I showed our Visit to the Hatfield Marine Science Center on my Instagram Stories a couple of days ago and got so many questions, I figured I would do a quick blog post! I’ve been going there for so many years – since I was a kid! – that I just figured most people knew about it!
The Hatfield Marine Science Center is located in Newport Oregon. It is actually right next to the Oregon Coast Aquarium – just located behind it. When driving to the Aquarium, just keep driving and you’ll find it!
The best part is it’s FREE! You can give a donation, but no one is hovering or asking you for it (they have a kiosk near the entrance you can give at, if you choose). It will take you maybe an hour to see it all.
At the entrance, there is usually an octopus in a big tank. These Octopuses are usually brought to them by fisherman, and they rehabilitate the octopus to release them back into the Ocean. This visit was the first time they didn’t have an octopus! Apparently, they released the one they had back and didn’t have a back-up/haven’t gotten a new one yet! So they had some Skates in the tank.
Next, they have touch tanks. You can touch starfish and anemone. This is always a big hit with the kids! They also have tubes to listen to different sound waves. The Tsunami tanks are probably my kids favorite. The different tanks allow you to build buildings and see how they stand up to different types of waves. It’s pretty cool!
There is an auditorium where they show videos. We’ve never watched one in there though!
The big room tends to vary and changes almost every visit. There are always several tanks of fish to look at – including the fish with one eye (not sure how many years it’s been there, but it’s got to be getting pretty old!) The cave/fish area actually changed this last time too. The cave area was always the same for many years, but was different this trip! I was surprised. There are interactive displays and lots of fun things to play with throughout the room! Lots to explore.
There is another room near the entrance/exit and what is in there seems to change. This time it was about fish in aquariums that you purchase in pet stores. There was a coloring area for kids in there too.
There is also a small gift shop and a pressed penny machine.
It is a great, FREE, educational, and fun way to spend an hour or so with your kids!
