Exploring Manila Ocean Park

Manila Ocean Park is the only oceanarium in the Philippines. Having already visited the Underwater World in Sentosa Island, Singapore for the first time it was no longer new to me to visit such oceanarium. My visit to Manila last September 2012 brought me into exploring the wonderful Manila Ocean Park. I intended to go there just to compare between the two oceanarium. My friends told me that Manila Ocean Park is larger than Singapore Underwater World. So I had to visit Manila Ocean Park to prove them right.

Manila Ocean Park is stragetically located near the famous landmarks in Manila – Rizal Park and Quirino Grandstand. Basically if you plan to visit Rizal Park, never forget to drop by in Manila Ocean Park which is just a walking distance from Rizal Park.

Entrance to Manila Ocean Park

It was rainy when we went there. We just came from Manila Divisoria and just took a trike. If you are not sure how to get there, you can ask help from Google. Or better, take a taxi.

By just getting in the entrance, I can already say that Manila Ocean Park is more spacious than Singapore Underwater World. We walked a few distance from the entrance gate to the main hall.

Excited crowd at the main hall of Manila Ocean Park

Upon arriving at the main hall, we followed the line to getting our own entrance tickets. I recommend visiting their website first so you will know which package to choose. Out of the few packages they offer, we got their Marine Life Encounter for only PhP 500.00 – this includes entrance to the Oceanarium, Jellies – Dancing Sea Fairies and Sea Lion Show.

We got the Marine Life Encounter Ticket.

What I like about the park is how they divided the oceanarium into parts: Agos, Bahura, Laot, Buhay na Karagatan, Kalaliman, Pagi and Pating. All are in Tagalog names.

The very first thing to see in the oceanarium is Agos where they exhibit species that live in fresh waters.

Arapaima inside the aquarium.

I don’t know this type of plant but it looks great.

Alligator Gar Fish

Gold fish and koi. One of the staffs just fed these hungry carps. See the bottle he holds?

The shark embryos.

My friend Egis striked a pose before entering Bahura section of the oceanarium.

Lovely coral fishes inside the Bahura section. I do not know the name of this fish.

Laot or simply means Fishing ground.

That is me with the large aquarium on the background. I honestly don’t know the name of the fish. hehe

Give me that big smile! This big fish is pretty aware that I am taking a picture.

This is how the Laot section looks like. Each specie is put in a themed aquarium.

The main part of the oceanarium is called Buhay na Karagatan or Living Ocean. According to their website, it is Asia’s largest underwater viewing tunnel, stretching 25 meters long and curved at 220 degrees, where visitors can witness how different reef fishes interact with each other.

Buhay na Karagatan

The 220-degree curved tunnel as compared to the standard 180-degree curved tunnels seen in other Asian countries.

This is me with their diver.

The Sharks/Pating area.

The oceanarium is quite impressive for me. At least we have this kind of attraction in our country. Marine lovers or those students who are fond of marine biology should visit here.

Okay so after exploring the oceanarium, we went to another attraction called “Jellies: The Dancing Sea Fairies”.

Jelly fishes.

I guess Jelly fishes are transparent because they illuminate to the changing colors of the aquarium.

The dancing jelly fishes in green color.

Entrance to Jellies: Dancing Sea Fairies aquarium.

The Sea Lion Show started at 4:30PM and it was raining that time. Sad thing because the venue does not a have roof that protects us from the rain. They instead gave us cellophane rain coats which did not fit. We ended missing most of the Lion Show because we had to protect ourselves from the rain. We did not want to get wet.

Overall, the experience is fun.

For more information, visit Manila Ocean Park website at

http://www.manilaoceanpark.com