Gulfport, Mississippi is only a 90 or so minute drive from New Orleans, so my partner and I made the trip over for an afternoon visit to the aquarium and waterfront. The aquarium is incredibly small— only 10 exhibits in total. We spent an hour and 15 minutes there, and that was us taking our time, doubling back around to the dolphins, and then debating about waiting until 4:00pm for their training demonstration (we did not end up staying). I imagine most visitors barely fill half an hour to 45 minutes, and that’s if they stop at the café and/or their kids go through and complete the activity book that has a stop at each exhibit. There is also practically zero signage in this facility. There were some revolving electronic signs for the main tank in the aquarium building at only two of the viewing areas, some minimal signage about the crocodilians, and some conservation signage about the gulf, the coast, and the freshwater waterways of the region scattered across the facility (the best of the signage). The dolphin pool had the most signage, but it was still very limited. All of this is very disappointing for a facility that is trying to market itself as a conservation organization. And as such, I do not have a species list for the facility, as most exhibits are completely unsigned.
The entrance to the aquarium is extremely modern and architectural— as are all of the buildings at this brand new facility. Immediately upon entering you walk between the two crocodilians exhibit, with American alligators (several) on your left and American crocodiles on your right (two). Both enclosures are very similar, with water on three sides, a simulated mock-rock bank, and a sandy/mulchy land area. Both exhibits look nice, but are all in all average homes for their inhabitants.
To the right, is the path that takes you to the gift shop (which is also the exit) and the Changing Tides Gallery building, which is just a very large events space with public restrooms.
Directly ahead is the aquarium building, Ocean Wonders. Your tour of the building starts on the third floor, which is comprised of two touch tanks, one for invertebrates, and one for sharks, rays, and horseshoe crabs, and overview of the main tank. Both touch tanks are your standard touch tanks barring the fact that they have overlook the main tank (there is a shallow ledge inside the main tank right behind the invertebrate touch tank that the aquarium’s green sea turtle likes to lounge on). From there, you circle around to a spiraling walkway around a multistory schooling fish tank that is visible from all three levels of the building. The schooling fish were all at the very top of the tank, while some smaller, more colorful reef fish were at the bottom. This walkway loops you around to the short 360-degree tunnel that leads through the main tank. From what I could tell, the stocking for the main tank was fairly standard, even lacking, really. There were a couple of sharks and rays, quite a few schooling fish, the aforementioned green sea turtle, and a few other odds and ends, but nothing quite like what I’d expect to see from a similar tank at another aquarium. From there you descend to the bottom level of the building, which offers several smaller viewing windows and viewing bubbles/tunnels for children that look into the grottos of the tank and one final three-story viewing window, which was quite nice. The non-exhibit space in the building is quite stark, with little to no graphics or art other on the initial escalator ride up and one small display on the filtration system.
Upon exiting the building, you look directly over the Mississippi River exhibit, which is very large, undulating outdoor pool for a wide number of native fish species, including several species of gar, bass, and sunfish, as well as paddlefish and sturgeons. There is also a very large alligator snapping turtle in the tank as well. Underwater viewing for the pool comes later on along the path loop. This is probably my favorite and the strongest exhibit in the facility.
Across from the Mississippi River pool overlook is a long and narrow exhibit for North American River otters. It is your fairly standard river otter exhibit, with a stream running across the exhibit, emptying into a pretty deep pool at the other side, with underwater viewing and another children’s cave. Unfortunately, they’ve gone and made the exhibit essentially a grotto. The otters can access all of it, but it’s a lot of unnecessary concrete.
Across from the otter pool is a small display about salt marshes and then the walkway to the star attraction — the common bottlenose dolphin pool. The dolphin pool can be viewed from a large underwater viewing window or from a deck overlooking the pool (this also serves to shade the underwater viewing area). From the deck you can also see the back area and holding pool The pool has two different tiers of depth— the only non-themed concrete in the facility. I have not actually seen any other dolphin facilities, so I cannot compare the size or depth of the pool to what other facilities have. Both dolphins were very active and very engaged with their audience.
From the upper dolphin viewing area, a walkway takes you around a boardwalk overlooking the gulf with signage about conservation work being done in the gulf, complete with a replica of a protected sea turtle nest. This pathway leads you to what I would say is a mid-sized walkthrough aviary with an assortment of birds from all over the world (and absolutely zero signage). The aviary is very heavily stocked... possibly overstocked. There were birds everywhere. Species included the golden pheasant, Lady Amherst’s pheasant, nene, ruddy duck, hooded merganser, scarlet ibis, American white ibis, Nicobar pigeon, common emerald dove (so many!), speckled pigeon, speckled mousebird, blue-bellied roller, emerald starling, superb starling, taveta golden weaver, red-billed hornbill, and a blue-throated piping guan. The aviary is also pretty standard with a winding path snaking around a small pool and waterfall and various tropical plantings.
Exiting the aviary takes you back to the dolphin pool, from where you take the path on down to the underwater viewing windows for the Mississippi River pool, which is the last section of the park.
While we definitely enjoyed our visit, and I am glad we went, I will say that I was disappointed with what it had to offer for a brand new facility and with the complete lack of educational materials. The Mississippi River pool was the only real standout for me— it was a very unique display and really well done. Overall, I don’t think it was worth the $30 entrance fee, nor would I say that it’s worth making a special trip to see. I believe there is still space on the site, so hopefully they will be able to expand and hopefully they will improve in their education/conservation messaging.
