Featured 1 spot open! Monterey Bay Aquarium Tour 7/8/26

[MichaelB]

What:
Monterey bay aquarium tour+ a special behind the scenes tours exclusively for up to 6 bar members.

Special thanks to: @mlang who is long time bar member volunteers at the Monterey aquarium and pulled some strings and put in a lot of effort to help organize this event for us.

When: Wednesday July 8th

Where:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium located at
886 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940

Parking Options:

Closest:
Cannery Row Parking Garage located at
601 Foam St, Monterey, CA 93940.
It is situated just three blocks away and is a short 3-to-5-minute walk from the aquarium entrance.

These gated garages charge a seasonal flat rate ranging from $15.00 to $22.00 daily (or ~$5.00 after 5:00 PM).

Metered Street Parking:
Immediate street parking is limited.
Meters (enforced 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily) cost $2.00 per hour. You can pay using coins or the ParkMobile App.

Cheapest:

The Downtown East Garage and Downtown West Garage located at
340 Tyler St, Monterey, CA 93940

Flat fee of $12 for all-day parking

There is shuttle from these garages to the front entrance of the aquarium.

The shuttle ride is 100% free for all passenger

Daily Hours: It runs from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Shuttles depart every 10 to 15 minutes.


Sechdule of Events:

9:30am -10:00am
Meet infront of the entrance to the Monterey bay aquarium.
Limited to a max of around 20 including members/family
* Meet with @mlang who will give a briefing of the plan of the day, gauge the intrest of the attendees, and a general meet and great.

10:00am- 12:00pm
Aquarium opens/ public area tour
* @mlang will give a informal personal tour of the public areas of the aquarium. (Important to note this is a unofficial tour without sound amplification so it maybe difficult to hear, in addition some areas at the aquarium could become crowded so patience, understanding, and felixbility maybe be required)

12:00pm-1:00pm
Lunch in aquarium Cafe
* Possibility of a food discount, will be confirmed later.

1:00pm- 5:00pm
Special behind the scene tour begins
* Limited to a Maximum of 6 Bar Members.
This is far more than the standard behind the scenes tour. It will include several areas never seen by the public lead by one of the aquarium curators.


** Others can explore the public area of the aquarium at their leisure or there would be the option for them to purchase a standard 1hour behind the scenes tour add on.

Additionally the area right outside the aquarium features many shops and interactive acctratctions that family members could also spend the time exploring. There is definitely lots to do all in that immediate not just the aquarium (let me know @MichaelB if you would like specific recommendations to help lay things out for your "it's a family day" sales pitch to the spouse/family).

5:00pm
Aquarium Closes

Notes:

1.) Everyone will be responsible for purchasing their own tickets to the aquarium.
* current prices taken from the Monterey aquarium website. It's requested that tickets be purchased ahead of time in order to make efficient use of time at the aquarium. It avoids anyone having to potentially wait in a ticket line.

Kids 4 and under are free!!!

*Tickets are dated and only valid for the date purchased. So please pay attention to the selected date when purchasing.


Tickets can be purchased in person or in advance (recommended) from the link below:

Choose a date | Monterey Bay Aquarium

tickets.montereybayaquarium.org

2.) There is no addtional Charge beyond general admission for the 6 members participating in the special behind the scenes tour.

* The aquarium does have a few standard behind the scenes tours that can be purchased as a optional add on ranging from $29-$40 beyond the price of admission as a option for those not participating in the special behind the scenes tour.

Information regarding those additional add on options can be viewed on the link below:

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/visit/schedule/tours-and-experiences


Addtional details will be updated in this thread as they become available.

If you are interested in the special behind the scenes tour comment on this post. Depending on the interest we may have to determine a fair luck based method as to how the 6 members will be selected.

 

[tribbitt]

I would love to participate in the special behind the scenes tour Sounds super interesting

 

[MichaelB]

I would love to participate in the special behind the scenes tour Sounds super interesting

Seriously it really does sound intriguing. Just bummer I'll be working that day.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

I would love to do this but I have a rocket launch that day

 

[Baykes]

I would love to join in the behind the scenes tour if possible

 

[MichaelB]

I would love to join in the behind the scenes tour if possible

Be sure to cast a vote on the poll. We'll give this sometime to see who's all going to go and who's interested in the special tour.

 

[PjFish]

Interesting in the past the whole group was included in the behind the scenes tours. Guess they don’t let volunteers take more people vs staff. The behind the scene tours are very cool and worth the drive down!

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting in the past the whole group was included in the behind the scenes tours. Guess they don’t let volunteers take more people vs staff. The behind the scene tours are very cool and worth the drive down!

It was explained to me that this would include addtional areas literally never shown even during typical behind the scenes tours. For these spaces a smaller group would be less intrusive or likey to disrupt their operations thus making it more likey to be given permission to see these unique area's.

Despite being to the aquarium several times i've never been to one of their behind the scenes tours so in honesty I'm only baising this off what was communicated to me. No first hand experience here so no disagreement either way.

 

[Alexander1312]

Great event. I will be in Germany at this time . Please take pictures. And I would be curious whether the new exhibition has already opened.

 

[Fire_Reefer]

I'd love to be a part of this event. It would be really cool to see behind the scenes of a place I've been to many times in my lifetime. Also it'll be cool to finally meet some of our group in person.

I live approximately 1 mile from the aquarium. If people are willing to walk 20 min you can park at my house for free. Or I could shuttle some people that aren't willing to walk that far. There is also free parking along oceanview which starts 0.4 miles from the aquarium and ranges all the way down past my house. Normally quite a bit of free spots on weekdays.

Let me know if anyone has any questions about the area.

 

[mlang]

Hi Everyone, it looks like there are still 3 spots available for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Behind the scenes tour on Wednesday, July 8. For those of you that don’t know me, I’ve been a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for about 3.5 years — I recently passed 1000 hours of volunteer work with the aquarium. I worked as a guide on the aquarium floor for the first 1.5 years and behind the scenes in animal husbandry for the last 2 years. I’ve also been a coral reef hobbiest for about 30 years. I setup my current tank (100 gal mixed reef) around 1998 and it has been running continuously ever since. I have two fish that have been with me for about 25 years.

I setup this tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium because 1) the systems there (and the scale) are amazing, and while most of the general public won’t fully appreciate it, all of you will (did you know the aquarium has their own ICP machine), 2) they have some creative ideas that we can use in maintaining home aquariums, 3) the staff is really knowledgeable and I have learned a lot from them, 4) and with a wing devoted to veterinary staff, it’s simply amazing what they can do from an animal care standpoint.

I’ve talked to my curator to arrange a tour that goes much deeper than the standard behind the scenes tours. It’s going to be somewhat dynamic in terms of which areas we visit but I’m hoping to get into the culture room (raising babies), coral holding facilities, water quality lab, mechanical spaces (pumps, filtration, etc), a peak at the control systems, live food grow out areas, etc. There would be staff in each area to show us around and do Q&A. So, things can change based on their availability. I’ve requested 4 hours behind the scenes in the afternoon. In the morning, I’ll walk everyone around the aquarium floor to get the public perspective before we check out the back.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[AndynotDrew]

I’ll be attending and if there’s space add me to the behind the scenes list please!

 

[MolaMola]

Darn, this sounds amazing but family camping reservation just went through so I cannot make it. Thanks for organizing this experience.

 

[tribbitt]

Hi Everyone, it looks like there are still 3 spots available for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Behind the scenes tour on Wednesday, July 8. For those of you that don’t know me, I’ve been a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for about 3.5 years — I recently passed 1000 hours of volunteer work with the aquarium. I worked as a guide on the aquarium floor for the first 1.5 years and behind the scenes in animal husbandry for the last 2 years. I’ve also been a coral reef hobbiest for about 30 years. I setup my current tank (100 gal mixed reef) around 1998 and it has been running continuously ever since. I have two fish that have been with me for about 25 years.

I setup this tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium because 1) the systems there (and the scale) are amazing, and while most of the general public won’t fully appreciate it, all of you will (did you know the aquarium has their own ICP machine), 2) they have some creative ideas that we can use in maintaining home aquariums, 3) the staff is really knowledgeable and I have learned a lot from them, 4) and with a wing devoted to veterinary staff, it’s simply amazing what they can do from an animal care standpoint.

I’ve talked to my curator to arrange a tour that goes much deeper than the standard behind the scenes tours. It’s going to be somewhat dynamic in terms of which areas we visit but I’m hoping to get into the culture room (raising babies), coral holding facilities, water quality lab, mechanical spaces (pumps, filtration, etc), a peak at the control systems, live food grow out areas, etc. There would be staff in each area to show us around and do Q&A. So, things can change based on their availability. I’ve requested 4 hours behind the scenes in the afternoon. In the morning, I’ll walk everyone around the aquarium floor to get the public perspective before we check out the back.

Let me know if you have any questions.

This sounds like a spectacular day. Thank you for doing this!

 

[JVU]

I’d like to join the behind the scenes tour too. Thanks!

 

[MichaelB]

It would be great if atleast one more member signed up. Or prehaps maybe the spouse of someone already signed up to round out the number to 6 for the specialbehindthe scenes tour.

Given the currently list. I will say everyone currently signed up is 100% confirmed for the behind the scenes tour.

Lol so in other words if your on the fence there is one spot for that special tour left consider it as further motivation to sign up.

There is still space for many more for the regular tour if you wanted to bring family, or friends etc.

 

[tuuli]

I just joined the group but I would love to attend the behind the scenes tour if there is a spot!

 

[AndynotDrew]

I found out today that I have to head down to our main branch in SoCal the 7th-9th for a training on a new piece of equipment. Pretty bummed that I have to back out of this one.

 

[mlang]

One more spot available. Any takers?

 

[FooFtr]

One more spot available. Any takers?

@mlang Hey thank for setting this up!

I'd like to attend but how many spots are available? In the original post it says only 6 members and then further down it says up to 20.

Please clarify.