The North Carolina Aquarium is located at Fort Fisher in Kure Beach about fifteen miles south of the Wilmington city limits. It’s a great place to take the kids for a day of learning and fun! The Aquarium was established to promote an awareness, understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the diverse natural and cultural resources associated with North Carolina’s ocean, estuaries, rivers, streams. The drive to the aquarium takes you on a road that runs parallel to the ocean’s shore, through the town of Carolina Beach, and past all the shops and restaurants of the quaint beach town.
The aquarium features a 235,000-gallon saltwater tank and the theme of the aquarium is The Waters of the Cape Fear. Showcased are both fresh water and salt water aquatic life including sharks, starfish, stingrays, grouper, sea snakes, lionfish, cuttlefish, sea horses, jellyfish alligators, and much more! The Coquina Outcrop Touch Pool in the Coastal Waters Gallery allows visitors to reach out and touch whelks, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs and other sea critters. At feeding time divers in full gear feed the sharks and other fish while answering questions from under water! The aquarium is also home to Luna, an extremely rare albino alligator. You can also meet a prehistoric shark at the Megalodon Exhibit. There is something to interest everyone here. On the way out you can visit the gift shop to take home a stuffed alligator or shark of your own. Visit the snack shop outside for a popsicle or cool refreshment for the walk along the trail alongside Venus flytraps and other rare and exotic plants.
The aquarium is open 362 days a year, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, it is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Tickets are $6 per child, $8 per adults, and $7 for senior citizens.
-Kathryn Jeffreys