The Aquarium (Aquarium du Québec), Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, Québec

The Aquarium (Aquarium du Québec), Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, Québec

Day 2 of my trip from my home in Ottawa, Ontario to Moncton, New Brunswick with my 91 y.o. father.  We stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of Montreal the night before because I was having a bit of an electrical problem with my car’s lighting system and I decided that driving in the dark without lights might not be such a good idea. Solved the problem pretty quickly in the morning light and we were on our way again.  Next stop, Quebec City.

I have a few aquariums of my own and enjoy visiting public aquariums. As we were driving by Sainte-Foy on the south side of the St. Lawrence River and thinking of crossing the bridge into Quebec City, I noticed that the Aquarium du Québec appeared to be open (Location).  Not many cars in the parking lot but enough to convince me to turn in and stop for a visit. The Aquarium is a complex of buildings with both inside and outside viewing areas. It was a bit nippy and my father doesn’t speed too quickly or too far with his walker so most of our focus was the display areas inside the primary building.

The aquarium is designed to allow visitors to watch the fish from below in the tunnel and also allows visitors to then go up above and watch the fish from above the tank. At feeding time it is quite interesting to see the fish and the visitors and the feeders all at once as well as look down and see the people who are still below in the tunnel.

In addition to the main tank, there are a number of other smaller display tanks housing an interesting assortment of both fresh and saltwater fish.

The reef displays were interesting and held an assortment of soft corals.

I enjoy watching Blennies and, of course, there has to be a few Lion Fish to add a bit of intrigue to any public aquarium’s salt water exhibits.

As mentioned above, the Quebec Aquarium has both an inside component and an outside component but since the weather was a bit too chilly for my father and we still had a fair ways to drive before the end of the day, we only watched the seals for a few minutes before heading back to the parking lot and getting on our way again.