St. Augustine Aquarium

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Address:	2045 FL-16, St Augustine, FL 32084, USA
Phone:	+1 904-429-9777
Site:	saaquarium.com
Rating:	3.4
Working:	Closed 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 7

Dixie Punsky

Your enjoyment of the fledgling St. Augustine Aquarium will be greatly influenced by your expectations. If youre looking for Sea World or the Georgia Aquarium, keep it moving sister! Were not there yet. Not even close. Like most of its watery residents, the attraction is still in its infancy. For starters, there is no permanent structure. Save a few temporary buildings that house the ticket office, gift shop, restrooms and snack bar, the aquarium - as it stands today - is an all-outdoor experience. Each of its five current exhibits is housed in an outdoor compound under large sun shades. You also wont find an impressive abundance of marine life. Three nurse sharks, four sting rays, a school of fish, some gnarly lobster, a tank of sea horses, a couple horseshoe crabs and a handful of assorted fish comprise the aquariums first residents. Its easy to understand how uninformed visitors left wanting more. But thats not to say the upstart attraction is without its merits. In fact, the combination of quaint, distraction-free atmosphere and knowledgeable, engaging staff made for a thoroughly enjoyable hour for me and my Littles (though longer would have been a stretch). My Curious One enjoyed the touch tank, where a marine biologist was on hand to let him gently stroke and study a horseshoe crab. My Adventurous One immediately negotiated with me for a ticket ($5) to feed the nurse sharks which was, undoubtedly, the highlight of the visit. Had the sign out front read "Future Home of the St. Augustine Aquarium," I feel confident visitors during this soft-opening phase would have appreciated the experience for what it is -- a small taste (or touch, rather) of great things to come. We look forward to visiting again in a years time to see what the future holds.

Adam H

Fun for all ages! My 11 year old nephew was in town and wanted to go snorkeling, I had read about the opportunity to do that at Saint Augustine Aquarium, so we signed up online and Had a Great Time! Alex was an awesome snorkeling guide and we got right in and out on schedule and on with our day. Swimsuit and towel is all you need to bring, they provided all of the snorkeling gear, included with the snorkeling ticket, and they have lockers available to store all of your stuff while you snorkel. My 3 year old daughter had fun at the tidal pool area holding a horseshoe crab (I learned that they have 9 eyes or eye-like sensors, swim upside down and molt as they grow) and a starfish (learned that they have eyes at the end of each "arm" and the eyes will grow back if they lose an arm and grow it back), all in all it was a great experience. Do some research so you temper your expectations! This is not a national aquarium, so dont expect it to be! Looking forward to great things for the future of this local aquarium, keep up the good work, well definitely be back!

Michael Potts

After reading the other reviews, we took two 4-year olds and the respective adults and made it an adventure. And you know what? We spent 3 hours goofing off and having fun. They have 4 fish tanks: 1) small enclosed tank holding sea horses 2) Open top tank for touching starfish and horseshoe crabs. 3) Huge above ground tank with fish, used for the snorkeling experience. Lots of windows to see in, but its mostly just small schools of fish swimming around 4) concrete tank split into two sections, one has a few small sharks and the other has some stingrays. When we went, the stingrays were being trained to be hand fed so they were happily swimming around. The side with the sharks had them swimming around as well. Our two kids spent most of their time at the shark and stingray tanks but were very interested in everything they had to offer. Staff was kind, patient, and knowledgeable. Sure, the whole place is small. But its inexpensive and, with the right attitude, a great way to spend a few hours. We will go back.

84fushey

This was such a wast there is hardly anything there first tank you see is the seahorses my kids were wondering why all but like 3 were sucked up at the top in the filter then you have the tank that you can touch a starfish and horseshoe crabs then the tank were you can pay extra and snorkel with a few fish then the grand finale a split tank with stingrays on one side and a few baby sharks on the other but the shark side is so crowded we didnt get to see them literally everyone but maybe 10 or so people were all crowded over the shark tank we waited for almost 2 hour before we gave up on trying to see the sharks everyone is huddled up over there because its the only cool thing they had Im assuming since I never got to look they allow way to many people in then they can handle it is a wast of 8 bucks per adult and 5 for kids IT would be much more enjoyable if they only allow 20 people in at a time

Isabel Massi

If I could give it less than 1 star I would... its like visiting a friends backyard with a fish tank and a large above ground pool. I cant even begin to express the amount of disappointment I felt after walking through the ticket offices door. It had a small tank with sea horses in it and another small tank with some horseshoe crabs and then a large above ground pool with some schools of fish (Ive seen more impressive fish at Walmart in the pet aisle) and then 2 pathetically small concrete tanks, 1 with 3 nurse sharks and the other with sting rays. Honestly it was sad to see the nurse sharks in such a small tank. It took longer to drive there than to see everything they had to offer. The term aquarium should not be used when describing this place. Its a joke and Im annoyed with myself for wasting gas, money and the 15 minutes it took to look at the fish.

Carrin Simmons

Very disappointing. There are 3 exhibits all of which are under tents. Right outside of the portable/ticket booth is a small tank with seahorses about the size of a residential tank and a larger open holding tank with horseshoe crabs and sea stars. The "snorkel experience" is a large above ground tank which reminded me of a oversized above ground pool with a few random fish. The last exhibit is two rectangle side be side tanks that held a handful of small stingray and 3 sharks. At best the entire experience took 10-15 minutes. The owner explained the project is in "phase one" and the other phases planned are to include buildings with larger tanks and more sea life. Possibly the opening should have been postponed until all phases are completed. At its present state the cost of admission and drive are not worth it.

Brittany Brookshire

Today my fiancé and I did the snorkeling adventure! The only trouble we had was when we first got there... We called this morning to ask about making an appointment but we were told that we could just show up anytime before 4! So we show up around 2:30 and the very nice girl at the desk asked if we had an appointment and we told her we did not. Then she told us that we had to make an appointment and they were full for the day... So, we talked to the manager (I believe) to just tell him about the situation so no one else had to experience that as well. He was so nice and squeezed us in last minute!!! We really appreciate everything they did for us today! WE LOVED SNORKELING! The staff was great and the experience was amazing!!! We are going to try to go back tomorrow but this time we will make an appointment!