The Oregon Inlet Life Saving Station owned by the North Carolina Aquarium was recently renovated for future generations to use and see for educational purposes.  This historic structure stands proudly as it has for years at the mouth of Oregon Inlet, sometimes treacherous and deadly to mariners as they dodge shoals and waves to reach the Atlantic Ocean.  The 2010 NC AIA Design Award for Historic Renovation will be presented on September 18th to Chip Hemingway of Bowman Murray Hemingway Architects of Wilmington, N.C.   Congratulations to Chip and the North Carolina Aquariums on winning this prestigious award!

The Aquarium is seeking vendors to sponsor booths during its 8th annual Trick or Treat Under the Sea (TOTUS) event.  TOTUS gives local business and organizations a way to support the community by providing treats for the children who attend, and has become the largest Halloween event on the Outer Banks. This year’s event is on Thursday, October 28 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Aquarium.

To find out how you can become a booth sponsor, call 252-473-3494 ext. 258 or ext. 247.  Special recognition is given each year to the best booth at the event.  Spaces are limited, and tickets go on sale October 1 at the Aquarium!

Join other adventurous women in a weekend of nature exploration and self-discovery.  Workshops on digital photography, kayaking, wild edibles, plant propagation and more are followed by evening discussions on our connections to the natural world.  The weekend is presented by the Aquarium in partnership with the Nature Conservancy’s Nags Head Woods Preserve.  October 15-17.  $250 per person (does not include housing). Advance registration required by calling 252-473-3494 ext. 232.  For more information, call Rhana Paris at 252-473-3494 ext. 266.

Come join us in celebrating the 15th annual Native Plant Sale, and check out the fantastic selection of local favorites, hard-to-find rarities, and the plants best suited for our extreme coastal environment.  More than 1,000 plants representing 70 species will be available-more than ever before!  Saturday, October 9, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Jellyfish are heartless, brainless, and spineless.  They can be squishy underfoot.  They can be nettlesome and occasionally lethal.  At best they can move only up and down, so they usually just drift.  They’re not even fish; they’re invertebrates related to corals and anemones.

These ancient creatures are also living works of art, presenting an unexpectedly broad range of forms and hues.  Some bioluminescent species make their own light, flashing in rainbow colors.  They can have a calming, almost hypnotic effect on human observers.  And they inspire Kill Devil Hills painter, muralist and sculptor Robert Snyder.

Initially attracted by the scant attention jellies received from fellow artists, Snyder found them interesting “primarily for their translucency” and their compatibility with various backgrounds.  Catch My Drift: Sea Jellies by Robert Snyder, on display in the Nautilus Gallery at the Aquarium through September 28 showcases seven of Snyder’s remarkable multimedia paintings of this unlikely subject.

Seeking to capture jellies’ subtle beauty, Snyder developed a technique involving conventional acrylic colors with layers of clear resins to “reinvigorate the brilliance of the paint” and “eliminate any impasto or brush strokes.”  The results are luminous, vivid and eerily three-dimensional.  The artist describes these paintings as “the most original thing I’ve done in mixed media.”

Snyder, a Baltimore native, came to the Outer Banks in 1974.  After years in construction, he turned to painting.  One of his murals, some 300 feet long, adorns the Ben Franklin store on U.S. 158 in Nags Head.  His smaller works can be found in galleries around the area.  All the works in Catch My Drift are for sale by the artist.  They are also available as dye-sublimation prints on ceramic tile.

The Nautilus Gallery, located across from the Aquarium Gift Shop, focuses on regionally or historically significant marine and wildlife art.  Recent offerings have included 19th-century Audubon prints, a traveling exhibit by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of fish paintings by local artist and conservationist Frank Stick.

For more information about Catch My Drift or the Aquarium’s other exhibits or programs, call 252-473-3494 or 800-832-3474 ext. 4.  For more information about Robert Snyder, visit his website at www.blackbarrel.com.

Wetlands Walk For ages 8 & up
Join an Aquarium naturalist for a fun-filled learning experience in this “catch and release” program at a nearby salt marsh.  Participants will muck through the marsh and wade into the sound with nets and buckets in search of animal inhabitants.  You’ll be amazed at the abundance of life in the estuary!  Closed-toe shoes are required.  Cost: $15; Limit 14.

Snack with the Sharks  For ages 8 & up
Venture behind the scenes of the Aquarium’s Graveyard of the Atlantic exhibit to observe one of the weekly shark feedings.  Participants will not be able to assist with the feeding, but will get an up-close look as the fish and sharks are fed.   Shark facts and myths will be presented while the class has a light afternoon snack in the Aquarium classroom.  Closed-toe shoes are required.  Cost: $15; Limit 10.

Breakfast with the Rays  For ages 6 & up
Get an exciting start to your day at the Aquarium as you assist our staff with a morning feeding, while learning about one of the resident species.  Participants will feed the stingrays at the touch tank, and snack on a light breakfast of “people” food.  Closed-toe shoes are required.  Cost: $15; Limit 15.

Behind the Scenes Tour  For ages 8 & up
Accompany an Aquarium educator to sneak a peek behind the scenes of different areas in the Aquarium.  Visitors will see the tanks and the life support systems that keep our animals healthy, from a side normally viewed by staff only.  Closed-toe shoes are required.  Cost $14; Limit 12.

Aqua Tales for Tots  For ages 3-5
Children ages 3 through 5 will have fun during these one-hour sessions on different aquatic and marine topics.  Costumes, craft activities, and live animals are used to focus on a different animal or subject for each class.  Cost: $6; Limit 10.

Happy Otter Hour  For ages 6 & up
Even late in the day, the otters at the Aquarium have fun!  Learn a bit about otter behavior and biology as you design an enrichment toy to be shared with our river otters.  Participants can savor a true otter snack before seeing the otters enjoy their own treats and their newly-designed “toys.”  The program will conclude with a glance behind the river otter exhibit.  Closed-toe shores are required.  Cost: $15; Limit 12.

Gyotaku (Fish Printing)  For ages 6 & up
Join us for this Japanese art technique as we paint real and replicated fish to create original prints on an assortment of mediums.  One t-shirt is provide per participant.  Cost: $16; Limit 15.

Nocturnal Beach Walk  For ages 6 and up

Join and educator at the Aquarium for an evening of learning about the mysterious beach animals of the night.  The sea turtle is the animal of focus, but nocturnal behaviors of other marine animals will also be discussed.  The class will travel to the beach to take a walk in hopes of witnessing some animal activity during the evening hours. Cost $15; Limit 14.

Pier Fishing  For ages 8 and up
Families and children are invited to bring their patience and good luck to this beginner’s fishing program.  Anglers will learn some of the basics of fishing, how to handle tackle, fish identification and catch & release techniques-all from an ocean fishing pier.  All supplies are included in the program.  Closed-toe shoes are required.  Cost $16; Limit 12.

To find out more about these programs, call 252-473-3494 ext. 232.  Register today and add value to your next visit to the Aquarium!

2nd place, Aquariums category, Shasta Hartley. Click to see all the winners.

Photographers immersed themselves in North Carolina’s aquatic environments and came up with some vivid images for the North Carolina Aquariums annual photo contest.

Kyle Humphrey of Kure Beach took first place in the “At the Aquariums” category with a compelling photo of striped bass at the Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Shasta Hartley of Dudley, N.C. took second with a colorful image of an Eastern newt at the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. A bobwhite pair at the Aquarium at Fort Fisher earned Karen Doody of Morehead City third in this category. Lee Moore of Atlantic Beach earned honorable mention with a lionfish image taken at the Aquarium at Fort Fisher. (more…)

Visitors might well think sharks have invaded the Aquarium this summer. Our staff has worked hard to make the Aquarium as “sharky” as possible by doubling the number of large sharks in the 285,000-gallon Graveyard of the Atlantic exhibit.  A nearby changing exhibit area has been converted into a 10,000-gallon display  with smaller sharks which should be a real crowd-pleaser.  The new exhibit will feature a number of interactive components and provide educational opportunities for young and old.  A simulated shark cage will let visitors experience the excitement of being surrounded by swimming sharks. A new Aquarium character, “Dr. Finnegan,” will appear on graphic displays and dispel shark myths with facts about these creatures that pre-date the dinosaurs!

The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island is located at 374 Airport Road, Just north of Manteo.  Call 252-473-3494 or visit our facebook page: NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

The Aquarium’s Volunteer Dive Program will celebrate 10 years of service on Saturday,April 3, 2010.  The origins of the dive program date back to 1993, but it was not until 2000 when Patrick Murphy was hired as the first full-time Dive Safety officer that major dive programs began.  He immediately began work in anticipation of the Roanoke Island facilities reopening after a major, three-year expansion.  The Volunteer Diver Program was initiated to meet the underwater maintenance needs of the larger facility.

Throughout its 10 years of operation, Aquarium volunteer divers have not only assisted with daily surface cleaning of the 1/3 scale USS Monitor replica, but have also completed dive shows on full-face mask in support of public education programs.  Several elite divers have participated in research dives to depths of 240 feet on the actual wreck of the Monitor located 16 miles off Cape Hatteras.  The wreck lies within the first nationally-designated marine sanctuary, and volunteer divers helped in support of an ongoing partnership between the NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island.  The Aquarium has also successfully established a junior volunteer dive program, featured recently on the nationally-syndicated “Aqua Kids” television show.  This program is open to local high school students ages 16-17 who are SCUBA certified.

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For the third consecutive year, the North Carolina Aquarium Society has earned the highest possible rating for sound fiscal management from the nation’s largest evaluator of non-profit organizations.

The four-star rating from Charity Navigator for three years running puts the Aquarium Society in the top 13 percent of the 5,400 charities monitored annually. The rating organization praised the Society’s ability to “efficiently manage and grow its finances.”

The North Carolina Aquarium Society helps support exhibits, programs, expansions and operations at the three state-operated North Carolina Aquariums through memberships - currently numbering 50,000 - and donations. The North Carolina Aquariums Division is part of the N.C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources. (more…)