Review: Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto Canada

I haven’t been to an aquarium since I was a little kid, so I was expecting it to be on the boring side, with just a few large tanks. I was so wrong! The first thing I saw was “Waters of the World” which  had a tall thin saltwater tank WITHIN a short wide freshwater tank. This second tank was a little shorter than I was, and I could have easily put my hand in. So it was easy to see between the two tanks. I was so enthralled that I completely forgot to take photos.

Next I walked to a large cylinder that contained hundreds of silver fish, swimming round and round in a school. It was amazing to watch, and if you came up to close the fish would bunch together for protection before quickly realizing they were safe. I stood mesmerized for a long time as this exhibit. I’ve snorkeled a lot and have swam through schools of fish, but they were always on the defensive running from me. So to see schooling fish that were at ease was a nice change.

I then moved into the Canadian Waters section of the Aquarium. If you go look for the informational TVs that switch out what animal it is explaining, as there were many great facts and information. There are so many interesting things in the first section, from huge 75+ year old lobsters to massive king crab (and I’ve had a hankering for them ever since!)

But once I walked over and saw an amazingly large octopus that was actively moving around its double enclosure (it had a “bridge” to get from one tank to another) I remembered I could take photos! So I stayed for a while watching the intelligent animal move back and forth. This entire section was dark, as if to simulate night. I felt bad for the octopus as other people were taking photos with the flash on…and you could see the octopus move around to get away from the flashing light. :( I really don’t get why people were doing that. There was plenty of blue light to get decent photos… and using flash near large glass always results in image flares.

After moving on, I could see a 3 story tall enclosure! Its called “Pacific Kelp” and you can walk around it in 180 degrees from the top to the bottom. Waves are simulated and huge synthetic kelp is home to over 27 species. It was nice to see which fish lived at the different layers.

As I wandered down, in the opposite walls there were beautiful exhibits on starfish, sea urchin, and colorful anemones. One sea urchin was attached directly to the glass, so you could see its underside. I must have stayed over 20 minutes just watching that thing. I’ve seen so many sea urchins while snorkeling, but its so easy to forget those spiky dangers are alive. But here I could see each little pin moving back and froth across the glass. I couldn’t tell if it was looking for food or just moving where it was suctioned to.

After walking through I was convinced that the aquarium was almost over. It felt like I had spent a few wonderful hours already in the aquarium, but I had to remind myself I hadn’t seen any sharks yet, and my ticket was called “Sharks After Dark” for a reason. So I pressed on.

Next I spied a wide open viewing area that looked onto Rainbow Reef. While the earlier fish were interesting to see from an academic standard (as in…not very colourful and sometimes ugly) this reef was more of what I was use to. I watched as many tropical fish darted in between large coral. Huge angelfish, queen trigger fish, blue and yellow tangs played at the left end of the tank. Again I was amazed at being so close to fish I had chased when snorkeling. And again I was transfixed for a prolonged period at difference parts of the tank just watching. I ended up finding a seating area, and sat down, watching as life moved about. I found out later there were over 100 species of fish in this tank alone! And I was delighted to see some yellow tail damselfish, the juvenile is one of my favorites, with its almost luminescent blue spots.

But I realized that it was starting to get late, and I still had yet to see sharks so there must be more to see. I was however surprised to see a moving walkway and a tunnel right through an exhibit called “Dangerous Lagoon”.

As I looked up, I could see a sea turtle swimming directly above me. The ceiling far above was painted to look like a sky and the lighting seemed like it was early twilight, so it looked like the sea turtle and other fish were flying in the sky.

As I rounded the bend I saw my first shark, a yellow sand tiger shark lazily resting in the sand. I also started seeing schools of other reef fish. I saw signs for Sergeant Majors…my favorite fish (mainly because they remind me of Flounder from the litter mermaid) but alas…never saw them. But what I did see was a massive 7 foot long sawfish that was laying directly across the tunnel. As I turned a bend I could see just how large this tank was…well more I couldn’t see edges or the ends, that is how large it was! It is a 2.9 million liter tank with a 315 foot long tunnel that winds through it.

The moving walkway moved me past flowing stingrays, a beautiful eagle ray, and many, many sharks. I started walking backwards through the exhibit as there was still so much to see. Sharks would glide right over the tunnel, their toothy grins inches away. I was glad I was not here at a busy time, as for most of my visit there were just a handful of people around me.

But people started bunching up at Dangerous Lagoon mainly because people were trying to take “Shark Selfies”. After bemusedly watching them for a bit I decided “What the heck, why not do one myself?” Its not every day you can do a selfie with a shark! So I too picked a spot and waited for a shark to come gliding towards me. It took a few tries to time it just right, but thankfully the sharks obliged us all. It really was a stunning experience.

Halfway through the tank, there is a dark area with massive groupers. Now I’ve swam with mostly harmless nurse and reef sharks in Belize and the USVI. But there are two animals that scare me. Barracudas (which thankfully I’ve not seen any large ones while out) and goliath groupers. I was in St. John USVI and was snorkeling a rocky outcropping just off the beach of where we were staying. It was my first time snorkeling in years, and my first time with good equipment and an underwater camera, so of course I was snap happy. I was taking huge breaths and free diving down to get pictures of the sea life when I could see a ledge. I came up to take a huge breath of air so I could swim further and see what was under the ledge. BIG MISTAKE. What I saw still haunts me. It was a massive man sized giant grouper. And it was angry with me and so came out from under the ledge a bit. I was frightened so much that I swam back and stayed away from ledges after that. (Random video of a Goliath Grouper attacking a spear fisher. The fear is real!) I also saw a massive grouper in Belize right next to our anchor in Belize but I gave it a wide berth. So when I saw a separate section with huge groupers I had to stop. I watched these huge giant creatures swim about in their dark caverns. I know they are less dangerous than other creatures, but their weirdly huge size is discomforting.

After a few minutes I moved onto another window that looked onto many small stingrays. I could see it was another 2-3 story tank, called Ray Bay. There were also other viewing windows throughout the rest of the aquarium. A few more bends and I came out to a small area called “Shark Reef”, this is a crawl through tunnel, and I just wasn’t in the mood to crawl through it. I could see smaller sharks within this area.

Then I burst into the light of the Discovery Center. This is the midway point of the Aquarium where you’ll find the cafe and bathrooms. There were also some nice interactive exhibits for children, but at this late in the night were exclusively taken over by adults crawling around. First I ducked into a yellow submarine which had different interactive parts. Then I crawled into the back where it comes up into a submarine bubble within the Dangerous Lagoon enclosure. The bubble was a little disorienting and so I quickly crawled back out. To my right was a play area, with various tanks that you could crawl under and stand in the center of it, seeing fish in 360 degrees. One of those pop up areas featured small puffer fish, the other “Nemo & Dory” fish.

In the center of this area you can also pet horseshoe crabs. These are essentially living fossils and were interesting to touch. There also was an interactive area where you could play with water currents in a multi-teared play area to get a boat down the “river”. After a nice break I continued onward.

The next area is simply called “The Gallery” and features numerous smaller exhibits of creatures. This featured “dangerous” creatures like electric eels, poisonous fish, and pirañas. But it also had some of the most beautiful sea horses, cuttlefish, and Leafy Sea Dragons! I spent a long time just watching the tiny creatures slowly move about. Next I moved onto displays and tanks for various types of smaller predators, all mostly shark like.

I was still expecting the visit to be over, so when I turned into the next area, I felt like I had left for outer space! I was in the “Planet of the Jellies”. This section felt a bit psychedelic as the translucent jellies would let in the light, and their exhibits often changed colors. I had most of this area to myself and stood transfixed as these silent creatures moved about.

After leaving the various jellyfish exhibits you will come out to a rainbow Doctor Seuss area which is actually the exposed life support system. As you make your way up you have an opportunity to take and purchase a green screen photo. I didn’t stop to look what your photo options were. Then you’ll have the opportunity to pet a bamboo shark before seeing the top of Ray Bay, which is called the Shoreline Gallery. If you have long arms, you can lean over and pet the stingrays that come to the top of the tank. Finally you’ll walk through the gift shop on your way out.

If you go:

It is located at 288 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto, ON, M5V 3L9
Hours change depending on the day, check the schedule here, and I recommend evening hours as it is less crowded.
Get tickets here. Pricing depends on the type and time of the ticket entry.
Allow yourself 2-3 hours to see everything.
And don’t forget to bring a camera!

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