CRITTER RESOLUTIONS: If you were a Southern sea otter, what might your resolution for 2018 be? To eat more urchins? To chow down on a whole lot of mussels and clams? Those resolutions make total sense. What about if you happen to be a cuttlefish? Would you resolve to strengthen your camouflaging techniques as the new year progresses? Or maybe you're a California moray eel, and you'd like your ability to slink through the reef to stay sharp and focused. An aquarium aficionado can probably go through each of an aquatic institution's residents, one by one, and find something that the critter would like more of in 2018. But we on-the-land earthlings also hope to have a great new year, too, one and all, and while our 2018 may not involve slinking through reefs or changing our camouflage or finding more urchins to nosh, we do like making a splashy night of it when New Year's Eve rolls around. As it will, on Sunday, Dec. 31, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which happens to be home to otters and cuttlefishes and eels, will be hosting a...
NEW YEAR'S EVE SLEEPOVER, which is a way, way cool avenue into the next 365 days. The family-fun night will have an early countdown, at 9 o'clock, complete with a sparkling cider toast, though grown-ups can buy wine and beer, and there are "small bites" for purchase, too. Breakfast is included, and the chance to hear from naturalists about the Cannery Row-based aquarium's most famous feature, its Great Tide Pool. Is this how you and your kin would love to welcome 2018? With the fishies and the furry mammals and the waves right outside? It's, as mentioned, way, way cool, so investigate it now. We may not be able to hand-deliver more mussels to the resident otters, or an obstacle course to help eels improve their darting abilities, but we can support the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and have a memorable New Year's Eve, too.
