You could spend a day at Monterey Bay Aquarium and not run out of stuff to do, thanks to behind-the-scenes tours, animal feedings and opportunities to get wet. Here are five awesome ways to maximize your time at the aquarium.

1. Explore a deep-sea exhibit: Giant isopods scurry like rolypoly bugs in a touch tank. Japanese spider crabs the size of Labrador retrievers stalk a whale skeleton. Glasslike jellies crackle with electric-rainbow lights. Into the Deep, which opened in 2022, features the largest collection of deep-sea animals in North America.

2. Dive with aquarium staff: Want to immerse your child in the wonders of the ocean? You can with surface-diving excursions in the Great Tide Pool outside the aquarium. For $150 plus admission, staffers will give visitors ages 8 to 13 lessons in dry-suit scuba diving and guide them through the diverse wildlife that exists in the shallows. Afterward, they get a dive log and a warming cup of hot chocolate.

3. Get happy with penguins: There’s something mood-lifting about standing in front of the African penguin environment. Looking like wobbly bowling pins with flippers, many of the birds have paired up into couples. Get there at feeding time and you’ll learn plenty of interesting facts, including that the birds can defecate 3 feet away by “projectile pooping.”

4. Witness a feeding frenzy: Ever see hundreds, perhaps thousands of fish swarm a diver like a massive fish-nado? That’s the scene at feeding time in the aquarium’s Kelp Forest, where a brave naturalist descends into the tank to scatter grub and give live commentary in front of gathered crowds. An equally impressive feeding takes place in the Open Sea exhibit, with huge tuna and hammerhead sharks. If you want to expand beyond fish, there are mealtimes with sea otters too.

5. Take a behind-thescenes tour: Ever wonder what’s behind the aquarium’s locked doors? Book a backstage tour for $24 plus admission and you get to find out. Staffers demonstrate how they prepare food for more than 10,000 animals and guide you around the labyrinthine network of pipes channeling water to exhibits. They might relate stories from the aquarium’s olden days or highlight off-display marine creatures.