Ocean Institute — Attraction in Dana Point

So couple things:

It's not a museum or aquarium, but rather a maritime education center, so they don't have a ton of tanks/exhibits. They do, however, have a number of interactive exhibits, plus a few tanks throughout the grounds that houses some neat local marine life - sharks, coral, etc.

There is also a path on either side of the Insitute that leads to a really cool look-out point with benches and a jetty that you can walk along. It is free to the public and the institute generally has regularly scheduled tours throughout the day.

It gets very busy during the week as they have lots of programs for children such as summer camps and sleepovers. Not all the exhibits are always available during the week as the campers have dibs on them! So best to call beforehand if you have something specific you want to see.. Everything is generally available on the weekends.

They also maintain two tall ships (exact replica's of 1800's tall ships) and an exploration vessel that makes frequent departures (bio-luminescence evening cruises, whale watching cruises, etc.).

Additionally, there is an annual fundraising raffle where you can win a million dollar laguna beach home - the tickets are $150 but they include a free individual membership with a single ticket and a free family membership with the purchase of more than one raffle ticket. There are also bonus prizes the earlier you buy your ticket, and you qualify for more prizes with purchasing more than 1 ticket. So definitely worth doing if your going to be buying a membership anyway.

Finally, "Baby Beach" is right near the institute as well; which is a protected, netted, white-sand beach in the corner Dana Point Harbor that is great...

We went here with my school. The service was not great. We had to wait awhile due to us being early. Then we put our stuff in our room. We got to hangout on the beach. And we did many activities I personally didn’t enjoy. Dinner was around 6:00 if I remember correctly. After dinner we stood up till 9:00 doing activities and we got a hour to set up our mats and get ready for bed. They made us sleep on thin mats on the floor with little room due to around 40 of us coming. There were no glass in the window only a curtain.In the morning they gave us a mere 30 minutes to get ready. The breakfast was bagels with cream cheese. I was at the back of the line so I only got enough cream cheese for half of a bagel. They were yelling at us to hurry up or else we can’t go on the boat that we paid to get on. My teacher complained that if they wanted she could pick up the food so we wouldn’t be 10-20 min late (as I said was just bagels and cream cheese due to our subway sandwiches were late) we got on the boat late and it was pretty boring. When we got off the boat we went to the beach then were locked in the beach for 5 minutes and then they called someone to open the gate. We were rushed out 30 minutes early due to the other group already getting there. There is much more that happened that I cannot confirm because I was in a different small group. I would not recommend this experience and and here is a direct quote from one of my teachers “this is the most unorganized event I have been to” who has been a teacher for...

My wife and I went to the Tall ship Sail festival 9-12-21. Is there such a thing as having too much fun? Not really. After all that has happened over the last 2 years, this festival screamed "have fun now". Large crowds, fantastic shuttle service, sailing on the ships for the "canon battles", helping hoist the main sail!! So many activities for everyone, even the children. Overhearing families talk about experiences, their children talked about what they did and the fun they had. This was what was needed, not to be missed. Even the those that worked for the Ocean Institute were friendly, loved to interact with the visitors. Thank you Jim for talking with us before the sail event and even looking us up after the event, asking about our adventure. This meant a lot too my wife and I. I was told about programs and camps for children and youths during the summer. Worth checking out parents. Fun was what the doctor ordered, I was not disappointed and would love to do it again in an heartbeat.

The only con was, (not their fault), was the food trucks. Now that was disappointing. Basic food for the cost of an arm and leg!!! Was not anywhere near worth it. Better to have brought your own food. We had the BBQ food truck, something "down" in the title. How bad it was, I forgot the name. 44 dollars for 2 sandwiches and 1 order of fries. The fries was the only good thing, basically from the season salt seasoning.

Otherwise, fantastic time!!!!!! Beautiful place!!...