48 Best Sights in USA

This small but beautiful oceanfront aquarium features a 235,000-gallon saltwater tank that's home to sharks, stingrays, and a Goliath grouper and green moray eel. There's a touch tank with rays, a room of glowing jellyfish, an albino alligator, and turtle ponds. Kids love the life-size replica of a megalodon shark and enjoy the daily feeding times and animal encounters. 

A 306,000-gallon habitat for sharks, fish, and a sea turtle—built around a replica of a German submarine (sunk nearby in 1942)—is the largest aquarium tank in the state. There's also a tank with a replica debris field of Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, and a river otter exhibit. But the biggest standout of this location among the three major North Carolina aquariums is a 0.6-mile nature trail that winds through a wooded peninsula until its terminus on Bogue Sound, with nearly 360-degree views of the marsh and water.

Occupying 68,000 square feet of space overlooking Croatan Sound, this modern aquarium includes exhibits on sea turtles, shipwreck marine life, and wild wetlands. The Graveyard of the Atlantic—a 285,000-gallon ocean tank containing sharks and the re-created remains of the USS Monitor, which sunk off Hatteras Island in 1862—remains the centerpiece exhibit. The aquarium hosts a slew of activities and field trips, from feeding fish to learning about medicinal aquatic plants and participating in a workshop on injured sea turtles. It also manages the 1,000-foot-long Jennette's Pier in Nags Head.

Along the waterfront at Fort Worden State Park, the small but informative center is divided into two sections. The marine lab and aquarium building, in a former World War II military storage facility at the end of a pier, houses several aquarium displays, as well as touch tanks with sea stars, crabs, and anemones. The museum has displays detailing the region's geography and marine ecology, including one of the only orca whale skeletons in the country. Beach walks, cruises, and camps and other programs are offered throughout the summer. There's also a visitor center downtown at 1001 Water Street containing a gallery with additional exhibits and a gift shop.

Glide underwater (no need for a wet suit) through a winding tunnel exhibit that's longer than a football field, where sharks of all kinds and exotic marine creatures, including poisonous lionfish, moray eels, and an octopus, swim over and around you (or below you, if you spring for the glass-bottom boat tour). Children can examine horseshoe crabs and stingrays in touch tanks, and two of the newer residents are a pair of two-toed sloths. There are also add-ons, like the up-close 30-minute, $90 Penguin Encounter. Admission discounts are available when combined with the price of Ripley's Ocean Boulevard attractions.

This 1.4-million-gallon saltwater aquarium highlights the wonders of the underwater world. You can get up close and personal with a penguin, pet a stingray, share space with 12-foot-long sharks swimming in overhead tunnels, and stick around for the dive and feeding shows. Groups that include 10 or more children can schedule a sleepover with the sharks!

Formerly located in tight quarters at Easton’s Beach, the aquarium run by local conservation group Save the Bay is now prominently sited at the Gateway Transportation Center, making it the first stop for many Newport visitors. The aquarium exclusively features marine life found in Narragansett Bay; the residents of touch tanks and created habitats ranging from shorelines to salt marshes and eelgrass are returned to the Bay after their temporary stint educating and entertaining visitors.

On the waterfront and at the edge of Liberty Bay Park, Western Washington University's small but well-designed marine center and aquarium is jam-packed with exhibits of local sea creatures. An intertidal touch tank lets kids feel sea anemones, sea urchins, and starfish, while other displays house crabs, jellyfish, and plants. Puppets, puzzles, murals, and videos help youngsters learn more about what they see.

Offering an educational and interactive underwater experience, the aquarium is home to more than 5,000 creatures from over 350 different species and combines active hands-on learning with educational talks, and chances to come face-to-fin with amazing sea creatures including sharks, octopus, and rays. The walk-through exhibits focus on creatures found in local waters including California lakes and streams and the cold-water marine animals that live along the California coast. Don't miss the newly themed Coral Beach, where guests can explore an underwater ocean tunnel or witness a shark feeding. The aquarium has a separate admission from LEGOLAND, although you can upgrade your LEGOLAND ticket to include the aquarium.

Some 5,000 creatures including sharks, stingrays, eels, and a giant octopus call this underwater menagerie home. A 165,000-gallon tank with a 360-degree viewing tunnel is the first of its kind. Who says there's no water in the desert? Buy a dual ticket with the adjoining LEGOLAND Discovery Center and save on admission.

Dolphins leap and spin, and penguins frolic at this marine-life attraction 15 miles from Waikiki at scenic Makapuu Point. The park has a 300,000-gallon Hawaiian reef aquarium, a breeding sanctuary for Hawaii's endangered honu (sea turtles), penguin and Hawaiian monk seal habitats, an aviary, a seabird sanctuary, and many more marine attractions. Sign up for a dolphin, sea lion, or reef encounter to get up close and personal in the water with these sea creatures. The park also has its own luau show.

A fun and educational adventure for all ages, this aquarium boasts more than 250 species and 3,000 sea creatures in 160,000 gallons of water. It also has the city's only walk-through underwater ocean tunnel, where you can safely get up close and personal with about 500 sea creatures. Stingray Bay has five different species of stingrays, while in the freshwater habitat, you'll see native-to-Texas creatures. One of the best features of Sea Life is the way the exhibits are constructed low enough to the ground so that even small kids can get a good look (and it saves family members from having to hoist them up). The interactive rock-pool is a kid-friendly favorite, with a Sea Life expert giving fun facts about the touchable creatures. The aquarium holds educational talks and feeding demonstrations throughout the day; be sure to ask about them as their timing may vary.

The first thing you hear at this small but fun 1930s-era aquarium is the clapping and barking of the dozen-or-so harbor seals just inside the door (which you can feed). Located on the 1½-mile beachfront Promenade, the aquarium has jellyfish, giant king crab, octopus, moray eels, wolf eels, and other sea life swimming in more than 30 tanks. The discovery center draws curious kids and grown-ups alike for its hands-on touch tanks of starfish, anemones, and urchins, as well as for a close-up exploration of the most miniature marine life. No restrooms on-site.

Part of the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences, the center looks more like a research facility than a slick aquarium. Interactive exhibits demonstrate how scientists study the ocean, and the aquarium displays creatures of interest to marine biologists. The 87-foot blue whale skeleton is one of the world's largest.

Get up close and personal with more than 5,000 creatures at this waterfront attraction, where exhibits invite you to journey through distinctive habitats. Step into the Mountain Forest and find water splashing over a rocky gorge as river otters play. Enter the open-air Saltmarsh Aviary to feed stingrays and view herons, diamondback terrapins, and puffer fish; gaze in awe at the two-story, 385,000-gallon Great Ocean Tank, home to sharks, jellyfish, and a loggerhead sea turtle. Kids love the touch tank, and the Sea Turtle Recovery exhibition makes the celebrated sea turtle rehabilitation hospital accessible to all visitors.

Although it's not on par with larger facilities in Tampa and Clearwater, this is certainly an entertaining and interactive attraction. There are some good exhibits, including a 120,000-gallon shark tank complete with a coral reef. (Divers feed the sharks several times daily.) Also look for tropical fish exhibits and a tank where you can touch baby sharks and stingrays.

On the grounds of the former Modena Plantation, the University of Georgia runs this aquarium with revolving exhibits about the state's coastal wildlife and ecosystems. Kids love the touch tanks featuring creatures from tidal creeks, the ocean beaches, and the open waters of the continental shelf up-close. The sea turtles are especially popular. Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the fresh air after visiting the aquarium, and don't miss the nearby nature trails and ADA-approved salt marsh boardwalk.

This small yet fun attraction harbors more than 3,500 organisms and 500 species of Hawaiian and South Pacific marine life, including an endangered Hawaiian monk seal and a zebra shark. The Living Reef exhibit showcases diverse corals and fascinating reef environments found along Hawaii's shorelines. Check out exhibits on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (explaining the formation of the island chain) and Ocean Drifters (about various types of jellyfish). A 60-foot exhibit houses sea horses, sea dragons, and pipefish. A free, self-guided mobile audio tour is available via your own smartphone. The aquarium offers activities of interest to adults and children alike, with a focus on the importance of being eco-friendly and keeping our oceans clean.