Curaçao Sea Aquarium — Attraction in Curaçao

My husband and I were at the Sea Aquarium on November 13th. We chose the Animal Encounter experience, and were really well-satisfied with it.

We arrived a little before 9 a.m. and had two hours alone with a guide, who took us through the experience with the lemon and nurse sharks and the sting rays. We learned a lot about the sharks and rays, and also got a lot of information about the Aquarium itself, and the conservation and environmental work they're doing, as well as the research they're involved with. We love how they've been recovering a healthy sea life environment alongside the aquarium, and the work the owner has done reclaiming the land for the beautiful beaches and mangroves.

We had such a great time. We enjoyed walking around the aquarium, and getting a look and reading about some of the local fish and animals, as well. And we stayed long enough for the dolphins and their training demonstration, which was delightful (I really loved seeing how much performance was going on when the dolphins were alone in the lagoons, just PLAYING without any trainers around - they were just having the best time). I even got a dolphin kiss, which was very special.

We were so delighted with the living environment of the large fish, with the natural lagoons and the time they get in open waters. It seems very, very healthy for them. It was a terrific day, and we'd happily recommend it to anyone.

Feeding the sharks was really very cool (and safe!), and...well, having a stingray lying in your lap and letting you pet her? That...

Curaçao Sea Aquarium was a great experience, a 15 minute taxi ride away from Cruise ship terminal, entry fee as of writing was around $15 pp, well worth it.

Entrance was fast, you get armbands and you're good to go, we first stumbled upon the water tanks inside with small/medium fishes, there were a great variety of them with information on each tank, there were also flamingos which were beautiful, some people tried touching them and they went for a bite so watch out 🤣 they were mostly just vibing, sleeping and relaxing.

There's a section were you can interact with starfish and even manta rays, after that we went to the dolphin show and it was spectacular, it lasted about 25 minutes NOTE: there is no shade, bring a hat and maybe sunglasses, I knew before hand and went ready, the show was spectacular, the connection the dolphins and trainers have is great, the dolphins did tricks and jumped on command, they are beautiful creatures.

After that we went to the submarine, it was small but fun to go in, it has an air conditioner which is great to cool off lol, that specific day they were cleaning the windows so I took some great pictures, after that I kid you not we fed sharks, they let you feed 1 fish to a shark for free, if you want to feed them more and interact more with them is an extra cost, it was fun to feed them, however watch out for pelicans because they snatched a couple of fishes.

Overall, highly recommend the aquarium, it was cheap, fun and close to the...

Wow, you need to do the Animal Encounter! And book online in advance online ;) Ray, Alex, and Zerik were the best!

For non-Curacao residents, the Aquarium is $15usd and it's a pretty good deal. The exhibits are pretty good and you get a dolphin show, you can go in a stationary boat and look at the fish under water. Of course there is a small food court and a souvenir shop. But the $65usd Animal Encounter is where it's at!

The small, engaging crew will educate you and make you feel comfortable in the water and with the animals. You'll get fitted with snorkel fins and a mask. I would recommend this for people that are comfortable using a snorkel mask. On entry we were greeted by a huge and gentle sting ray that rubbed against us. Then we snorkeled around the enclosure where there were a LOT of fish. The enclosure has fresh water that flows in so small local fish come in. Enclosed is a school of large tarpon that were very calm and a little curious lol. The exciting part was feeding the nurse sharks. There is a fence that separated us from the nurse sharks and lemon sharks. The lemon sharks kept their distance as the nurse sharks wanted their breakfast. They sucked the food out of our hands through the fence safely, but you can feel their strength. After feeding we got to enjoy the enclosure for a while longer before chatting with the crew...