Tour Florida’s Best Aquarium, Miami Seaquarium
The Miami Seaquarium, situated on 38 acres in Southern Florida, has been one of the state’s top tourist family attractions since 1955. It has been in full operation everyday since the gates were opened for the first time, making it the longest operating oceanarium in the United States. In staying with its tradition, the park is open 9a.m.-6p.m. seven days a week. The shows do vary day to day though depending on the weather and the behavior of the animals.
The Miami Seaquarium houses many different species of aquatic wildlife for your viewing pleasure. The oceanarium currently has shows with sea lions, dolphins, and killer whales.
The new and improved dolphin interaction program is one of the few like it of its kind. You can actually jump right in the water with the dolphins and take a swim with them! The first of the programs available is the Dolphin Odyssey.
You will receive a short lesson on dolphin behavior before heading out to the shallow end of the water tanks for some hands on experience.
Here you will be allowed to touch, feed, and even get to test your hand at training with the supervision of the Mammal Training Staff. If the behavior of the animal is right and you’re comfortable, a deep water experience is also available. The charge for this kind personal experience will run you about $189 per person.
If you’re not feeling quite that daring, you can always settle for the Dolphin Encounter. It matches the Dolphin Odyssey in content, but with more persons per group and a guide rather then the training staff. You can also save a little bit of money too. This event will cost you $139 for adults and $99 for children. The most entertaining of the dolphin shows is best watched from up in the stands. Everyday the troops of bottle nosed dolphins jump and fly through the air doing an amazing aerial show that looks to defy gravity. You are also able to go down below to the viewing tanks and see the dolphins swimming along as they would in their natural habitat. If you’re lucky you might even get to see one of the many babies born in the Seaquarium every year.
Dolphins aren’t the only entertainers available at the Miami Seaquarium though. The sea lion shows are said to be funnier then a television sitcom. These beautiful ocean animals have been trained in performing a perfect comedic act for your family. Nobody can forget the killer whales housed here! Lolita, a killer whale in captivity, is the headline performer always packing the stands full at every performance. It’s amazing to see a whale actually “walk on water”. You have to see it to believe it. There are dozens more exhibits for you to walk through and even a newly added crocodile enclosure that gives you a close look at the world’s last dinosaurs!
Miami Seaquarium
4400 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
(305) 361-5705
