Alabama Aquarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Loved this little aquarium. It is pretty small, but there is lots to look at and you can spend an hour in there at least. We LOVED getting to pet the sharks and sting rays. Super cool! We spent a lot of time doing that and watching the jelly fish. The little octopus is sassy and adorable too!

We bought admission to this as part of the 1day attractions pass. We drove from Mobile that afternoon and found the aquarium easily. The place is definitely for smaller kids. There were two adults in our party, and we couldnt milk an hour out of the stop here. We both touched the shark and the rays. We read everything around. I guess I was expecting more turtles and alligators of larger size. Everything was really small. I think eleven dollars is a better price point if you are paying without a pass. As part of the pass, I am glad we did so many other things.

Small but good experience. We are two older adults so this review isn’t about children. We enjoyed the exhibits, read most of the information and spent a little over an hour there. I think it would be more enjoyable for someone to spend time on the island experiencing the wildlife then go to the Aquarium and explore what these animals/fish are. There is a nice pier to walk on as well. $14 for adults. Entrance is to the water side of the building, not the street side.

Our boys loved this place. The staff was friendly and everything was clean. They offer a military discount. Around 2 there is an opportunity to pet sting rays and sharks. That was super cool.

We so enjoyed our visit! We spent about 2 hours here and really took our time to see and read everything. Staff were friendly. Loved the jelly fish, seahorses, interactive map, and ray and shark pool, especially. Beautiful view. Plenty of photo op areas. Definitely not a big aquarium, but we kind of liked that about it because it wasn't overwhelming and exhausting.

Minimal wait and it wasn’t crowded when we get. It was a great way to get our boys out of the house for an adventure during an afternoon of potential rain. Highly recommend.

The Alabama Aquarium at Dauphin Island is a decent stop if you’re already in the area, but overall it didn’t quite meet expectations. On the positive side, the facility was very clean, well-maintained, and had plenty of accessible restroom areas, which is always helpful when visiting with kids. It’s also conveniently walkable from the ferry landing, making it easy to get to without needing extra transportation. Admission was $14 per adult and $6 per child, with kids five and under free. While the price seems reasonable at first glance, it felt too high for what’s actually offered. There’s very little sea life to see, and almost no opportunities to interact with animals outside of the stingray touch tank. We’ve been to many aquariums, and this one felt more like a small educational center than a full aquarium experience. Honestly, my kids spent more time playing in the children’s play areas than they did looking at the exhibits, which says a lot about the level of engagement. For the price, I expected more variety and depth. Overall, it’s fine for killing an hour if you’re already on Dauphin Island, but personally I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again. It just doesn’t offer enough for the cost, especially compared to other aquariums we’ve experienced.

We highly recommend the Alabama Aquarium on Dauphin Island. Plenty of activities for the whole family. The kids have several interactive areas, where they can touch horseshoe crabs, stingrays, and marine life. 5 stars allday!

Great facility and so much fun for kids with all the things and animals you can interact with and touch! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

The aquarium had a dope spotted turtle that was a g #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Loved all the sea animals and fish. The interactive areas with the rays, sharks, and horse shoe crabs were my little girls favorite part! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

The Sea Lab was fantastic - educational, entertaining and absolutely worth visiting. #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Small than we expected but our daughter loved it! A lot of cool hands on opportunities.

We had a great time at the aquarium! We especially loved petting the sting rays and hammer head sharks! #BuzzyBooth #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

We went today with our 5 year old and had a great time! We loved the horseshoe crabs and she loved the stingray tank! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Pretty small but a great aquarium! Beautiful scenery and cool exhibits. Staff were friendly!

Educational, they seem to take care of the aquatic life. We went on a rainy slow day so it wasn't busy. It is rather small for an aquarium, but still worth the visit. Somewhat off topic of the aquarium, the gift shop prices are not and at all. Definitely grab something if you're there.

I came on a whim wanting to get out of town and into a relaxing atmosphere, and this was a great choice! If you are in the area, I highly recommend this place. Reasonable admission price, on the small side, but a great spot highlighting the environments about the Alabama coast. The boardwalk highlighting the plants and animals is nice.

Wonderful little aquarium! The employees were all very nice and helpful. My son had a few questions for one of the girls cleaning out a tank. She stood there and answered every question he had about the fish in that tank. Same to all the ladies at the touch tables- everyone was polite and seemed genuinely happy to be educating visitors! It's small- but a perfect little afternoon activity when your kids need a break from the beach. Highly recommend!

Really enjoyed learning more about the local marine life. Walked away with new understanding of some areas of interest (e.g. oyster ecology and habitat). We brought out 5 year old daughter and it was not really geared for her age so we werent able to stay as long as I would have liked. Many areas replied on reading long explanations. The area she was most excited about (touching the rays) was a bust bc the wall to the tank was too tall for her to reach down over even with me holding her up. So maybe wait until kids are a little older (7 or 8) before spending $40+ on family admission. Good effort for a small aquarium and wish I could have taken my time to learn even more.

This is an amazing experience that gets better every time we go. #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

It's a small aquarium atmosphere, great place to try with family and get in on the history of dauphin island. It's a neat place to try and theirs a cute ice cream place right next door so when you're done with your tours just treat yourself to some scoops of ice cream.

It's a fun little aquarium. Where it lacks in size, it makes for in presentation. Great to learn about the local sea life. #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Love it! Kids had a great time with all the interactive activities #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

The ray touch tank was so good! I also loved the Mobile Bay exhibit and Terrapin turtles!

Very reasonably priced. This is a small aquarium. Many aquariums go for the beauty of lots of colorful fish. We loved that this aquarium is focused on aquatic life found in the Gulf of Mexico waters and its full of hands-on education and just general education. So it doesn't have those huge and colorful tanks found at most aquariums. Instead, it has local life...some of which are colorful and beautiful. Recommend for a pleasant afternoon of hands-on education of life in and around the waters here.

Place is well kept up and animals look healthy. On the water so you can stop by on way to the beach. Prices are decent also #DauphinIsland #buzzybooth

This aquarium was very fun and had so many different kinds of animals! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

We were super excited for this trip. We love stingrays and were ready to pet them! Everything is nice and clean. I appreciate that they only charge $6 for kids up to 18. They had a variety of interactive experiences and multiple tanks. It's just. So. Small. It took about 30 minutes for our family of five to get through reading every word. The touch tank was full, but the stingrays were so low in the water, there was no touching happening. Lots of little kids splashing around in it made the probability of the hem surfacing minimal. My kids are 16, 13, and 11. For the 40 minute, $60 round trip ferry ride, it just was not worth it. We did end up with some delicious food and pastries, but our primary focus was the aquarium. We won't make the effort next time around. If you have littles, this is a nice cool way to spend some time if you are already on the island.

This aquarium is a cute spot geared more toward education than Wow factor. They gave a lot of interesting information and exhibits along with two touch tanks. They also have a hands on exploration station. This is a really fun spot for young kids since it has several interactive stations and is not a large facility. We were able to do the whole thing in about a little over an hour.

Very informative, inside and outside venues, staff was nice, recommend visiting. Not too crowded when we visited, admission price not too expensive

Amazing place! We had the best time and loved learning about all the different aquatic animals :) #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

We loved our visit today! This aquarium is so cute and in such a beautiful area. We will be back! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Small but very informative! Wonderful exhibits. Loved touching the Stingrays and love the work they do for sea life.

We had a great time at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab! I've been going for several years now and I was thrilled to see new exhibits going in! #DauphinIsland @disealab #buzzybooth

Very interesting exhibits, including hands-on displays and an outdoor pool with small sharks, rays, skates and horseshoe crabs

Priced extremely well for the a local sea animal experience! The kids loved it and staff was very friendly and quick to answer any question

Brownie girl scout from tennessee, trip ten sixty seven, loved the aquarium and had so much fun.Thank you

My family used to take us to Daulphin Island in the 1960s. I took my youngest daughter in the 2003 & now am looking forward to taking my grandkids this weekend. Okay,took them & they loved everything there. The magic is all the creatures and items they get "to actually touch".

Took the fairy over The Estuarium what fun! The aquarium itself is quite small but packed full of some pretty cool stuff! Would be great for young school age children. Our favorite part was the stingray pool out back. You could reach in and gently touch these beautiful silk like creatures! Amazing! Tickets to get in are very affordable: $6 for children & $12 for adults. For us it's a one time visit kind of place, but worth the hour trip from our accommodation.

This is an incredible research and education lab! I was genuinely surprised by the considerable attention to various needs of researchers and the community, including the Estuarium and salt marsh boardwalk. On the boardwalk, I met some birders enjoying a bench and the late migratory birds they could see. At the Estuarium, I enjoyed witnessing the delight of children and their parents at the stingray feeding. As the stingrays churned water to gobble up chopped squid. As for researchers, my group toured the tech support lab, which could create tools and machines for grad and doctoral students' needs. There are also residences for educators and visiting scientists and a boat to skipper around school classes. I wish there was a similar sea lab in every state!

I have been to this aquarium twice. The 2nd time was only at the request of friends. It is not worth the admission price. It is small and there is relatively little to see. Our party of 4 left disappointed.

This aquarium is an excellent introduction to the ecology of the watershed and how humans impact the system negatively.

Was it the largest aquarium I've ever seen? No. Did some of its exhibits defend offshore oil rigs. One, that I remember. I thought the Estuarium was thoughtfully laid out, and had a great combination of fun and education to keep us engaged for a couple hours. Parking was free. Discounts for AAA and senior were handled well at entry. Even with school field trips taking place, I never felt that it was too crowded. Thanks, E at DISL, for a great family outing.

I am so disappointed by this little aquarium! Estuarium is a term for a geographic area where freshwater meets saltwater. The little aquarium has several species of animals, like turtles, frogs, fish, but it is so tiny you could do the entire thing in half an hour. Of course you get what you pay for, with a price like $6 per kid. I think it's a nice rainy day activity, especially if you have small children, but there is a lot of the museum that is closed for covid, The stingray pool is not clear on the sides, which makes it so much harder to get a good view of the fish inside. There is a sign at the door requesting the visitors wear masks, which we did, but only half the staff is wearing masks. I think one other group besides our party was wearing masks, and the rest just ignored it like they do pretty much everywhere else in Alabama. It's really sad to see people not care about the health of their children and immune compromised people in this way. And for the reason that they are not enforcing mask wearing at a busy indoor venue, I probably would not go back during the pandemic. If you do go to the estuarium, I highly recommend popping by Billy Goats for a hot dog and a milkshake for lunch. The location is very convenient to Fort Gaines as well as the East End Beach, which is spectacular!

Great time. Bought tickets on Groupon for $8 each, normal price is $12. Got to pet the stingrays, feed them and watch 2 mate. Loved all the fish, turtles and all the information was awesome. The grounds are full of beautiful scenery and it's only 2 min from the ferry! Definitely RECOMMEND if you have kids or if your into any sealife at all!

Its small, but thats ok because it was an awesome experience and I still do strongly recommend even though 1hr might not seem worth the visit but we watched them feed horseshoe crabs (which are not actually crabs), the octopus was really active, you could touch a shark and rays. If I would do differently I would have timed it after lunch maybe so could do ice cream at end but mornings probably why we lucky to see them feed everything. The fish and everything was really nicely maintained and all inhabitants (fish turtles snake rays shark jellies) seemed content. All the staff were super helpful.

Very average. Just something to do on the island because there isn't much to do. $12/adult to get in is incredibly overpriced.

Kids loved the sea lab! Nice break from the sun! Some of the exhibited were closed due to updating, but that was ok. Nice area to pet some sea life! Staff was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, & friendly! Will definitely be back in the future!

Great little spot to get a view of all the local wildlife and ecology. Enjoyed visiting here with my young and older kids. Priced just right and kept everyone engaged for a few hours.

Okay, so I know this is a tourist area and everything is going to cost more than it should. But....this was $72 for our family to go in and honestly not that spectacular. Yes, touching the sting rays was cool, but our local zoo in St. Louis has the same Exhibit for $5 and the rest of the zoo is free. The majority of the exhibits should have been funded through the Alabama department of conservation and had a lower price. It's interesting and important information, but nothing as extraordinary as their advertising portrays.

I have been to Dauphin Island many times to fish and really enjoy it here. This time we brought our daughters with us for a family fishing trip. Our last day we decided to go to the Sea Lab and see what was what. What an enjoyable experience! The exhibits were great. I have not seen such interactive and lovely fish in any aquarium I have been to. It was informative and the hand on tanks and exhibits were very entertaining. It is not a kids only environment, even though the outreach programs are awesome and very good. Everyone in my group enjoyed it thoroughly.

If you have young children this is a great place to take them. There are many hands on activities and the Sting Rays are unbelievable. If you have someone interested in marine Biology they should look into doing some research here. It is small and needs some updating but, it is a very valuable place for Estuary work.

Fun activity for all ages. Visited with my parents who are in their 60's and my two kids 15 and 17. If you take time to enjoy all of the exhibits, it's a fun time! Not a huge place and not some fancy exhibits but interesting nonetheless. We were able to pet the stingrays and that was very cool. Not something you can do everyday. Staff was friendly and the gift shop had cute stuff. Price of entry is very reasonable and makes it easy to do with groups. I was very pleased with the time we spent here.

This is not a full size aquarium so be sure you temper your expectations. That said, it was an awesome find. If you plan on visiting Dauphin Island, you need to be sure you visit the Sea Lab. The best part was getting to pet the Cownose Ray. We made our way through in about 90 minutes.

It's small but still a great experience! We loved getting to touch sting rays and horseshoe crabs! The best part was watching them give the octopus a jar with food in it for it to try to open. It was so cool and the woman was willing to answer all our kids questions. We had so much fun!

This was the only reason we came across the ferry from Gulf Shores It's cool, but don't expect anything huge and amazing..... Positives for us were: Time of year meant no crowds, at all!! Had the sting ray pool all to ourselves! There was a man showing us examples of fish, sting rays, sharks, shell & eggs, turtles, teeth of different sea life. It was interesting. The pool of turtles was cool, the fish were beautiful. The could improve on on a couple things, it just seems like for the admission fee, which isn't terribly high, there isn't a lot of staff and there was a lot of cleaning and painting and sign restoration that needed to be done. So we had a pricey day to pay the ferry, pay the admission then be done and get the ferry back. We have heard the prices have increased.