Bend, OR

During my recent visit to the coast, the UnderseaGardens was on my list of places to visit, simply because I had never been there. The gardens are a much smaller version of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and takes maybe 45 minutes to go through their complete set of exhibits but it had a couple of unique things that I haven’t seen anywhere else which also set them apart. The gardens have similar creatures as the OCA but what made it really stand out for me is that their facility is actually located on a ship. The upper half is the gift shop while the lower half is full of sea life and their habitat. I love this ubiquitous concept of a living arrangement of these peoples’ pets. The other happenstance of being unique was their live and interpretive demonstration, performed by their diver who wandered through the entire undersea garden as a speaker described the different animals, what they could do, their special characteristics and so forth. This to me is the perfect example of interactive learning though I would have rather been inside as the diver was.

The simulated tide pools were extremely close to being perfect as those that you would normally find on a beach. They weren’t just set up in a square pool with a circulation of sea water. They actually did look like the tide pools you would find.

Visiting the SeaGarden was a nice respite from an otherwise noisy and hectic day and I am glad that it was a smaller scale as I didn’t have much time on my hands. This is a great place to take the little ones for a short trip and I guarantee they’ll get a kick out of the diver dancing with the crabs. When you do visit here, make sure to take the trip right across the street to Ripleys & The WaxworksMuseum.All of this is on the same street as Local Oceans, in Newport, on the old bay front.