Sea-Arama Marineworld was a zoological facility in Galveston, Texas, that operated from 1965 to 1990. Did anyone on ZooChat ever visit the establishment?
I just finished reading the marine park's history book and it is available on Amazon via a $15 U.S. black-and-white version or a $35 U.S. colour version. Here is the link to the black-and-white book:
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Arama-Ma...words=sea-arama&qid=1627865772&s=books&sr=1-2
Sea-Arama Marineworld has an intriguing history, as told by former employee Tim Gould in his book (2nd edition is 2018). Its claim to fame was being the first marine park "between the east and west coasts", with the park situated on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston. That placed it near the current Moody Gardens complex and about an hour from Houston.
The park opened on November 7th, 1965, at a cost of approximately two million dollars and eventually was almost 40 acres in size. There was a big Oceanarium with a central tank and 28 jewel tanks around the sides. Over the years, Sea-Arama had many alligators and gator shows, quite a few birds, seals, sea lions and plenty of dolphins. Seasonal or temporary exhibits included a Jungle Fantasy Wild Cat Show that ran for three years with various big cats, as well as a year of daily performances with Asiatic Black Bears (playing basketball!). Tim Gould's book has a number of photos of various keepers kissing the head of a cobra in the daring snake/reptile show.
Sea-Arama Marineworld had 6 whales in its history: Nemo the Pilot Whale from mid-1968 to early 1970, Mamuk the Orca from late 1968 to summer 1974, Nooka the Orca from summer 1970 to early 1971, Tiffany the Pilot Whale from May to June 1975, and Nami and Tanoshi the False Killer Whales in the late 1980s before the park closed in 1990.
Tim Gould's book has more than 350 photos and is a 270-page softcover publication. On one hand, it's a very amateurish book that is obviously a labour of love but lacks a sophisticated layout or interesting graphics. It looks cheaply done. However, I really enjoyed reading parts of it because the attention to detail is impressive. Gould goes year by year, from 1965 to 1990, with lists for each year of all the employees that can be recalled, all of the major animals (by name and species), and anything of note that occurred that year at the park. For instance, looking at 1969 there is an exhaustive list of each water-skier (there was a daily show) and even gift shop workers! The animal list for that year includes over 25 dolphins (crammed into several small pools), an Orca, a Pilot Whale, a seal, two sealions and a Chimpanzee named Annie.
The year 1972 saw the park register its record ever attendance of 404,833 but after 1975 there wasn't any whales until 1989 and post-1975 the park began a slow decline. The opening of SeaWorld San Antonio in May of 1988 signaled the end and less than two years later Sea-Arama Marineworld closed down forever. On June 29th, 2012, a very popular reunion was hosted by Moody Gardens and 132 former employees of Sea-Arama Marineworld attended the event. That's quite incredible, as the park had been closed for 22 years at that point.
This is a well-written article (from 2018) about the park:
Sea-Arama in Galveston was an island attraction for decades
I just finished reading the marine park's history book and it is available on Amazon via a $15 U.S. black-and-white version or a $35 U.S. colour version. Here is the link to the black-and-white book:
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Arama-Ma...words=sea-arama&qid=1627865772&s=books&sr=1-2
Sea-Arama Marineworld has an intriguing history, as told by former employee Tim Gould in his book (2nd edition is 2018). Its claim to fame was being the first marine park "between the east and west coasts", with the park situated on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston. That placed it near the current Moody Gardens complex and about an hour from Houston.
The park opened on November 7th, 1965, at a cost of approximately two million dollars and eventually was almost 40 acres in size. There was a big Oceanarium with a central tank and 28 jewel tanks around the sides. Over the years, Sea-Arama had many alligators and gator shows, quite a few birds, seals, sea lions and plenty of dolphins. Seasonal or temporary exhibits included a Jungle Fantasy Wild Cat Show that ran for three years with various big cats, as well as a year of daily performances with Asiatic Black Bears (playing basketball!). Tim Gould's book has a number of photos of various keepers kissing the head of a cobra in the daring snake/reptile show.
Sea-Arama Marineworld had 6 whales in its history: Nemo the Pilot Whale from mid-1968 to early 1970, Mamuk the Orca from late 1968 to summer 1974, Nooka the Orca from summer 1970 to early 1971, Tiffany the Pilot Whale from May to June 1975, and Nami and Tanoshi the False Killer Whales in the late 1980s before the park closed in 1990.
Tim Gould's book has more than 350 photos and is a 270-page softcover publication. On one hand, it's a very amateurish book that is obviously a labour of love but lacks a sophisticated layout or interesting graphics. It looks cheaply done. However, I really enjoyed reading parts of it because the attention to detail is impressive. Gould goes year by year, from 1965 to 1990, with lists for each year of all the employees that can be recalled, all of the major animals (by name and species), and anything of note that occurred that year at the park. For instance, looking at 1969 there is an exhaustive list of each water-skier (there was a daily show) and even gift shop workers! The animal list for that year includes over 25 dolphins (crammed into several small pools), an Orca, a Pilot Whale, a seal, two sealions and a Chimpanzee named Annie.
The year 1972 saw the park register its record ever attendance of 404,833 but after 1975 there wasn't any whales until 1989 and post-1975 the park began a slow decline. The opening of SeaWorld San Antonio in May of 1988 signaled the end and less than two years later Sea-Arama Marineworld closed down forever. On June 29th, 2012, a very popular reunion was hosted by Moody Gardens and 132 former employees of Sea-Arama Marineworld attended the event. That's quite incredible, as the park had been closed for 22 years at that point.
This is a well-written article (from 2018) about the park:
Sea-Arama in Galveston was an island attraction for decades
