Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center — Attraction in Santa Cruz

Wow. This is a great place if you like nature and the oceans. Last time we were in SC we saw the building under construction. So this time we had to check it out. Definitely worth planning an hour or two. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Not just about the Exploration center. They are a great resource for all of what one can do in terms of nature and wildlife up and down the coast. For the center itself: Watch the 17 min overview. Maybe a bit over dramatized for some tastes, but great images and amazing close up videos of marine wild life. Makes you feel that this is a very special place. The next highlight: You can operate an ROV (remotely operated submarine vehicle) yourself. This is a pretty cool experience, challenging but fun. And the rest of the exhibits are also well worth it. Admission is free. But if you can afford please...

My daughter and I went here to enjoy the learning part of the experience. However, since this is our second time for some reason the man upstairs was very rude to us. She is 2 and was not touching anything she shouldn’t touch. They had little bins of rocks and shells to touch the textures and feel. I had her feel a rock they had out. Just to have her feel what it felt like. He came up and grabbed it from us and said no it stays up here. I told him we weren’t doing anything wrong and being gentle. Why are these here then? It’s a learning experience. He was so rude and didn’t want us there. Beware of this old man upstairs. He’s grumpy and doesn’t like toddlers or younger children. We won’t be back and he should be replaced with someone who interacts and is happy. He sits upstairs and just reads National Geographic and...

It was a nice "introduction", so to speak, to your Aquarium down in Monterey (to which I've been myriad times and always want to go back when I go to Monterey), and, to me, would entice people that have not been to the Aquarium to want to go. (For that reason, I'm glad this little Center is free, although I was happy to give a donation, as were, I noticed, virtually all other visitors.) Although I had no children, I was glad to see that there were a lot of interactive displays that drew the children to them. I loved seeing the parents showing the children through a lot of the displays and explaining the displays to them. Overall, the center was interesting to me; I enjoyed it. I thought that the volunteers were very engaging: friendly, and wanting to reach out, so to speak, to the attendees...