The Wetlands Institute — Attraction in Middle Township

This was a happy accident on our trip to Sea Isle City, NJ. I was looking for places to eat for dinner with my mom and daughter, saw "The Wetlands Institute" on the map, and got mega excited. I took a biology trip the summer of my 8th grade year to Wallops Island, VA, and have been in love with wetlands ever since. So, we went to the institute and sat for their "Creature Feature" on cephalopods. The woman who presented did an excellent job considering many in her audience were less than four feet tall and didn't care about how much noise they made or if they sat in each of the 50 chairs during the presentation. We were able to touch some of the whelks and other mollusks and watched a few fun videos about different cephalopods.

The gift shop was cute and we purchased a little octopus puppet and earrings. They had some lovely birding books and cute pins, among other goodies.

In another building on site, we were able to learn a little bit more about the wetlands in the surrounding area as well as the migration patterns of some birds that pass through. There was also a shy octopus in one tank and a few other creatures to see in another. My daughter loved all of it.

Finally, we discovered that you could do sunset tours on kayaks through the wetlands (I believe it was $55 pp). Our tour guide was great and took us around and through several different areas. We saw some osprey nesting areas, lots of gulls and because of the time of year, we saw a lot of terrapin turtles peeking their heads out of the water as we passed by.

The Institute itself was a wonderful experience and though I cannot remember the name of the company that provided kayaking tours, that was an incredible time as well. Trust them when they say to wear bug spray and sunscreen! There's no escaping the bugs and sun out on that water. Still well worth it to learn about such a vital and...

We decided to come here in the afternoon and it was a bit cloudy but still beautiful. The flower garden walking up to the building is beautiful and I got a great picture of a Monarch butterfly last summer.

The front desk employee was very nice and gave us an explanation of what was going on and how to find Gary the octopus (he is really cool!)

We went to the observation deck which gives an amazing view. It was fun going up the spiral stairs 😆

We went to the aquarium area where Gary is and there were some really cool displays and unique organisms. There are colossal whale bones you can touch too. I liked seeing the spider crabs who I found out actually will put seaweed on themselves! I remembered collecting them as a kid and seeing they always had stuff on them so this was cool to learn.

There was an excellent lecture on horseshoe crabs and a live one was shown! They had the blood! And it’s blue!!! I can’t remember the figure but the blood is ridiculously valuable she said 15,000 for “x” amount but can’t remember the amount, it wasn’t huge lol

I got to touch the horseshoe crabs shell and learned about their mating behavior which was quite interesting. As a bird lover it was also interesting being reminded on just how important the eggs are for migratory birds.

We’d seen it before but didn’t make it to the turtle room. Apparently they didn’t really have many at the time anyway. But they have Diamondback Terrapins (NJs one and only sea turtle!) that they will rear from (usually roadkilled) mothers. They are so cute.

The lecture concluded and we bought a few things from the gift shop. They had really nice wood pins that featured their name and and animal. It was a great experience and fun...

Lovely stop especially for people with young children. The Wetlands Institute did a wonderful job showing and educating us about the area. They go into great detail to show the ways in which human interaction affects the wildlife around the site. Their staff was very informative. We attended the Marsh Tour and Animal Feedings, both presentations were included in the admission price. We were able to see the feeding of their resident octopus and aquatic life as well as took a nice guided walk on a raised platform through the marsh learning about plant and animal life. An emphasis is put on conservation of the terrapin turtle populations. We were lucky enough to be there during a hatch and saw a few babies making their way from land to the marsh. Numerous hands on activities were present for young and old alike. Greg Maccarone was our guide that day and his presentation and interaction with the guests really was exemplary. Having a large group of people outdoors on a trail and making sure everyone can hear you as well as stay engaged can be difficult but he did a top notch job at it. I do birding walks at other places and it always seems if your not right next to the guide your missing out. Hats off to...