Belle Isle Aquarium & Dossin Great Lakes Maritime Museum
Detroit, Michigan
November 14, 2004
Trip Report
Belle Isle Aquarium is the oldest freshwater aquarium in North America. Housed in a fantastic,
green-titled, domed building built in 1904, the Aquarium features more than 200 species of fish, reptiles and amphibians gliding about
in 50 well-labeled tanks. A group of divers from Divers Incorporated traveled there on a day trip and the day could not have been more perfect. The weather was fantastic and the aquarium was super fun. There were hundreds of fascinating fish that made us wish we could dive right in and go with them.
Right next door to the aquarium is the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, and it was a great way to get a little bit of summer in the beginnings of winter. The weather inside was tropical and smelled fantastic. It was like a jungle in the tropics to add to that desire to take a warm tropical vacation, somewhere...
well anywhere. Patterned after Thomas
Jefferson's Monticello, the conservatory features permanent displays of cacti,
ferns, palms and one of the largest collections of orchids in the country.
It had a fascinating collection of plants that was fun to walk through.
Finishing up our excursion took us to the nearby Dossin Great Lakes Museum. This maritime museum contains ship artifacts and a large collection of nautical antiques along with the world's largest collection of scale-model Great Lakes
ships, maritime
memorabilia and special hands-on exhibits. It had an awesome presentation of movies from the shipbuilding times on the Detroit River as well as some fantastic hands on exhibits inside the museum. We toured the river front looking at maritime artifacts, models of old sailing ships and some unusual museum pieces including a swan that was once part of a ride on Boblo Island.
Finishing out the trip we visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Detroit in the shadow of the new Compuware building. Everyone had a fantastic time and it is definitely something that we plan on doing again in 2005.
Added 1-29-05: It was announced this month that the city of Detroit and the Detroit Zoo will be closing the aquarium at the end of this year. This is a historic and fantastic place, Don't Miss out on the the opportunity to see it. It will be a sad day when the collection closes down.
