2008 Official Explorer
Online Journal

On April 27th, Monterey Bay Aquarium celebrated Día Del Niño, or ‘Day Of The Child’! Día Del Niño celebrated children and the enormous power they hold in their hands. Because it was their day, children under 12 were admitted free. Día Del Niño featured splendid family-oriented, educational events. There was so much going on at the event I didn’t get to see it all but I’ll tell you about as much as I can.

First, there were two great presentations including “Working With White Sharks” presented by Associate Curator Manny Ezcurra and “Seahorse Magic”. Both were presented in English and Spanish. El Teatro Campesino was also there presenting, Basta Basura (or Enough Trash), a great musical that teaches us about the dangers of throwing garbage into the ocean.

Next, there was lively music and infectious dance wherever I went. There was a mariachi performance by Mariachi California De Javier Vargas and an incredible harpist named William Faulkner. There were also dancers from Águila Real and although I have never thought of myself as a dancer, even I was moving to the music at this event!

There were also hands-on activities in the craft room.Here people made a traditional Mexican toy called a Boleros Cup. A Boleros Cup is a cup - usually wooden, although ours were paper- with a little ball or figurine attached to it with a string. The object of the game is to get the little ball into the cup. Sounds easy, right? I thought so too, until I tried it. It’s really is hard! But the paper cones that everyone decorated were gorgeous! There were so many bright colors and unique designs! I had a lot of fun there, but I have to admit I had just as much fun at the Prize Wheel.

The Prize Wheel is a lot like the Wheel of Fortune, except there is no letter- guessing. Someone would spin the huge wheel on a table. Then, depending on what color the spinner it landed on, the person spinning would get one of four prizes. The prizes were; a rubber otter, four tickets for the Aquarium, a Wild About Otters poster, or some fantastic stickers. The prize wheel was so cool! Sometimes, all of the people would start chanting the name of the prize they wanted! It seemed all of the adults wanted tickets, but the most popular prize among the children was the rubber otter. And when the person won the item they wanted, everyone whooped and hollered with excitement. I had fun making prize announcements as interesting and varied as I could.

Día Del Niño was groovy and the best news is that more events like this one are planned for the future. Mark your calendar for October 12th so you can come party at Fiesta Del Mar! This event celebrates the Latin American culture and rejoices in our magnificent and mysterious seas. The highlight of the day will be the Heroe del Medio Ambiente (Hero of the Environment) award ceremony. Like Día Del Niño, children 12 and under will be admitted all day for free! I will definitely see you there!

Hi, I'm Simon Willig. I’m 12 years old and currently live in Redwood City, California. I love the oceans and all that lives in them. I'm a 2008 Official Explorer for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Over the next several months I hope to get you more interested in the oceans through the Sea Notes blog.

Right now I'm doing simple things like using compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycling and eating sustainable seafood (to learn more download the Seafood Watch pocket guides). These are all easy things that you can do to conserve the oceans.

I also like working with the organization Save the Bay at the Palo Alto Baylands reserve. (I’ll tell you more, later; keep reading.) I’ve been working with my friend Ayla (2007 Official Explorer) to create a PowerPoint presentation and assembly kit called "Save Our Seas" (S.O.S.) that can be presented at schools in your area. Come to and see Ayla and me present S.O.S, and find out how you can present it, too.

As an Official Explorer, I am excited about learning all I can from the aquarists (scientists who work at the Aquarium doing research and taking care of the animals). I also love educating the public on how to save the oceans and how to eat sustainable seafood by passing out Seafood Watch pocket guides.

February 23-24 was Shark Days at the Aquarium, my first event as an Official Explorer. I was both nervous and excited before the event.

First, we had the passing of the torch (or in this case the vest) ceremony from the 2007 Explorers. We talked about what we were looking forward to as an Official Explorer (which is basically everything). Right after getting the vest, I put it on and got down to business. I had a great time working at the event booth with 2007 explorers Ayla, Sierra and Eduardo, and 2008 explorer Alexa. We had fun helping each other figure out the answers to the Sharks and Rays activity booklet, taking turns helping Aquarium visitors find their way around, and discussing our favorite exhibits.

I had great fun at the sevengill shark feeding where divers held pieces of fish on poles. Sharks swam by and bit off the fish. It was awesome to see these huge sharks prey like they would in the wild. Later, I went with Ayla, Sierra and Alexa to Jellies: Living art and Wild About Otters to pass out Seafood Watch cards and learn more about jellies and freshwater otters.

A couple weekends later I found myself in the new exhibit Splash Zone staring at a wall of eel burrows. Among these strange, but beautiful snakelike fish were snowflake morays, honeycomb morays, white mouth morays and zebra morays. I also had a chance to see leaping blennies (cute little grey fish that actually do jump onto low rocks), and leafy sea dragons (a close but cooler relative to seahorses that camouflages amazingly well by having leaflike green appendages). I saw cuttlefish (a cousin to squid and octopus that, like its relatives, can change its skin to thousands of different colors) and a personal favorite: nudibranchs, which are brightly colored sea slugs that have stinging tentacles.

The next weekend I went to the Palo Alto Baylands with my mom and the organization Save The Bay. I helped plant native vegetation such as common yarrow and common aster to help the indigenous plant population recover and grow. I had a blast learning more about the San Francisco Baylands and their history while helping conserve the oceans.

Stay tuned to learn more about Explorer activities in my next entry. Until then (and always), this is Simon saying: THINK OCEAN!