Seattle Aquarium

Home of weird and wonderful creatures!

Seattle Aquarium is the best place to get up close with Puget Sound marine life and a giant Pacific octopus, touch tide pool creatures, and enjoy award-winning marine exhibits.

The Seattle Aquarium is located on the waterfront on Pier 59. It's an easy walk if you are seeing the city on foot, and it's within the bus system's Ride Free Area. The Waterfront Streetcar also goes right to the Aquarium from the International District, Pioneer Square, or along the waterfront.

Favorite Seattle Aquarium Exhibits

Window on Washington Waters

This is a 20-foot by 40-foot window into a 120,000 gallon showcase of native Washington and Puget Sound marine life. Modeled after Neah Bay's rock blades, it is filled with salmon, rockfish, sea anemones, and other sea life. Three times a day divers enter the showcase. They are able to talk back and forth with the visitors and answer questions. This was a favorite of my third grade students!

Life on the Edge

This is probably the favorite exhibit of most visitors, especially kids. There are two large pools filled with tide pool life from Washington waters. Visitors are able to reach in and touch creatures such as sea anemones and sunflower sea stars. Charts are available to help you identify the different types of sea life, and aquarium naturalists are on hand to answer any questions you might have.

This is really a fun exhibit and my boys liked to get in up to their elbows!

Life of a Drifter

The world's largest octopus, the Giant Pacific Octopus, lives in the depths of Puget Sound and there's one at Seattle Aquarium. You can get an up-close and personal look at the one that lives in this exhibit. Try to be around at feeding time if you can.

The Ring of Life is a 12-foot high crystal ring full of swimming and floating Moon Jellies.

Pacific Coral Reef

The Pacific Coral Reef exhibit is a 25,000 gallon tank that demonstrates the structure of the reef community. Hundreds of warm-water fish and sharks drift through a large, coral reef. Divers enter the tank at regular intervals to feed the fish. You can walk around the tank to get different views. And yes, this is where you'll see the Nemo look-a-likes aka clownfish!

Ocean Oddities

You can see some of the more unusual creatures in this exhibit such as cowfish and dragon fish. They have quite a few potbelly seahorses - fascinating creatures that float gracefully in the water.

Puget Sound Fish

From the colorful to the bizarre, this exhibit shows off the variety of sea life that lives in our own waters in Puget Sound. Their names are almost as entertaining as watching the fish themselves - split-nose rockfish, tubesnouts, pricklebacks, ratfish, sound and light-emitting midshipmen fish, and more.

Underwater Dome

One of Seattle Aquarium's largest exhibits, this is an undersea room that features a 360 degree view into a 400,000 gallon tank filled with all kinds of fish. Salmon, sharks, skates, sturgeon and others hover and swim over and around you! Divers enter the tank at 1:30 each day to talk and feed the fish.

Marine Mammals

Sea otters, harbor seals, and fur seals romp and swim in this exhibit. You can view the mammals on the surface of the water or from an underwater mammal viewing area. The otters are quite entertaining to watch! Seattle Aquarium was the first facility in the world to host a successful live birth of a sea otter.

Birds and Shores

The Pacific Northwest is home to an amazing variety of shore and swimming birds. At the Seattle Aquarium, there are three habitats on display where you can observe some of these birds up close. My favorite thing is to watch the feeding of the tufted puffins. Small fish are tossed into the water and the birds dive underwater and swim down to catch them. It's a unique opportunity to watch a bird swim underwater!

Seattle Aquarium Parking

The Aquarium is located at 1483 Alaskan Way on Pier 59 on the waterfront. There is metered parking along the waterfront and underneath the Alaskan Way viaduct. Metered curbside parking is free on Sundays in downtown Seattle. There are also two parking garages, Republic Parking Hillclimb Garage and the Public Market Parking Garage, located across the street from the Aquarium. You can get $1.00 off your parking fee at the Republic Parking Hillclimb Garage by getting your parking ticket stamped at the Aquarium's customer service desk.

Hours

• 9:30am - 5pm daily
• Thanksgiving Day - 9:30am-3:00pm
• Christmas Eve - 9:30am-3:00pm
• Christmas Day - 12:00pm-5:00pm
• Open regular hours on all other holidays.

Tickets are available at the entrance of the Aquarium. If you plan to visit some other major Seattle attractions, consider a Seattle CityPASS. You'll get admission to six attractions at a discounted rate, and you can skip the ticket lines!

For Educators

The Aquarium is a nationally recognized aquatic educational center. When I was teaching, I took my class here every year, and it was always our favorite field trip. They have all kinds of curriculum guides available for download, and you as the teacher can visit ahead of time to plan your field trip. There are classrooms where an Aquarium naturalist will teach and guide your class on a particular topic. We always did the Tide Pool Class. They would bring out plastic containers with a variety of tide pool animals for the students to observe closely and touch. This was usually the highlight of the day!

Aquarium Cafe

In 2007, Seattle Aquarium added a beautiful new Aquarium Cafe and coffee bar that offers a view of the New Puget Sound Great Hall and Window on Washington Waters exhibit. There is also an outdoor balcony with a view of Elliott Bay. The majority of items on the menu are under $10. You can also bring your own sack lunch.

Let Leonard In

In 2007, the Seattle Aquarium launched a new advertising campaign. It featured an ordinary goldfish named Leonard who wants to swim with the exotic fish in the aquarium. There were posters, radio and television ads, and occasionally two or three "protesters" with signs outside the entrance to the aquarium. They were very clever ads and Leonard quickly became a celebrity with his own YouTube videos and Facebook page, and website. It was one of my favorite websites and very creative! The campaign was an overwhelming success with Leonard getting more that 60,000 votes from fans. He moved into his own exhibit in September, 2010, and is now the Aquarium's "official greeter". Look for him when you visit!

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Looking for a Seattle Aquarium coupon?

• Space Needle
• Pacific Science Center
• Seattle Aquarium
• Experience Music Project
• Argosy Cruises Harbor Tour
• Woodland Park Zoo OR The Museum of Flight

I recommend the Seattle CityPASS - it will save you 51% off these 6 attractions, plus you can skip the lines. You'll save money if you go to at least three.

If you have other places on your list too, try the Entertainment Book for Seattle.

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For more information about Seattle Aquarium exhibits, events, and educational opportunities:
(206) 386-4300
www.seattleaquarium.org