Guests of all species can now enjoy Clearwater Marine Aquarium's expansion
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Clearwater Marine Aquarium is well known in the Bay Area as a marine animal rescue facility. Now, after 14 years in the works, guests are beginning to enjoy a brand new expansion that opened last fall, in the middle of the pandemic.
Kelsy Long with Clearwater Marine Aquarium says they now have five times the amount of guest space, a brand new visitor center, welcoming area, café, and retail center. They also have a brand new underwater viewing spot for their five amazing bottlenose dolphins, in conjunction with the above-water viewing area, Dolphin Terrace.
"Ever since Winter came to us, it’s been our vision to open a new facility that was specially made to fulfill the dolphins’ needs." Long explained, referring to the aquarium’s most famous resident.
CMA has five brand new pools in total, including a medical pool that holds 1.5 million gallons of water. This is three times the space that they had previously, allowing them to improve quality of life for rescued animals and give them more room to move about.
This spring, the aquarium also has a new exhibit called ‘Whales: Living with Giants.’
CMA partnered with NOAA on the exhibit, which features life-size whale displays throughout their entire fourth floor. The 20,000-square-foot exhibit is also showcases VR technology that offers people a virtual reality experience of swimming with humpbacks.
The whale exhibit runs through August 31.
LINK: Learn more by heading over to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's website.
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