4400 Rickenbacker Causeway
Key Biscayne, FL
(305) 361-5705
www.miamiseaquarium.com
Hours: open daily from 9:30 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
Admission: $23.38 for adults and $18.06
for children 3 to 9. Remember, the Rickenbacker
Causeway toll will set you back $1.
Since
1955, the 38-acre Miami Seaquarium has been the
primo marine park in South Florida, whetting the
appetites for tourists with a hankering for
creatures from the sea not served with lemon juice,
drawn butter and a sprinkle of paprika.
The Seaquarium is home to plenty of aquatic
superstars from Flipper to Salty the sea lion and
Lolita, the killer whale. It also offers scads of
sharks at the Shark Channel, numerous manatees, and
reef-animal exhibits. The Tropical Reef Aquarium,
for example, holds 750,000 gallons of briny water
and nearly as many radiantly colored varieties of
reef fish. The park also offers a “Faces of the
Rainforest” exhibit which merits attention, as
does the “Discovery Bay” area for children.
What tourists to the Seaquarium don’t know
and probably won’t get to see is that, besides
taking its responsibility as a place of marine
education and entertainment seriously, the
Seaquarium also fulfills a humanitarian function.
For years, park personnel have nursed back to health
thousands of marine animals, from diseased whales
that mysteriously beach themselves to manatees
sliced pitifully by boat propellers and pelicans
injured by fishing line, beer can holders and other
debris thoughtlessly discarded by careless boaters
and fisherman. The Seaquarium, in its exhibits,
preaches responsible stewardship of our natural
resources and practices it as well.
