Virginia Aquarium - Virginia Beach, Virginia - large public aquarium with 700,000 gallons worth of tanks


The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Museum, formerly previously known as The Virginia Marine Science Museum, is the largest aquarium in the state of Virginia. In addition to two buildings that house 300 hands-on exhibits and numerous aquarium tanks, the Virginia Aquarium features a 3-D IMAX theater with a six-story high screen, a nature trail, a ten acre marsh habitat and an outdoor aviary. The Aquarium is a popular destination for families and school groups, with over 500,000 visitors annually.

The aquarium's two main buildings are the Bay and Ocean Pavilion, which houses exhibits of aquatic life indigenous to Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, and the Marsh Pavilion, which features a macro-marsh and an outdoor aviary with an outdoor deck.

Among the most popular exhibits at the Virginia Aquarium are the Harbor Seal Pool and the Norfolk Canyon Aquarium which houses five sand tiger sharks, as well as other sharks and rays that live in the coastal waters of Virginia. The Bay and Ocean Pavilion houses sharks and stingrays in the Norfolk Canyon Aquarium, loggerhead, Kemp's Ridley and Green turtles in the Chesapeake Light Tower Aquarium. There are touch pools where visitors can get up close and personal with horseshoe crabs and stingrays, and exhibits where guests can learn about oceanography and other ocean sciences. Special highlights originating at the Bay and Ocean Pavilion include the Behind the Scenes Harbor Seal Tour and a Seal Splash, where visitors can get in the water with harbor seals and get to know them flipper-to-flipper.

Visitors can make their way from one building to the other along a 1/3 mile long nature trail that wanders through a salt marsh habitat and features an observation tower for visitors to get a tree-top view of the marsh. In good weather, museum and aquarium staff man education carts with activities and information about the animals and plants along the trail.

Inside the Marsh Pavilion, visitors can take the big view - the very big view - in the Macro-Marsh, which magnifies marsh plants and inhabitants up to ten times life size. The most popular denizens of the Marsh Pavilion are the playful river otters who have been residents of the Aquarium for almost 13 years.

The Virginia Aquarium offers a number of up close and personal encounters with some of their star attractions. In addition to the Harbor Seal Tour and Seal Splash, visitors can also go behind the scenes with the great Sea Turtles, or take one of a variety of boat trips and harbor cruises. The most popular cruises are the Dolphin Watch and Whale Watch Sea Cruises, 90-minute tours out on the open sea in quest of humpback and fin whales and dolphins.

Summer hours are from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily. Seasonal hours vary. Admission varies with age and membership. Some features require additional fees. For more details about admission and hours, contact the Virginia Aquarium at 757-385-FISH (3474).

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