The Florida Aquarium in Tampa Florida tour and review

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa Florida tour and review
Where are we today that the kids are jumping out of the stroller in excitement to see?
Today we are checking out The Florida Aquarium in Tampa Florida for the first time. We are teaming up with our friends The Adventures of Ean and Sean and we cannot wait to see what’s inside.
Located in the Channel District of Downtown Tampa, The Florida Aquarium opened in March 1995 as a privately funded entity and became a public-private partnership when the city of Tampa assumed responsibility for its debt in 1999. In April of 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed the Florida Aquarium on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
Previously known as the Clearwater Marine Science Center and located in Clearwater beach, Tampa approved the new downtown location in 1992 and it opened in March of 1995.
Say hi to our friends Ean and Sean. They are our good friends who also love travel and adventure!
If you like Jellyfish The Florida Aquarium has you covered. There are touch tanks you can experience and the gift shop is full of them. The expansive shop features all sorts of things from clothing to keepsakes and gives you something to take home to remind you of the fun you have
The Florida Wetlands Trail shows you some of the natural environments you can find in florida, from the Suwanee river to the important mangrove eco system. Mangroves protect our shorelines from the damaging storm and hurricane winds, waves, and prevent flooding. They prevent erosion by stabilizing sediment with their root systems and maintain water quality by filtering pollutants and trapping sediments. You will see many native fish and birds such as the Florida catfish and snowy egret. These are beautiful and biologically diverse. Seeing them in person is amazing but seeing them indoors with ac and no mosquitoes also has it’s place.
Here we have the Stingray exhibit. Here you will find the Cownose Ray, Southern Stingray, and Blue Spotted Ribbontail Ray. None of these graceful creatures have bones, like sharks their skeletons are made of soft cartilage. Many have a venomous spine on their tail for defense.
There is a lot for the little ones to do here at The Florida Aquarium. There is a no bones touch tank, some shells to climb into and dippin dots for a mid play break.
Some of the best times here can just be exploring freely with friends.
Sea turtles are an important part of the Florida eco system. These beautiful creatures eat jellyfish which prevents the blooms that can be harmful and keep sponge populations down providing habitat for coral.
There are 7 species of sea turtles in the world and each are threatened by habitat loss, altered feeding grounds, trash and being caught by mistake. The Florida Aquarium rescue team has rescued and returned hundreds of sea turtles
You can check out a gallery of Florida’s birds in between exhibits.
There are photobooths about the aquarium so you can capture the fun in a one of a kind photo session. The kids love this!
There are more than 2,000 species of jellyfish in the world and you can find many in Florida’s waters. Jellyfish have no brain, heart, eyes or bones. The have a bag-like bodies and stinging tentacles. There are invertebrates who use their tentacles to stun or paralyze their prey. They’ve been around millions of years, even before the dinosaurs and are found in warm and cold waters. They are an especially tasty meal to sea turtles.
Sharks do not have bones either, like stingrays their skeletons are cartilage. They are hypothesized to have been in the ocean for 455 million years.
Here we have the native Florida Ian. He has been around for 5 years and his diet consists of goldfish, chicken, and pizza
There are so many tanks that will catch your eye and so many sea creatures to learn about. It is amazing.
It looks like Ean has made a friend!
They may look scary but everything here has it’s place in the ocean.
There is a 4 d theater you can check out
There are tons of structures to climb, slides to go down and all sorts of fun water activities to check out for every age level.
It’s time to eat!
After lunch we are checking out Journey to Madagascar! You can meet one of the aquariums resident lemurs, Annie, Emmy, and Remmington.
The Madagascar tortoise is endangered. Journey to Madagascar looks over the Wetlands trail and the large dome overhead makes it look airy and expansive. It gives the area a nice immersive feel.
We had an absolute blast spending the day exploring The Florida Aquarium. There is still a lot we haven’t yet seen so we will be back. The conservation work that they do makes this an especially great place to support with the family. Thank you to The Florida Aquarium and The Adventures of Ean and Sean and can’t wait to see what’s next!