Tide Pool and Aquarium — Attraction in Dana Point

Micro Aquarium and museum, about the real estate of a 4 car garage. Very clean, well kept and wonderful staff. Has a few small tanks with eels, sharks, spiny lobsters and tide pool. No touching them, not a petting zoo. You could spend 20 min to an hour in here looking at the exhibit and kids would love this. Free and next to the beach. It is about the size of an exhibit section in a normal Aquarium. They also have taxidermy wildlife and bones of sharks and whales on display. Pretty dang cool!

For those giving it 4 stars or less, what are you expecting for the small size? Do you want a full size amusement park and for free? It's definitely 5 stars. If you aren't sure they are open, give them a call or something.

And worth a 30 minute drive for sure to check out before or after church or on the way to brunch or coffee or beach.... or a stop on the way home to kill time from traffic. I love and appreciate this place. They have a little gift shop too.. help support this little gem for future generations and future visits.

P.s. there are some overweight squirrels outside at times....

This free little state park aquarium/interpretive center is worth a visit. Inside you will find a small tide pool tank with sea stars, guitar fish, sea urchins, and even shark eggs (if you are there when they have them. There are five more tanks with eels, lobsters, leopard sharks, and fish. The rest of the place has taxidermy native species and bones of animals found in the area. You can see a history of animals presented. It may be a small center, but there is still much to see and children love to...

It's a small place, but for the size there was quite a lot to see. There were croakers, calico bass, and a sand shark in the tide pool tank. The aquariums had eels, lobsters, and sharks. The rest of the displays were taxidermy of local animals such as coyotes, squirrels, skunks, and various types of birds. You can visit for 5 minutes or half an hour depending on how much detail you want to get into it. Also, there's a butterfly garden next door. Unfortunately, we didn't see any butterflies...