Gellie E.
Yelp
This is a nice way to spend a rainy day in Clearwater. It was a straight walk from the Pier 60 resort area (20 minutes), or they have paid garage parking.
Tickets were ~$40 for adult admission, and the ticket is valid all day (you can leave and come back). This is more of a rescue and rehabilitation facility instead of a full-blown aquarium, so only expect to see a few of each type of animal. No giant tanks, and the tanks were very murky - the glass could use some good scrubbing to give guests better viewing. The dolphin presentation was poorly lit and hard to see. While there were some exhibits with reading material on the walls, I didn't notice a lot of informational plaques for the fish tanks - many tanks merely had labels of the fish names with a side profile and maybe a QR code to scan, but that was it.
It did have staple aquarium activities with free educational talks every 30-45 minutes (the schedule was conveniently advertised on screens around the facilities and was also accessible online), a touch pool (stingrays, hermit crabs, etc.), films about sea turtles and dinosaurs in the Dolphin Tale theater, and additional add-on experiences like underwater virtual reality and more personalized animal encounters. This aquarium is famous for the late Winter the Dolphin, whose inspiring story was shown in the movie, Dolphin Tale. They even have an exhibit showing Winter's story with her prosthetic tails and movie props.
We spent about 2-3 hours here, enjoying the dolphin talk, shark talk, otter talk, and playing with the stingrays. They have other animals like pelicans, reptiles, opossum, and creepy crawly bugs. We went during Shark Week and they also had a free impromptu Shark Bingo game. Staff and volunteers were easily accessible around the venue. The top floor also had some activities for kids to take breaks like building blocks and cornhole.
This is more of a 3.5-rating for me, but it's something to do when the weather is iffy or you need a break from the beach and hot sun.