This pond in Balboa Park was built for the 1915-16 California-Panama Exposition as were many of the buildings surrounding the pond. The pond is full this time of year with hundreds of tiny baby Nishikigoi and well as the gorgeous full-sized adults. The term Koi is an english language abbreviation of the Japanese word Nishikigoi, but they both refer to the same gorgeous fish! Take a peek at these beauties in their wonderful pond. I have been visiting them here since I was a tiny child and so have my children!
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The water lilies alone are reason to visit this beautiful park.
But the Nishikigoi are the real stars of the pond!
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The solid color koi are striking!
There are other creatures living in the pond, like seasonal ducks, and fellows like this one peeking over a lily pad.
Watching koi swim has been demonstrated to lower your blood pressure and stress levels. No wonder! They are so peaceful looking and gorgeous.
Next time you feel stressed out, go find a koi pond to relax by! Cheers to you from Balboa Park~
Lovely! Just want you to know that I’m using my iPhone to write this comment. You have inspired me to mobile. Thank you!!!!
WOO HOO! I have been thinking about you lately. So glad to hear from you!
You always make my day brilliant!
Same to you X2 my friend. We are heading up to BC in a month!! Can’t wait~
Water lilies, koi, turtles – beautiful! I’d be happy to relax there anytime π
I’ll see you there! LOL~
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Holy Moly! Extraordinary kindness! I am honored and humbled. Thank you~
oh dear no thank dear please
we are friends so no thanks please
π
The building and pond are too beautiful! Wonderful captures of the Koi!
Very happy you like them. It is a peaceful place!
One of my favorite places in SD!
Yep. Mine too. I wonder if there would be anything we would disagree on? lol & cheers to you Sheri~
Wow – they are h
uge…lol
I like it better in two parts!!! Maybe we should start commenting like this? Distinctive!! LOL~
sounds good….
…to me – lol
LOL!!!!
What a beautiful place/park. I love the landscape and the building. The pond brings back nostalgic memories, which is a long story I shall tell you some day. Nishiki means two colors/toned in Japanese. These are two colored (three in some) kois.
I would really like to learn a bit of Japanese. I so admire the culture. Cheers to you my brilliant one~
What a beautiful place. Very serene. Have a beautiful day. Lots of Pawkisses π
VISA VERSA 2 U X2!
The joy of koi!
Okay, keep it going…..I hear a poem here!
Balboa was one of the best features of my visit to SD a few years ago. The architecture, the museum, and the other shops and displays were wonderful, Cindy…, and, oh, yes, the water lilies are so beautiful. The fish weren’t biting that day…..
I think they would feed you to the tigers in the zoo next door cuz, if you went fishing in the Koi pond!! LOL~
I saw those tigers too. Fantastic cats…, one of my favorites.
Aren’t they just the most incredible creatures!
What great shots of the Koi. I know how difficult it can be to take photos of underwater creatures from above the water, and you’ve done it well. What great colors on the park shot. Did you PhotoShop that, or are the colors that vibrant? Always look forward to your posts and photos. Thanks.
Later…
I enhanced the saturation of the long Koi Pond shot a tad with Sony’s Play Memories Home technology. There are really two parts of the pond. The forward one which I photographed in the long shot you see of the pond, which has murky, green water. And the back part of the pond where I photographed most of the fish and a lot of lillies. The back water was clear, hence the clear fish shots. The front water murky, so I increased the sat in the long shot. The fish of course require no enhancement!
Thanks for the info. Had my wife read it since she does a lot of tidepool and shallow water photography. Some work, some don’t…maybe this will help her a bit.
Later…
Hope it helps!
That is JUST SPECTACULAR!!!
Lucky sod π
x
Thank you but you live in-out-this-world-stunning Scotland!! So whose the lucky sod?
The fish and turtles I guess!! What a life they have. LOL~
I guess everywhere has nice parts? I live in an amazing part of Scotland..Would not trade it for Β£1M Pound..
and lol @ fish and turtles.. x
I wouldn’t either if I were you! Scotland is so special (and I am not just saying that because I am part Scot!!) π
Thank you but you live in-out-this-world-stunning Scotland!! So whose the lucky sod?
The fish and turtles I guess!! What a life they have. LOL~
I did not know they have Koi there. Those are great capture of them swimming in crystal clear water.
They are so relaxing aren’t they!! Some of the water was murky, but I got the snaps in the clean parts. Cheers to you my friend~
what a beautiful spot to sit…great capture of the Koi in the water!
Merci beau coup!
I have a weakness for nishkigoi…they are great fun to hand feed – giving them some lettuce or melon bits and seeing how they will rare up out of the water to get the food is something amazing to see. My Samurai had 10 spoiled rotten nishikigoi in our pond. I never was bored watching or feeding them.
I love to feed them!! Can do it for hours! You’re not allowed to feed them at Balboa Park. The place I regularly feed them is Maui!
It truly does look very relaxing there, with the beautiful koi and the lilies! Very nice photographs, Cindy — so clear and colorful!
Mil grazi. Quite a tranquil place~
What a pond! Love everything about it – the water lilies, lily pads, fish, clean clear water…
Great catches π
It is a special place and I am so glad you appreciate it!! Cheers to you~
Incredible post.The pictures are charming. ( last week we visited Monteray Aquarium) Thank you Cindy for liking my poem.Warm regards.jalal
Oh The Monterey Aquarium is so incredible as is all of Monterey. I love that the sea otters are back in force thanks to the Aquarium’s conservation efforts!! Regards to you my friend~
Now I definitely want to go there! You take the most enchanting pictures. π
When are you coming????
Thank you Cindy for the beautiful shots that released more stress from my day.
Ah, so glad!! Most posting so worthwhile~
Lovely Photos, great write up too, Cindy!
One of the things I really miss about the old place, was our fish pond. We only had three beautiful koi , all the rest were common goldfish that had outgrown my indoor tank. It was such a lovely relaxing place! I recently heard that a developer bought up the land and paved over the pond π Thanks for reminding me how beautiful these creatures are!
Oh how I would love a koi pond. It had to be so tranquil for you. Disgusting that it was destroyed. Someone released Koi in a creek by our old house and they thrived there, reproduced. It was like an unexpected Koi community. I miss it too, so I empathize with you!
Tranquil is definitely the word for it. The woman we sold the house to, was ecstatic about having a pond, so we felt we were leaving them in good hands. She was forced to sell the house two years ago, when the economy went berserk, though, and the new owner needed extra parking spots. I just hope he didn’t kill those beautiful fish. Your Koi community sounds amazing they must have come from really sturdy stock!
Oh, that is sad! For her, for you, and for the koi! Mature Koi are in demand so hopefully they found a new pond and their children and swimming there now~
Liebste Cindy das sind ja tolle Fotos von den Koi und die schΓΆnen Seerosen super sowas zu sehen muΓ wunderbar sein ganz toll und die verschiedenen Farben der Kois so schΓΆne habe ich noch nie gesehen sei ganz herzlichst gegrΓΌΓt und danke dir nochmals fΓΌr diese schΓΆnen Fotos Klaus
Klaus Deine Gute ist so wertvoll! Danke schone~ π
A beautiful place!
I agree!! Cheers to you~
Ooooam. Ah, relaxing. π
The lucky fish can teach us a thing or two about taking time to float!!
Lovely photos Cindy. I especially like the one of the old guy that looks a little worse for wear. π
He has character so I like him too! π
Is this San Diego’s Balboa park? it sure looks like it…and amazing shots, Cindy. I swear, I feel more peaceful just looking at this blog post! Those fishies are gleaming like you could get wet if you touched the monitor. Excellent, excellent–and geez. You should do the world a favor and do this professionally–you capture essences, you know. π Your photos are as warm as you. π
Yes it is! Told you, you were clever. You are so kind my friend……sending me wonderful comments when YOU ARE GOING TO BE ON THE RADIO TONIGHT!!!! You are going to be….well, yourself, which means you are going to be wonderful!!
Never knew that koi was short for nishikigoi–and I’m Japanese American! Love these images, Cindy. You are right: There is peace here for anyone to enjoy. {{{hugs]}} Kozo
Hugz back to you my friend~
this is such a beautiful park … brings back meaningful memories π
I am so glad! This makes posting worthwhile! Happy Friday to you~
Gorgeous photos! This is one of my favorite SD places to visit.