Seymour Marine Discovery Center Reviews

we used to go here when our kids were smalls. it has grown a lot, more facilities, and a large room. the whale skeleton is still there. excellent space for a wedding & reception! 12/10 rec.

Great small aquarium. Perfect size for smaller kids so you can look at everything and not get overdone. There are tanks where you can touch sharks, anemones, and other creatures. The outdoor section is beautiful and the giant skeletons are incredible. You can easily see everything in an hour!

Great views of the ocean, and some cool marine life inside. It is, however, very small, with only a few different tanks inside. Definitely not a full fledged aquarium.

Amazing panoramic ocean views. Awesome marine mammoth skeletons. Fresh air. Nice gift shop.

What an awesome place! Going to definitely bring grandkids here. How often do you get to pet a shark??

Great place to go, I would extremely reccomend you go on the tour offered, the volunteers are very nice. The volunteer we had was very helpful in answering our questions and would insist on it. I would love to have longer tours becauss of how interesting the tour is and how nice the volunteers are.

What a wonderful experience! So many hands on exhibits that are educational and fun for all ages. The volunteers are full of information to share at this fascinating marine lab. Beautiful outdoor area with excellent ocean views. We even watched pods of Grey Whales close to shore with their calves on their migration north.

Fun place. They have a good collection of animals, but the best part is the comics on the wall. They are golden

A small aquarium to explore, but fantastic marine life to see and fun touch tanks

Not much to see. Probably best for a budding marine biologist.

Perfect for families with small children. The sea life is incredible here! I learned so much about marine life and the price is really affordable. Gift shop had really cool beach glass items. Loved it.

amazing, ken was the name of our tour guy and he was just spectacular he give us a lot of information and answer all our questions

I have lots to learn when it comes to marine biology and the like. This is a very informative center and it is well organized. Never cease learning new things when it comes to sea creatures.

There a lot to learn and see. The people I took really enjoy themselves.

It's a small place but definitely do the tour to get a walk around back to see the dolphins. The skeleton is the main attraction of course, but the aquarium inside is great for kids, with a touch tank and thoughtfully laid out displays.

Nice little museum. Aquariums. You can touch various underwater animals. Interesting. Worth a visit if you are in the area or it is on your way.

Whent during the week with the kids, Did the tour it was really personalized as it was not as busy and got to see some of the marine life there. My kids had a blast!! (Ages 3-13). Pricing was very economic. Awasome personnel that really cares.

Ranks with fish and swell sharks and a great view from the cliffs, etc. Very educational.

This little aquarium is great for little kids. It has a lot of hands on exhibits for them, fulfilling their sensory inquiries. The trail behind the center is fun to explore too!

My kids really enjoyed the hands on experience touching sea creatures.
Learning about the whale skeleton was pretty neat.
The dolphins were just ok. Can't really see them but the views there are amazing.
What I liked the most is the volunteer Judy. She was so good to us. Took her time to take my kids around and tell them in detail about all creatures. Loved that.
There is 3 hour free parking with admission, so dont pay at the parking booth. Take a pic of your car plate and enter into tablet as you pay for your admission.
The gift shop needs some attention. We waited to pay for 3 toys and noone showed up so we left.

Great way to spend a day with the kiddos. After the visit, go down to the beach for a picnic.

the aquarium itself is not very big but the view and the tour are great, at the tour you can see the dolphins and a seal. and get an amazing view to a private beach

Have sharks that you can pet, sea urchins, and a 6 legged starfish. Really fun exhibits.

In this museum there are different samples of the species that are in the area of the Bay and ocean of the sector, in the different stands there are interactive samples and data explained by the museum staff.

Our guide was more interested in promoting political views than the wonder of the scientific animal world.

Come here to see the skeleton of whales and seals, gives you a new perpective. That is outside a free. And a great view of the ocean. I've never been in museam yet, maybe that would get extra star.

Cool place to take the kids and have fun and learn things as well good family time!

It wasn't open but we were able to explore outside and loved what we saw!

Nice small aquarium with beautiful view. A little pricey for the size/scope of exhibits but your money goes to a good cause. Kids will have fun petting the sharks.

It is very nice place to visit specially with children. You get an opportunity to touch and view various live marine creature. And the included guided tour is very informative.

This place has pretty much nothing to show. It's over priced. I would not recommend this place to anyone. They are rude, and mistreat their volunteers.

My wife and I have 2 kids and we love Santa Cruz and this is generally one of our stops. It is simple easy yet has a lot of entertainment for the kids. Highly recommend checking this spot out

Great tours, nice and informative with nice tour guides and marine life. Indoor exhibits are like a mini aquarium with sea stars, fish, kelp, crabs, jellyfish, anemones and even a couple sharks.

Beautiful place and great for kids! Welcoming staff superior experience all around.

A great venue for children of all ages to learn about marine animals and see and touch some. Still I find that it's a bit pricey for what they offer but still worth to see at least once. Their volunteers are great. They hold a full blue whale skeleton.

Interactive and educational fun for the whole family. Friendly, knowledgable and helpful staff, too!

It was a very thorough tour
. Nice place. The dolphin tank made me sad, it's small and so close to ocean. Just felt bad. The workers and scientists are doing a great job, with the tools they have.

Very informative and nice place to view different Pacific animals

Beautiful setting. I have volunteered there for years. A good cause. My fellow volunteers are dedicated and interesting people. One of my favorite places to be.

Was good until , they showed us the dolphin they were studying , kept in a tiny pool it could barely swim around in. And was told no photographs or people would get the wrong idea. Dolphin just floating in one spot pretty much lifeless, and he said they have toys to keep him stimulated. If your not doing anything wrong then why hide it? Dont go to this terrible place. I should have taken pictures anyway s so everyone could see how appalling you treat mammals. What a joke.

If your science minded this place is really fun. Certainly not like the massive Monterey aquarium but that's the point. Small exhibits, scientific info on the region and you get to to touch the swell shark. You'll have to ask how the shark gets it name.

Beautiful location right at the ocean. Great hands on activities for kids.

Marine Science is my favorite. I totally geeked out thw whole time i was here. My kids had a lot of fun too. They got to hold a hermit crab and touch a shark! I hope to be going back again soon.

Nice experience, tour was good and interactive. Not a lot of crowd so kids and parents both can enjoy peacefully.

Best place to come and discovery life other than humans. Rainforest life, aquariums, climates, and creatures from different geographical locations around the globe are yet to be explored by both young and old. For an enjoyable afternoon of curiosities come to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

BEWARE: If you make a purchase from the online auction that requires you to work with the donor to make arrangements, the Seymour Center WILL NOT honor any agreements made with the donor, even though they tell you to make the arrangements with the donor! They also do not make this policy clear when you make the purchase. I purchased a trip through the online auction for the Seymour Center. I was so excited to be able to provide such a large donation as I live pay check to pay check and this was a great opportunity to donate to a great cause and also have a wonderful experience. That all changed when the donor told us they had to hold off on making plans for the trip as their condo group recently decided that they may not allow folks to sublet. I am a reasonable person and understood, not knowing it would ultimately take over 6 months to hear back if we could even go on the trip. We contacted the donor SEVERAL times, with no response or extremely delayed response. It got to the point were we had to contact the Seymour Center to get them involved. They failed to return my wife's email, so I called and left a voicemail. The Seymour Center staff did not return my call to discuss this situation, instead they replied 3 weeks late to my wife's original email. They did not even apologize for our experience, their delay, nor seem to want to seek a reasonable solution. Instead they told us the Seymour Center did not have to honor agreements made with the donor and they were mot reasonable for providing a refund. I was completely shocked. My wife and I have made several donations to the Seymour Center over the years, we have also volunteered and helped to clean up events. I am completely sick to my stomach over this treatment and SO SO SO sad that an organization I cared about is treating us this way. Please beware that it is clear that this organization does not care about it's donors, unless of course, your donating thousands, not hundreds.