Miami Seaquarium

 

8

18

Bertha G.

Miami, FL

It has been close to 20 years since I had been to the Seaquarium.  It was nice to be there today...the weather was perfect and it brought back great memories!  The Dolphin Encounter was amazing....Lolita is exactly how I last saw her....a great place for families to take their kids.

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Elite '08

18

98

Shannon P.

Arlington Heights, IL

Swimming with Dolphins! Yeahhhh such a great time for those who haven't -this is a must.  

I went here on Christmas day and loved it.  You get into a wetsuit and learn from the trainers about Dolphin behavior.  They have you do some typical poses for the camera too for souvenirs. Sooo much fun.

The rest of the place is really not in that great of shape- However there are some other shows to watch and feedings.  Of course over priced park food and drink.; so make reservations for dinner somewhere else.

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0

1

Shelby P.

Bal Harbour, FL

First of all it is the dirtiest park that I have ever been to, and I've been all over the United States.

When I walked in I looked at my boyfriend and asked him "Are they serious?" it Is that bad. From that moment on things continued to get worse. Once you stroll around the paths coming off the entrance you get to the whale "stadium" it's more like a whale bathtub. I could not believe how small this tank was, it blew my mind. I found an employee walking around the tank and asked her "why is the tank so small?" and she responded "because it was built for when she was a baby." Then I asked her if they had plans to build another tank and she replied "no we don't have the funds, and she's been in this tank a long time she's fine." I later saw her during the whale show and she was Lolita's trainer. I could not believe my ears.I later learned that the whale tank is the oldest in the world and illegal by government standards for housing an orca. To make matters even worse Lolita the orca shared that tank with a pacific white sided dolphin as well.

Her show was tear jerking and left me infuriated that I had actually contributed my money to this horrible establishment. Her tank was only a little over twice as long as her and when she did her jumps she often hit herself off the bottom because it was so shallow.

Other than that the coral reef tank had salt water leaks coming from the viewing windows that formed algae on the glass where you looked in so you could hardly see anything on the inside. It was really scary when we were walking out of that building and you get wet because of a big leak squirting on you from the top of the tank by the exit. I actually thought it was a sprinkler to cool us off before we went outside, until I asked another employee about it and he said it was a leak.

The sea lions had a small tank and 2 out of the 4 we saw had absinthes on their face and we're really cut up on their face. It looked like it was from rubbing their faces on the side of their concrete enclosure. The dolphins had a normal style stadium that actually was in the best shape out of anything there, but they had so many dolphins jammed into it.

The food was expensive,nasty, and reheated. We ate at the Seaquarium Cafe and spent about $30 on 2 mini pizzas and 2 waters. Trash was floating all over the grounds because the trash cans were over flowing and the wind was blowing it out. They sold beer to me when I was only 20 without asking for ID.

You would be way better off driving an extra 40 minutes to Key Largo and going on a wild dolphin watching tour or driving to Marathon and visiting the dolphin research center where they actually take care of their animals and grounds.

YOU WILL LEAVE THE SEAQUARIUM DISAPPOINTED AND UPSET.

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Elite '08

52

143

Michael K.

New York, NY

As much as loved the water growing up, the Seaquarium was an anomaly to me.  Located in what I perceived as the middle of nowhere, I always looked forward to lots of neat animals with plenty to keep me busy.  But, I'd always get bored...there's lots to do, yes, but everything seemed so old, as if people were waiting for the place to fall apart so they could shut it down.  A nice variety of animals, though, and a great way to see some sea friends that would otherwise be impossible to find in the wild (on a side note, I did have the opportunity once to see a wild manatee surfacing near a pier on Fisher Island).

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9

206

Brian W.

Santa Clara, CA

PROS:  Lots of great animals.  Lots of shows.  We really enjoyed the two dolphin shows, the whale show, the shark feeding, and the sea lion show.  Not a very large place, easy to get around.

CONS:  Somewhat dated.  Not enough seating, not enough air conditioned areas, awful cheeseburger in the cafe.  Expensive drinks ($3 for Gatorade).  Not a lot of shade.

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Elite '08

27

821

JD N.

Miami, FL

I love marine life so I give this place a star than its actual worth. It's a dipilated facility with a tiny tank for the shamu whale (also a big point of controversy -- it was supposed to be expanded, rebuilt, or whatever to at least meet the minimum standard for a habitable tank for the whale, but that never happened). However, in Miami, there's no better place to see marine life all in one setting. Just ignore the poor state this old complex is in.

An interesting thing: They serve arepas from one of the kiosks in the Seaquarium.

Side note: I've never waded with the dolphins, but that probably would make me think extremely highly of this seaquarium. But this being Miami, near the Caribbean and all, they should have a world class facility anyways. For the best of the best, a drive to Orlando would have to be made to SeaWorld.

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9

58

Tom S.

Muskegon, MI

Miami Seaquarium is a decent sized aquarium with a nice selection of creatures, and some good shows to boot. Although pricey, the W.A.D.E. (Whale and dolphin exploration, you get to swim with dolphins) program is totally worth the experience.

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