This report is part of a series from a trip to the Bay area that I took this month. In addition to Aquarium of the Bay I will be posting reports on Monterey Bay, CuriOdyssey, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, and the California Academy of Sciences.
Aquarium of the Bay is located right at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I have visited the area several times, but in the past did not make time to stop here. The design is a bit strange, you enter into the second level, having to take stairs, escalator, or elevator to the entrance. However, after paying your entrance fee you see a couple of tanks and take the elevator back to the ground floor....and then back up to continue the tour where it ends at the entrance/gift shop. It is just a strange design choice IMO.
Entrance fees are staged by age, AZA membership offers a 50% discount:
Adult (13-64): $31.75
Child (4-12): $21.75
Senior (65+): $26.75
Under 3: Free
We did not use our AZA discount here as we had the City Pass and used this as one of our 4 stops. Calculating it out by the places we wanted to go the City Pass offered a better deal overall.
The total place took us around 1.5 hours to see. Broadly the entrance fee at $31 is a bit high for the place, but with the AZA discount or as part of the City Pass the price is quite reasonable for what is here IMO.
We also went to Monterey Bay Aquarium on this trip, and with MBA being a world class aquarium the AOTB seemed like a much lesser institution. If you are choosing between the two, MBA is a much better choice. However, if you don't wish to make the drive down to MBA, this is a good compromise and a very convenient location. There is a parking garage across the street, but we took the cable car and walked from our hotel in Chinatown.
After entering you come upon a few small pillar aquariums, they are nicely done and the colors look good. After the entrance gallery you have to take a elevator down to the main part of the aquarium - the two twin acrylic tunnels.
From the elevator you should make a left, although there are no signs saying this. This takes you into the Jelly gallery with Pacific Sea Nettles, Purple Stiped, Lions Mane, and several small jelly's all in attractive tanks with decent signs. The jelly exhibit is pretty standard overall.
Immediately after the jellys you come to the first tunnel: Nearshore Waters. This acrylic tunnel takes you through a representation of the shallow waters around San Francisco. The main inhabitants are various rockfish as well as swell sharks and a few very large grouper(?). The whole tank is nicely lighted and looks good.
After Nearshore Waters one comes to a small area with tanks for red octopus, spiny lumpsuckers and warbonnet. All of these tanks are fairly small but fine.
Next is the second tunnel: Sharks of Alcatraz. This tunnel takes you through a long tank with mostly....sharks: Leopard, Seven gill, soupfin/school, sturgeon, rays, and various skates smaller fish. There are a LOT of leopard sharks in this tank, ranging from small to around 4ft long. There are less of the soupfin and sevengill, probably just a few of those species. It is a nice tank, if uninspired.
Both acrylic tunnel tanks have a moving sidewalk, but it was not on when we were there.
Completing Sharks of Alcatraz takes you back to the elevator to ride back to the first floor, but this time the door opens on the other side so you can access Bay Lab.
Bay Lab has two large touch tanks and various herps. The first touch tank has bat rays and the second holds starfish and other small tidepool type creatures. Other animals here include: California newt, toads, rosy boa, red footed tortoise, California ground squirrel, blue tongued skink, California kingsnake, Pacific tree frog, and western pond turtles.
Lastly you come upon an entirely indoor habitat for Asian small-clawed otter. It was a pretty good size and had different areas for the otters. This is probably one of the better indoor otter habitats I have seen recently.
In conclusion, this is a pretty nice small-medium sized aquarium. The entry price is a bit high, but considering the location I understand it. If you have an AZA discount the price is entirely reasonable and worth your time, IMO.
Entrance aquariums:
Go with the Flow:
Nearshore waters:
Sharks of Alcatraz:
Bay Lab:
Asian small-clawed otter:
Aquarium of the Bay is located right at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I have visited the area several times, but in the past did not make time to stop here. The design is a bit strange, you enter into the second level, having to take stairs, escalator, or elevator to the entrance. However, after paying your entrance fee you see a couple of tanks and take the elevator back to the ground floor....and then back up to continue the tour where it ends at the entrance/gift shop. It is just a strange design choice IMO.
Entrance fees are staged by age, AZA membership offers a 50% discount:
Adult (13-64): $31.75
Child (4-12): $21.75
Senior (65+): $26.75
Under 3: Free
We did not use our AZA discount here as we had the City Pass and used this as one of our 4 stops. Calculating it out by the places we wanted to go the City Pass offered a better deal overall.
The total place took us around 1.5 hours to see. Broadly the entrance fee at $31 is a bit high for the place, but with the AZA discount or as part of the City Pass the price is quite reasonable for what is here IMO.
We also went to Monterey Bay Aquarium on this trip, and with MBA being a world class aquarium the AOTB seemed like a much lesser institution. If you are choosing between the two, MBA is a much better choice. However, if you don't wish to make the drive down to MBA, this is a good compromise and a very convenient location. There is a parking garage across the street, but we took the cable car and walked from our hotel in Chinatown.
After entering you come upon a few small pillar aquariums, they are nicely done and the colors look good. After the entrance gallery you have to take a elevator down to the main part of the aquarium - the two twin acrylic tunnels.
From the elevator you should make a left, although there are no signs saying this. This takes you into the Jelly gallery with Pacific Sea Nettles, Purple Stiped, Lions Mane, and several small jelly's all in attractive tanks with decent signs. The jelly exhibit is pretty standard overall.
Immediately after the jellys you come to the first tunnel: Nearshore Waters. This acrylic tunnel takes you through a representation of the shallow waters around San Francisco. The main inhabitants are various rockfish as well as swell sharks and a few very large grouper(?). The whole tank is nicely lighted and looks good.
After Nearshore Waters one comes to a small area with tanks for red octopus, spiny lumpsuckers and warbonnet. All of these tanks are fairly small but fine.
Next is the second tunnel: Sharks of Alcatraz. This tunnel takes you through a long tank with mostly....sharks: Leopard, Seven gill, soupfin/school, sturgeon, rays, and various skates smaller fish. There are a LOT of leopard sharks in this tank, ranging from small to around 4ft long. There are less of the soupfin and sevengill, probably just a few of those species. It is a nice tank, if uninspired.
Both acrylic tunnel tanks have a moving sidewalk, but it was not on when we were there.
Completing Sharks of Alcatraz takes you back to the elevator to ride back to the first floor, but this time the door opens on the other side so you can access Bay Lab.
Bay Lab has two large touch tanks and various herps. The first touch tank has bat rays and the second holds starfish and other small tidepool type creatures. Other animals here include: California newt, toads, rosy boa, red footed tortoise, California ground squirrel, blue tongued skink, California kingsnake, Pacific tree frog, and western pond turtles.
Lastly you come upon an entirely indoor habitat for Asian small-clawed otter. It was a pretty good size and had different areas for the otters. This is probably one of the better indoor otter habitats I have seen recently.
In conclusion, this is a pretty nice small-medium sized aquarium. The entry price is a bit high, but considering the location I understand it. If you have an AZA discount the price is entirely reasonable and worth your time, IMO.
Entrance aquariums:
Go with the Flow:
Nearshore waters:
Sharks of Alcatraz:
Bay Lab:
Asian small-clawed otter:
