In July I visited the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores with my family, and we had a great time. At the time, I didn’t realize the North Carolina Aquarium has four different locations. Well, I see that as a challenge. We must now visit every North Carolina Aquarium!

Our visit to a second North Carolina Aquarium was last week at the Roanoke location. They have a lot of the same species as the Pine Knoll Shores location since they feature critters found in and around North Carolina. Guests can see local fish, snakes, alligators, river otters, jellyfish, sharks and many more creatures big and small. But I love that each aquarium has its own unique exhibits. This location had a couple of spots with a large video screen with an almost life-sized character that “wakes up” and talks to you when you walk by. One of them was a ghost pirate who told the story of a shipwreck and its lost treasure off the coast of the Outer Banks. It made us want to go on a hunt for buried treasures. And the shipwrecks exhibit was fascinating.

I also enjoyed learning about sea turtle conservation in the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation (STAR) Center and interactive Sea Turtle Rescue exhibit. I got to see sea turtles currently being nursed back to health. And it was fun to watch a baby sea turtle play with a toy tossed around by a worker.

The touch tank is always a big hit, and I couldn’t resist petting some sting rays. I was happy to learn from the knowledgeable worker at the touch tank that the horseshoe crab parts I had been seeing on the beach last week were not actually dead — the juvenile horseshoe crabs had actually just molted.

We finished off our visit with a stop at their shark tooth sand box, where kids of all ages can dig through the tailings from the Aurora Phosphate Mine and look for fossil sharks teeth. We didn’t find any this time, but I would like to try again. This might require a trip to the Aurora Fossil Museum in the future.

— Tracey Cullen, art director