Tarpon Springs Aquarium and Animal Sanctuary

You are going to pull into this parking lot and second guess your decision to come here. And you're going to pull up the Google reviews and reassure yourself that this experience is going to be awesome, because it is. It's so easy to look at the outside and think this is a sad exploitative animal experience, but it's exactly the opposite. The staff are so knowledgeable, so great with kids, and so passionate about the rescue work that they do. The interactive experiences are so simple but so fun for children. Touching stingrays and turtles, walking into a lizard lounge, watching someone swim with sharks and feed crocodiles. It was a really great stop for 2-3 hours, and despite the stifling heat, it was very comfortable inside. We had to drag the kids and grandparents out of there to get lunch, but they would have stayed longer.

We've been past the aquarium a million times when they were at the end of the sponge docks, and we've driven past there a million times at their current location. We *finally* took three grandkids, and had a surprisingly good time!!!! We were there about three hours and kids didn't want to leave.

What a WONDERFUL experience!! We highly recommend it. We brought our 8 and 4 year old grandchildren who loved every minute of it. The shows were all great! They did a super job engaging the children. Buy the animal food and let the kids feed the animals. We all had fun doing that. The animals look like they are loved and well taken care of. I have passed the sign many times and didn't give it a second thought, but after the reviews, I thought we would give it a try, and I'm soooo glad we did. It's small but we all had so much fun. This is a family run business, and they work their tails off. It was a pleasure supporting this family business! We will be back!

This is a perfect place to bring the kids for an up close education about our local ocean life. They have a beautiful aquarium with various species of fish and enclosures with various species of reptiles. Very good group of employees that are informative and helpful. This is an impressive family business with its start by the sponge docks and now a permanent fixture and growing, off Hwy 19 in Tarpon Springs. I will be bringing my grandkids here. Can't wait to see what the future holds for this family business.

Can’t say enough wonderful things about this place! We went for their homeschool day, which was incredibly education and we highly recommend. Miss Paige was so knowledgeable, patient, and kind with all the kids. All the volunteers were so helpful and accommodating. We were a little timid with the turkeys in the petting zoo and they walked with us to shoo them away. We stayed for a couple shows and our little guys dreams came true getting to see the water monitor lizards. The sting ray tank was a big hit too, and those critters sure are friendly! I love the history of how it started and how it’s now run as a family. This has been a highlight of our time in Florida.