Relaxing Fish Spa or Swim with Batrays-Which One Will You Do?
This a sponsored post collaboration.
Have you been to the SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium in Layton? They are conveniently located in the center of Layton Hills Mall (even more conveniently right next to the children's play area), and have brought to Utah a couple of unique hands-on experiences that you will want to try!
Website: www.seaquestaquariums.com/utah
This aquarium has been so beneficial for my animal-fearing children. They're still timid, but beg to reach in and touch all the fish and take their turn inside the parakeet and lorakeet cages. Today, though, I want to tell about you about the SeaQuest Fish Spa and Caribbean Cove Batray Pool...
SeaQuest Fish Spa
This experience is exactly what the pictures look like. With a spare $15 and 15 minutes, you can soak your feet and let the fish go to work exfoliating. Coming up on sandal season, who doesn't need a little extra TLC on their feet? Don't worry, these fish don't have teeth. Using ticklish suction to eat, they remove the dry dead skin cells and leave your feet feeling clean and smooth.
I wasn't brave enough to try it on our last visit, but my husband accompanied us with the sole purpose of trying it out, and he LOVED it. We watched him put his feet in the water and immediately the swarm of fish started doing what they are put there to do. According to him, the tickling is only noticeable for a few minutes and the rest of time it just feels like gentle rolling bubbles. There were two other ladies who had started shortly before him who had to muster up quite a bit of courage before their feet went in, but in no time were used to it and laughing, lost in chit-chat, having already forgotten what was happening to their lower extremities. Also, it was really interesting to see how the fish at first swarmed around the whole feet and then slowly moved to areas that needed more care (i.e. the cuticles and heels).
Important information to share about the fish spa: The staff member helping us was very helpful in explaining that this type of service is banned in many states because it is thought of as a spa treatment and spa facilities are not equipped to regulate the environment in a sanitary way. Utah does not have those regulations, and because SeaQuest operates the fish spa within an aquarium environment, they would not fall under the typical "spa" guidelines. The water is filtered through every day and the filter itself is cleaned every night. The fish are occasionally given additional food such as Nori bits, but primarily do not need to be supplemented more than what the treatment (your feet) provides them.
One tip I can share? The aquarium offers baby-sitting (for a fee), so they can wander the aquarium learning cool facts and playing with the animals while you sit back and relax, child-free.
Swim with the Stingrays
This is the activity that I think we are incredibly fortunate to have available to us in Utah. It is cool enough that you can stand above, next to, and underneath these playful creatures, but being escorted by one of the aquarium's education staff, you can suit up and swim right into the stingray pool! The pool is multi-leveled from 3'-5' so kids and adults of many ages can have together. And it's just not 1 or two rays that will be playing. There are dozens of them, in addition to several other species of tropical fish.
Swimming with the stingrays is an activity that needs to be reserved in advance. Find a time on the website that will work for you, and then arrive with your swimsuit half an hour prior to swimming. Your actual swim and snorkel experience will last for 45 minutes. The price of this unique Utah adventure is $39.95 ($29.95 for annual passholders), but includes the $10 admission to the rest of the aquarium as well. Imagine how cool this would be as a wrap-up to a marine biology or zoology unit study! Or as a birthday party. Or just a fun surprise summer activity.
And now I'm curious...which of these two activities seems the most intriguing to you? Curiosity has gotten the best of my better senses, and I will definitely be doing the fish spa the next time we go. My husband has sworn he will now be doing it EVERY time we go. But, if swimming with the batrays seems intriguing to you, I've got good news!!!
