Everything You Need to Know for a Day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) in Clearwater, Florida is a rescue and rehabilitation facility for marine animals. It is located about a half mile from Clearwater Beach, directly on the inshore waters.

A day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium aims to educate visitors about the many animals found in the waters as well as the threats to these animals. A day at the facility also brings visitors up close to the sixteen animals at Clearwater Marine Aquarium which call this place home.

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Trainers and caretakers provide education to the public by way of open training sessions, short lectures at the animal habitats, personal tours, and by answering questions throughout the facility.

On all of my visits, I have found the staff extraordinarily well-trained, informative, knowledgeable, passionate, and friendly. From the time I pay admission to the moment I leave, the staff always goes out of their way to engage me and answer my questions.

Like all rescue facilities, the ultimate goal at CMA is to rehabilitate the rescued animals and return them to the wild. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. These animals find a permanent home as one of the resident animals of Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

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Some animals are well-known. Winter, the star of the  Dolphin Tale movies, lived here until her death in 2021. Hope still does. Others live here as well – Nicholas, the dolphin; Wally, the otter; Ricky and Matthew, the pelicans; and Mavis, the sea turtle.

They all provide stories that speak to the carelessness of humans in the animals’ natural habitats. It is this lesson which CMA gently teaches. It’s impossible to spend a day here listening to these stories and not walk away with a renewed resolve to help clean up the waters they call home in the wild.

History of Clearwater Marine Aquarium

The Early Years of Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Clearwater Marine Science Center (CMSC) began in 1972 when a group of volunteers established Clearwater’s own permanent marine learning center. They set up the nonprofit organization; however, it wasn’t until 1978 that CMSC had a permanent home.

That year, the city of Clearwater donated an abandoned water treatment plant to the nonprofit. The old facility was perfect, with a waterside location and enormous holding pools. Renovations began, and in 1979, CMSC officially moved into their new facilities.

In 1980, the USDA granted CMSC a USDA research facility permit which enabled the non-profit to construct two 65,000-gallon pools to rehab turtles and dolphins. The first exhibit room, a collection of old exhibits from Sea-O-Rama, opened in 1981. The old exhibits included a mounted fish exhibit from the Clearwater Marina. During these early years, CMSC operated largely with the help of volunteers, donations, and a summer camp run by marine biologist Dennis Kellenberger.

Rescues Begin

In 1984, CMSC rescued a dolphin which had stranded itself on a sandbar in Tampa Bay. According to the Dolphin Communication Project:

“If a single whale or dolphin strands, it usually is a very sick (and exhausted) animal. Such an animal often has some infections…”

This was the case with the dolphin who would be known as Sunset Sam. He was rehabilitated but could not be released due to chronic liver problems and poor eyesight. Sunset Sam learned to paint as part of his training and enrichment. CMSC sold Sam’s artwork – canvas paintings, hats, t-shirts, and tote bags – to help fund more rescues.

Name Change to Clearwater Marine Aquarium

As CMSC gained popularity and credibility, the public areas and educational programs increased and expanded. In the 1990s, CMSC changed its name to Clearwater Marine Aquarium to indicate it was open to the public. Recent rumors have floated around in the last couple of years that another name change might come soon. The change in public perception towards captured and trained wild animals has been cited. CEO David Yates told the Tampa Bay Times in 2017:

“We are not a traditional aquarium and never will be. We’re about rescue, rehabilitation, and education.”

Rescues Continue at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

The aquarium has rescued, rehabbed, and released hundreds of animals in the past 30 years. In the early years, Sunset Sam shared his pool with female, Sybil. Though she was captured by the Navy and not a rescue, she was deaf and not releasable so she made her home at Clearwater Marine Aquarium for two years before her death in 1993.

Panama, another dolphin, came to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in 2001 for long-term care. She was rescued near Panama City Beach and determined to be non-releasable because she was deaf. Panama lived at CMA until her death in 2013. She was estimated to be close to 40 years old. Her rescue and rehab likely extended her life well beyond the typical 25-year lifespan of wild dolphins.

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Nicholas, the facilities oldest male dolphin, was rescued on Christmas Eve 2002. At the time, veterinarians estimated his age at 6 months. He and his mother, Noelle, were found beached on a sand bar in Tampa Bay, her from illness, him because he followed her. Both had severe sunburns across their bodies.

Noelle died from respiratory illness three days later, leaving Nicholas to be treated, cared for, fed, and raised by the staff at CMA. He could not be released back to the wild because of his young age at the time of rescue – he had no survival skills, normally taught to young dolphins over several years by their mothers.

In 2004, Clearwater Marine Aquarium rescued Indy from nearby Indian Rocks Beach. He was stranded and severely wounded by shark bites. A piece of one of his tail flukes was missing. Indie received his short-term care at Mote Marine Laboratory because CMA lacked triage space.

Three months after his rescue, Indy returned to CMA to live, deemed unreleasable by the National Marine Fisheries due to his inability to swim well and hunt. Indy and Nicholas shared a pool until Indy unexpectedly passed away in 2011.

Clearwater Marine aquarium’s most famous residents, of course, were Winter and Hope. Winter became one of the animals at Clearwater Marine Aquarium after her rescue in the Florida Keys. At just 2 months of age, she had become so entangled with rope from a crab trap that the blood supply to her tail flukes was cut off. She lost a vital portion of her tail. Working with her trainers and veterinarians, a prosthetic company created a prosthetic tail for her, enabling her to swim more comfortably and develop her musculature in a more normal fashion.

Her story was documented in the major motion picture, Dolphin Tale. Winter became an ambassador for CMA and the fight against ocean pollution. Her spirited nature inspired millions of people around the world. Sadly on November 11, 2021 at around 8:00 PM, Winter passed away from a severe gastrointestinal infection. Hope continues to live at CMA.

Winter’s poolmate, Hope, was also two months old when she was rescued. Found orphaned in the Indian River Lagoon, trying to nurse off her dead, beached mother, Hope found her permanent home at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in 2011. Like Winter and Nicholas, Hope could not be released because she had not learned the necessary survival skills from her mother. The sequel, Dolphin Tale 2, documented Hope’s journey.

Besides dolphins, CMA also rescues and rehabs sea turtles, sharks, Pelicans, otters, and other marine life. Turtles, by far, are there most prevalent rescue, rehab, and release.

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A Day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

This Saturday rose brilliantly blue like only a Florida day can. Facebook reminded me of the Tampa Bay resident discount at the Aquarium, so I packed up my camera equipment and solar charger for a day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Arriving at 10am when the Aquarium opens, I expected it to be empty. It wasn’t. A short line of cars met me at the entrance to the parking garage. The guard passed us through quickly with instructions to pay the parking ticket at the admission window. I found a spot on the 2^nd floor, grabbed my gear, and headed to the first floor to buy my admission.

Families with young children and babies in strollers stood in both the purchase and Will Call lines. CMA was also offering a military discount this weekend. It seems a lot of other people had the same idea I’d had. Though located on the first floor of the parking garage, the lines for tickets moved at a good pace. To ease the wait, displays show prototypes of Winter’s tail and marine ecosystems in this part of Florida. I paid for my admission, declined any add-on activities (such as the Dolphin Experience or boat ride), and made my way out of the garage.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is expanding. It needs that expansion. Construction on a large plot between the garage and the facility means visitors walk for a few hundred from admission to entrance. A shuttle does run between the two for those who have trouble making the walk.

I opted to walk and along the way struck up a conversation with a staff member heading in for his shift. He explained the construction – new dolphin tanks, more exhibit space, entrance from the second floor of the garage directly into the facility, and a manatee tank where Nicholas currently lives.

Construction should be finished in 2020. He answered all my questions, friendly, unrushed. I experienced the same level of attentiveness from all the staff I encountered. In this age of customer service horror stories, it’s refreshing and a testament to the hiring, training, and leadership at CMA that all the staff displays the same level of superior customer service.

The Facility

Spoiler!

It’s small. Really small. I heard the comment, “It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be,” more than once. If you’re expecting a ginormous, sprawling facility like Disney, SeaWorld, or Busch Gardens, you’ll be disappointed.

Spoiler!

It’s utilitarian in design. The second floor, where the most popular animals are housed, is open to the hot or cool breezes of Florida, cooled only by giant fans. However, even on this hot late summer day, it wasn’t hot in those open areas. Remember, this is a converted water treatment plant. It wasn’t designed for visual pleasure.

What CMA lacks in size, it makes up for in pure educational quality. The triage spaces, the training sessions, the animal habitats, the storage rooms, the operating room, the “kitchen” – they are all visible to the public through wall-sized windows and open ceilings. Large plaques with information adorn the walls. There is staff everywhere ready to answer questions though more often engaging the public before questions are even asked.

I spent time reading Winter’s story, printed on a series of wall plaques along one open hallway between her tank and the outdoors. I watched her play with water spraying out of a hose. Hope, meanwhile, dragged a raft around the tank. She eventually abandoned that and joined Winter to play with the water hose.

I watched Mavis, the turtle, swim laps in her pool. Beside her, in the adjacent tank, Wally the otter, swam lines back and forth across his tank. He swam one stroke on his belly, one on his belly, one on his back. I decided the otter is my spirit animal; I love swimming the same way. The other otter, Cooper, passed earlier this year. When I asked if Wally missed him, the staff member at the otter tank told me they had never spent time together because male otters are very territorial. Wally’s trainers had reported no change in Wally’s behavior.

I waited until the pelican show ended then watched them preen or sleep on their manmade nests. The staff member there patiently answered my questions despite just finishing a show. The pelicans at Clearwater Marine Aquarium cannot be released for a variety of reasons.

Ricky, born in captivity, performed in movies until her retirement when she moved to CMA (just like people!) Her mate, Matthew, though healthy, cannot be released in the United States because these pelicans are not a native species. These are African Great White Pelicans, and their release into Florida’s environment could wreak havoc on the native ecosystems.

Another one was found in a wilderness area in central Florida, injured, likely released by someone who had kept her as a pet. The two pairs of pelicans perform their ritual mating behaviors but are not allowed to breed. This restriction ensures their will be no captive-born pelicans at CMA.

Done on the second floor and with time to kill before Nicholas’s training session, I ventured the dark halls on the first floor. Beside the gift shop, kids and their parents crowded around the stingray tank for a chance to feel their slippery soft wings. 

Beyond the touch tank, divers hand-fed turtles in the turtle tank. Turtles who cannot be released live in this tank with a variety of saltwater fish. Visitors can ask questions of the divers with small white boards and markers beside the tank’s large windows. Divers carry whiteboards as well and can answer the questions while feeding the turtles.

On the first floor on this side of the facility, I also saw the reef and shark exhibit with urchin and hermit crab touch tanks. This is where the moray eels, Scarlet and Spot live as well as the nurse sharks. 

The first floor also contains the operating room, kitchen, diving equipment storage, and turtle triage. 

When Nicholas’s show came around, he didn’t feel like engaging with his trainers. After several minutes of attempting to get his attention, they called it quits, explaining that the choice to participate is always his. This time, he chose not to play along. I spent a few minutes watching Hope and Winter then browsed the gift shop.

I spent nearly three hours there, not quite a full day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. When you go, be sure to catch all the shows as they provide invaluable information about the different animals.

If you have kids, definitely don’t miss the stingray touch tank or the sea urchin touch tank. The gift shop, of course, is a must. If you crave snacks, you can bring your own as well as water or purchase them from the Shark Bite Cafe. 

Clearwater Marine Aquarium opens daily from 10am to 6pm except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Besides regular entry to the aquarium, visitors can add on a number of “experiences” for an extra fee. These include a boat tour, the dolphin experience which brings you in closer contact with Hope, personal tours, and photo packages. 

FAQs About Clearwater Marine Aquarium

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Final Thoughts: Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Dedicated to the rescue and rehab of injured marine animals as well as research, Clearwater Marine Aquarium presents a unique opportunity to learn more about the animals in the seas all around us. Kids and adults alike will find the activities fun and informative. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, spending a day at CMA is definitely worth it.

Looking for other animal experiences in the Tampa Bay area? Explore ZooTampa, one of the best zoos in the country, or visit one of these places to see manatees.

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