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.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher invites businesses and organizations to sponsor booths at the eighth annual “Trick or Treat Under the Sea” on Wednesday, October 27 and Thursday, October 28.

The event, also known as TOTUS, features indoor trick-or-treating for children from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm. Sponsoring a booth is a wonderful way to promote your business by interacting with families in the community at this fun and popular event. Vendors can also win prizes for their decorating efforts.

Booth space is available for $75 per day. A $10 discount is offered to vendors who book both days. Vendors may attend one or both nights. Sponsors decorate booths and provide enough treats for the several hundred children expected each night. Sponsors bring their own tables, decorations and power cords. Returning vendors get first priority with an August 31 deadline.

Booth sponsorships are available first-come, first-served. For more information or to register, call Special Events Coordinator Terry Bryant at 910-458-8257 ext. 218 or 202 or email terry.bryant@ncaquariums.com.

An art exhibit at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores spotlights the rich diversity of life in

Blue Heron - Donna Slade

estuaries, where freshwater and saltwater mingle. North Carolina’s estuaries are some of the largest on the East Coast.

High Tide on the Soundside features works by members of the Raleigh-Durham Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America. Visitors can enjoy the art through Sept. 30. The exhibit is free with admission or membership.

Freshwater rivers feed estuaries from the mainland as saltwater pushes through the inlets between barrier islands. Many plant and animal species thrive at this confluence. Estuaries serve as essential breeding and nursery areas for many species of fin fish and shellfish as well as feeding grounds for many birds.  High Tide on the Soundside captures images of mammals, birds, fish and other creatures that call estuaries home.

Now open!

Explore why some fish are fat and others flat, why some are prickly and others are slippery, in the new exhibit, Fintastic! Weird and Wonderful Adaptations for Survival in the Sea.

Fintastic showcases distinctive teeth, tails, scales and other characteristics that help different fish species find food or evade predators. Fintastic also delivers information through several senses, making it uniquely accessible to people with vision impairments. In addition to aquarium tanks with live specimens of flounder, sargassum fish and other species, Fintastic includes life-sized models built for hands-on exploration.

Touching the spadefish, flounder, tarpon, hammerhead shark, lookdown school, black drum, cowfish or moray eel activates an audio guided tactile tour of each. The audio directs visitors where to place their hands to feel fins, mouth shape, eye position, body contours and other special features that work in the fish’s favor, depending on where it lives, what it eats and, in some cases, what likes to eat it.
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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.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores takes family fun to new heights with the daily program, Winging it - Birds in Flight.  Pelicans, hawks, owls and other raptors and water birds native to North Carolina soar overhead in Big Rock Theater, responding to cues from Aquarium Educators. The program offers visitors the rare chance to see birds on the wing at close range.

Like all the Aquarium’s activities, the birds deliver important conservation messages along with family-friendly entertainment.

The 45-minute program begins at 11:30 a.m. daily. Tickets are $4 per person in addition to Aquarium admission. Seating is limited. Tickets are sold at admissions the day of the show only. Sorry no advance sales or reservations, and memberships and discounts do not apply.

The featured bird species are found in various parts of the state, and most travel long distances according to the seasons.  Showcasing migratory birds emphasizes the connections among wide-ranging habitats, and the necessity for comprehensive conservation. Some of the birds in the program have permanent injuries that prevent their release back into the wild. Others were bred in captivity or were obtained from other zoos and aquariums.

Canoe trips are an excellent opportunity for adventure, exercise and bonding with friends and family. A canoe trip is fun for beginners and advanced canoeists alike, and is the perfect time to gather a group to enjoy nature.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is offering a canoeing trip to Holly Shelter in Pender County. According to the NC Natural Heritage Program, Pender County boasts some of the most biologically significant land along the Atlantic Coast. The county ranks fourth among the state’s 100 counties for its number of rare plants and animal species. Much of this biological cornucopia is centered around the Holly Shelter region - a vast expanse of longleaf pine savannas, Carolina bays, blackwater streams, and pocosin habitat that encompasses Holly Shelter Game Land in Pender County.

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© Eyeconic Images

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher thanks the ocean through a new breathtaking exhibit. The Aquarium installed its “Thank You Ocean” exhibit that hosts a collection of sea-related photography taken by local but world famous photographers Scott Marshall, Logan Mock-Bunting, and DJ Struntz. The photos feature images such as stingrays swimming in the sea, fishermen hard at work, and waves barreling into the camera.

The Aquarium’s Thank You Ocean exhibit is in conjunction with the Thank You Ocean campaign, a nonprofit partnership supported by the State of California, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the Ocean Communicators Alliance. The mission of the campaign is to raise awareness of the benefits the ocean provides to us and to identify ways each of us can help protect the ocean in our everyday lives.

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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!