eye Museum that I will post separately. See ya!
