St. Augustine Aquarium
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The St. Augustine Aquarium is a public aquarium located at 2045 Fl-16, St. Augustine, Florida in the United States. It opened in 2016, and houses over 250 animals.
attractions: Courtyard St. Augustine I-95, Quality Inn St. Augustine Outlet Mall, restaurants: SR 16 & Inman Road FSU, Bojangles, Zaxby's Chicken Fingers & Buffalo Wings, Dunkin', Burger King, Subway
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Description
The St. Augustine Aquarium is a public aquarium located at 2045 Fl-16, St. Augustine, Florida in the United States. It opened in 2016, and houses over 250 animals.
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DobDob
990
Very small and cheesy. this is a more personal thing but it's quiet in the check in/gift shop area and waiting is awkward. not very many tour guides so you get two options per guided tour. you can catch up with them and miss most of the tour or wait which normally takes 5-10 minutes depending. kinda expensive and you have to pay extra to touch and feed the animals..i believe both touching and feeding together is is 10 per person but if your doing both rays and sharks it's 20. (this is for feeding and touching). doing those options separately it's 5 per person for just touching and 5 per person for just feeding. it's already rather expensive. (we paid 75 just to look). An 'adult' is 12+ which i think is ridiculous considering you have to pay more if your an 'adult'. everything in the gift shop is also overpriced imo and the actual tour itself is a little boring if you cant feed or touch the animals. the decor looks like a backyard party (though I'm being a bit harsh). the animals themselves seem very happy, though. the enclosures are a little dirty depending on what your looking at but they overall seem very pleased in their closures. the feeding is also very cool but we did not get to because 20 a person to feed and touch both rays and sharks does not seem worth it. the employees were very fun though and i liked being able to ask questions and have interactive questions or activities. this place is great if you have very little kids that are easily entertained but not great for teens or adults that get bored easily. still, it was a very cute experience and i like that it wasn't just your normal aquarium. lots of entertainment for your kids. š¦ š
Kiara SmithKiara Smith
20
Don't go in thinking this is your typical aquarium and you will not be disappointed. This is a very small, young business that appears to be still getting off the ground but has a lot of potential. I think it would be a great time for families and young children. We went as a group of adults because we found a coupon for snorkeling, it was much different than I expected but still a good time and would recommend it, especially with a coupon. General entry buys you about an hour-long tour of the place with a guide that explains some of the invasive species to Florida as well as some native species to the area. The tour was very informative and you can tell the guides really know their stuff and have a passion for marine biology. You also get to see some pretty decent size nurse sharks, stingray, and grouper up very close which was really neat. We paid for the snorkeling which was in the same tank you get the tour of with general admission, except you get to swim around with the fish and one stingray for about a half-hour. This was a cool experience as schools of fish would surround you and nibble on your wetsuit. The guide on this portion gave us a few facts but covered most of the same info as the tour during general admission. All in all, it was a good experience and I hope this place continues to grow and develop.
Cody ParksCody Parks
40
Very small, friendly staff. It wasn't very expensive. It cost me around $30 for the 3 kids and myself. You enter into a small trailer that was a shop and ticketing. You enter out of the back. The area is all outside so plan accordingly for the weather. As you exit you the first tent you approach has 4 things to see with 2 more being built the day we were there (2/24/19). There was a small assisted touch thank with 5 different types of creatures that you can one finger touch with the assistance of the staff. In that area there are two other tanks and a shell guessing station. Where you put your hands into a covered box and try to guess what kind of shell it is based on the board they had with the types displayed. The two tanks on display had one with seahorses and one with a puffer type fish. Then you move onto the biggest tank where they do the snorkeling ($39 includes admission). This tank is large around 50' in diameter and 5' - 6' deep. It has a large variety of fish with a couple smaller but very curious sting rays. Moving on you walk to the next tent where there is a lower tank about 3' - 4' tall, 25' wide and 40' long. It is separated into two sections with a physical barrier between the two keeping the animals apart. In one side is 3 Nurse Sharks and a small Goliath Grupper. On the other side is various types of sting rays. One large who liked to swim along the side and flap one of his wings out of the water. It was entertaining. They do a shark demonstration where they teach you about the sharks and the grupper. They also do a feeding and and allow you to buy a ticket to feed them yourself. You purchase the tickets at the snack shack that wasn't open the day we went but there was someone in there selling the tickets. That person told me they were good for 4 pieces of food each however during the actual feeding they were really only good for 2 pieces and one is assisted by the instructor. Not a huge deal but a discrepancy. There was also two sandboxes where the kids can dig around for shark teeth. Over all we spent around 2 hours there hanging out for as long as we could. It was cute but could use more attractions.
Darryl HooverDarryl Hoover
10
Your enjoyment of the fledgling St. Augustine Aquarium will be greatly influenced by your expectations. If you're looking for Sea World or the Georgia Aquarium, keep it moving sister! We're not there yet. Not even close. Like most of its watery residents, the attraction is still in its infancy. For starters, there is no permanent structure. Save a few temporary buildings that house the ticket office, gift shop, restrooms and snack bar, the aquarium - as it stands today - is an all-outdoor experience. Each of its five current exhibits is housed in an outdoor compound under large sun shades. You also won't find an impressive abundance of marine life. Three nurse sharks, four sting rays, a school of fish, some gnarly lobster, a tank of sea horses, a couple horseshoe crabs and a handful of assorted fish comprise the aquarium's first residents. It's easy to understand how uninformed visitors left wanting more. But that's not to say the upstart attraction is without its merits. In fact, the combination of quaint, distraction-free atmosphere and knowledgeable, engaging staff made for a thoroughly enjoyable hour for me and my Littles (though longer would have been a stretch). My Curious One enjoyed the touch tank, where a marine biologist was on hand to let him gently stroke and study a horseshoe crab. My Adventurous One immediately negotiated with me for a ticket ($5) to feed the nurse sharks which was, undoubtedly, the highlight of the visit. Had the sign out front read "Future Home of the St. Augustine Aquarium," I feel confident visitors during this soft-opening phase would have appreciated the experience for what it is -- a small taste (or touch, rather) of great things to come. We look forward to visiting again in a year's time to see what the future holds.
Dixie PunskyDixie Punsky
50
A for effort, but honestly have seen more variety of fish at pet stores. Should be named "Florida Native Saltwater Fish Tour". Had to wait 20-25 minutes before the guided tour started. The tour guide must have been in training, some of the information they gave was incorrect. The first part of the tour, a tent, not a permanent structure, had 4 rather small aquariums in it (for an "aquarium attraction"). First tank had large fish in a cramped aquarium, while 3 small Starfish and some no-show horseshoe crabs were housed in the more impressive larger rounded tank. The second part of the tour had the diving reef aquarium with the larger fish in it. It was more of what I expected all of the habitats to look like, and would have greatly improved the experience if that were the case. The fish in this tank seemed healthy and very active, and interactive. The tour guide seemed to know more about this tank than the rest of the tour animals. This was the best part of the tour. The shark and ray tank could have been better with more lighting as you could barely make out the inhabitants in this tank. Overall, unique experience we will probably not go to again, not because it was bad, but it just failed to impress on execution. Staff was friendly, everything was clean. Yes there was algae in some of the tanks, but it's Florida, algae grows in rainwater there. You can't keep algae from growing in healthy outdoor ponds.
Brad CollinsBrad Collins
00
Nearby Attractions Of St. Augustine Aquarium
Courtyard St. Augustine I-95
Quality Inn St. Augustine Outlet Mall
Courtyard St. Augustine I-95
4.2
(438)Click for details
Quality Inn St. Augustine Outlet Mall
4.1
(390)Click for details
Nearby Restaurants Of St. Augustine Aquarium
SR 16 & Inman Road FSU
Bojangles
Zaxby's Chicken Fingers & Buffalo Wings
Dunkin'
Burger King
Subway
SR 16 & Inman Road FSU
4.4
(794)$
Click for details
Bojangles
4.1
(1.1K)$
Click for details
Zaxby's Chicken Fingers & Buffalo Wings
4.3
(287)$$
Click for details
Dunkin'
4.2
(591)$
Click for details
Reviews
Overview
3.8
(876 reviews)
Phone
(904) 429-9777
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Website
saaquarium.com
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