Seaside Nature Center — Attraction in Delaware

We visited on Friday morning Labor Day weekend. We arrived around 8AM and brought our bikes to ride. We parked here and got on the loop trail and went most of the way down to Gordon's Pond trail, turned around, and came back. When we got back around 10AM, there were a ton more people here.

Not many in the visitor center itself. They do rent bikes out for free, and all you need to do is fill out a formal. There is a 2 hr maximum rental time. It's in a giant shed/garage in the parking lot, but forms are inside the visitor center.

The visitor center has a few wall exhibits and half a dozen aquariums, with each one representing different ecosystems around the ocean/bay. Lots of variety and large animals to look at. They also have a fairly large touch tank. Make sure to wash your hands before and after handling the marine life. Also, make sure to get all the soap off your hands before dipping them in. They have hermit crabs and horseshoe crabs and fish and snails you could touch.

If you walk further to the right, there is another room with seats that shows a video about the park on a loop. There are also 3 more tanks in here with snake and turtles.

There is also a gift shop with a good variety of goodies, including but not limited to appearal, pins, hiking medallions, patches, and key chains.

Right outside the front is also the seaside nature trail. We were planning to do the trail but it was very sandy. We didn't have the right shoes because we were biking the park.

You probably wouldn't need to visit it again unless you're a local and are here all the time. There are so many other things to do...

I found it very disturbing to see the two turtles on display in individual tanks, there was absolutely no enrichment, and no place to hide from the public and they were so distressed, as I looked in the tank, they hurried to the other corner. there was nowhere to hide. These animals live a very long time and are living in complete suffering, depletion of a normal life just so that they can be on display for people. I spoke to one of the Nature, Center workers and asked are these turtles here for a long time and they said yes to here for their whole life. I asked will they ever be released back into nature? They said no. Well turtles can live for decades. I told her that was inhumane, cruel and how it completely contradicts the message the nature center claims to be conveying, which is to respect nature and learn about nature. Well, in order to learn about these turtles, all they have to do is have a plastic model. I am going to write a letter and doubt if they will give a darn. I will never go back there again. I just can’t stop thinking about how those turtles are suffering. I mentioned it to a couple colleagues of mine who are also biologists like I am, they agreed with me at this kind of thing is inappropriate. The turtles should be released released into nature. That there is no excuse for not using a plastic or wooden model At the very least give them a large space to live in with a lot of enrichment and places to explore and hide. But I guess they don’t want them to hide because they want them to be visible all the time day and night 24 hours. Those...

This lovely little nature center is the perfect size for toddlers and young children. It has a little education room with tanks for native reptiles, a touch tank with several creatures including horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, and a few different fish, as well as several large tanks with local fish. There is also a little gift shop with clothing, stuffed animal toys of local birds and creatures, and books and pamphlets on native plants.

My toddler loved the touch tank and spent nearly an hour gently petting the different sea creatures. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if a staff member had been at the tank to tell the kids about the different creatures.

If you're in the area and have a nature loving child, I would absolutely recommend...