Host/Security Guard

I was a little giddy.

The light bouncing off the fish and the kelp, seeing the octopus glide across the windows, almost like it was flying underwater.

You get the sense that you're swimming in the ocean.

How cool is that?

I remember going in to see the kelp forest.

The entire ecosystem from the bottom of the ocean all the way to the surface where the canopy is, that thing looks like it's as big as a skyscraper.

I had the same awe that you would have standing in front of the giant trees and cliffs in Yosemite.

I've been at the aquarium 21 years now.

Little kid me would not believe that I get paid to look at this kelp forest.

The property that the aquarium sits on, people have been on that land for thousands of years.

50,000 years ago, indigenous tribes were following the kelp forests that hugged the west coast of North America.

And they migrated south and settled in the Monterey Bay.

Then there was a Chinese fishing village.

It was actually burnt down.

There was the Sicilians who came here and overfished sardines.

Overnight, the canning industry shut down.

The aquarium is sitting in the footprint of one of the last canneries to close.

Certain parts of it still hold that same footprint and look and feel.

My first night working a night shift, I was super excited.

walking around through the splash zone and the tropical fish.