Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans
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Information on the New Orleans Aquarium
The Aquarium of the Americas has now re-opened after Hurricane Katrina, and while they don't have all their exhibits back up, it is pretty much functioning at a normal level. Many of the fish died in the aftermath of Katrina because there wasn't any power for the oxygen pumps to their tanks (see article here). However, the Audubon Society has gotten things up and running again and you can now go visit to see it again.
The outside of the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans.
The aquarium is in a nice, modern building with lots of sculptures surrounding it and some places to sit and enjoy a view of the Mississippi River outside. It costs about $16 for a ticket, which is good for the entire season, or you can pay $22 and be able to go to both the aquarium and the zoo. They have a boat which will take you back and forth - the zoo is across the river. But, however, you have to buy tickets for that as well.
They've got a pretty full line-up of fish now, a number of different tanks and exhibits, and a little "petting zoo" thing for fish you can touch (I passed). There's a rainforest area with South American fish, macaws, and lots of plants and mist everywhere, and a shark tank with some bleachers out front where you can sit down and view them. You can probably spend a couple of hours going through everything. They have an IMAX theater next door (you have to buy separate tickets) that shows several fish / coral related features.
They try to get you to eat at the Burger King, which is inside the aquarium, but I recommend walking over to the Riverwalk which is only a few blocks away. There are much better restaurants there open in the afternoon - there is a little Mexican / Fajita place in the main food court there that I like, and some other stuff like sushi and sandwiches.
A view of the New Orleans Aquarium from the Mississippi River edge.
The front of the Aquarium.
Another view of the front of the New Orleans Aquarium.
A booth to get tickets to the "Zoo Cruise" over to the Audubon Zoo, run by the same group.
The boat that takes you over to the New Orleans Zoo.
I recently went out there and took some pictures. Keep in mind they're very difficult to take, as the fish tend to swim around all over the place. All these are post-Hurricane and have animals that survived or replaced the ones that didn't - you can view picture galleries of the various fish and animals in the aquarium at these pages:
The address of the Aquarium is:
1 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
You can get there pretty easily - it is near the Riverwalk, which is a big mall designed for tourists, and you just follow Poydras or Canal St. down to the end (away from the highways) and it will dead-end at the Mississippi River near the aquarium. You can also go to their website here for more information.
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