Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center

I have always been fascinated by aquariums.  When I was younger, I wanted to be an oceanographer…that is until I found out that most oceanographers actually got off the boat into the ocean.  Being bizarrely afraid of ocean animals that might attack me, I quickly changed my career path.  My love for all things water has never dissipated and now my children are also mesmerized by even a tiny fish tank.  If I find out that there is an aquarium in our destination city, it moves up to the top of the list of places to visit.  We have been to huge aquariums, we have been to humble teeny tiny aquariums, and we have been to everything in between.  The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach ranks at the top of my list of favorite aquariums right next to the Baltimore Aquarium.

The first thing I noticed was that admission into the aquarium was fairly reasonable.  They have a special package that gets you aquarium admission, an IMAX movie, and a Creek Cruise for only $22.50 (adults) or $18.50 (children).  We chose to just get admission to the aquarium because of time constraints.  When you arrive at the aquarium, you purchase your tickets and the first thing that you get to is the huge beautiful wall of nothing but beautiful fish and other sea animals.  My two kids could have sat all day in front of this tank. 

We saw sea turtles, sharks, otters, harbor seals, and rays. 

There are many hands on activities throughout – the kids got to touch horseshoe crabs, rays and a skink. 

I loved this aquarium because so many of the exhibits concentrate on the marine environment of Virginia.  It was a great way to learn more about the area that my sister was moving to. 

There is a boardwalk in between the two buildings where you can spot some more wildlife. 

Beware though…the website states that the boardwalk is about a ten minute walk.  With small children, it is definitely longer than ten minutes.  After much whining, we ended up heading back when we hit the halfway point 20 minutes later.  We were mainly worried about the walk back.  We were afraid that the kids would not make it back if we walked all the way!

A few of my favorite things about the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center:

• The Osprey Cafe – We didn’t have a chance to grab lunch before the aquarium visit so we ate at the cafe.  The prices were reasonable and the food was good. 
• Crowd Control – The layout of the aquarium lends itself to large crowds.  It was very crowded but as we wandered through the exhibits the only sections that got bottlenecked were at the touch/interactive exhibits.
• Large Exhibits – The exhibits are all very large…the touch pools are huge and the aquarium windows are gigantic.

A few things that fall under the “not my favorite” category:

• Parking – The parking is ridiculous.  Nobody was paying attention to the direction that you were supposed to go.  There is a second  parking lot directly across the street from the aquarium.  If we returned, I would go straight to that lot.
• Gift Shop – The gift shop is very small and super crowded.  If you plan on heading into the gift shop, leave the whiny kids outside or skip it all together.