Source: MDI Islander
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Oceanarium and Education Center Overview:
If you grew up in the Greater Bangor and Ellsworth area, like I did, you probably took an elementary school field trip to the Mount Desert Island Oceanarium back in the day! It was recently purchased in 2021 after sitting vacant for 5 years and is now running as the non-profit Oceanarium and Education Center. The mission of the Oceanarium is to provide exhibits and programs for all ages on ecology, biology, research, citizen science, dark skies, fisheries and aquaculture. It also will provide STEM education in partnership with Maine schools.
The Oceanarium and Education Center is located 2 ½ hours from Portland in Bar Harbor, Maine and just a mile over the bridge to Mount Desert Island. The Oceanarium and Education Center is home to, currently, four exhibits (now 5 at the time this blog went LIVE) including a touch tank, a saltwater animal aquarium in nine tanks (and growing), rare lobsters, and an authentic indoor lobster boat.
We recently got the opportunity to visit the Oceanarium as part of our summer vacation on Mount Desert Island and my daughter’s favorite activity when we visited was by far the touch tank. She could have easily spent an hour looking at the creatures in the tank. They have a wonderful array of sea life in the tank ranging from crabs and snails to sea cucumbers, scallops and more!
Tip: The touch tank is about 12 inches deep and in order to touch some of the animals in the tank young ones have to stick their arms in pretty deep. Make sure to dress in t-shirt or tank top and/or bring a change of clothes in case they get wet!
Leashed dogs are allowed on the Marsh trail and only service dogs are allowed inside any of the buildings.
The young woman working at the touch tank was very knowledgeable and would bring to the surface various sea life for children and adults to interact with.
Another favorite activity of my daughter’s was playing on the indoor lobster boat. She was able to pretend to fish, band the claws of lobsters, and drive the boat. If you have spent any time at the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine in Portland, this boat gives off serious vibes of the lobster boat when the Children’s Museum was next to the Portland Museum of Art on Free Street.
In the same exhibit room as the lobster boat, there is also a small indoor sandbox and coloring station that offer some additional fun.
There are nine aquarium tanks to view as well including some rare colored lobsters. Species may vary but we saw lumpfish, hermit crabs, green crabs, and sea stars when we were there.
We also had an opportunity to explore a very small museum which held a 3 year old humpback whale skeleton. Again, staff were really knowledgeable and child friendly when talking with my daughter about the whale skeleton. She asked what happened to the whale and the staff was able to share the story about how the young female whale ended up being caught in fishing nets. It led to some discussions afterwards about why that happened and what we could do to help that not happen in the future.
The museum also held some displays of things found on the ocean floor. Think The Little Mermaid meets Maine Coastline and it was really fun to look at all the “treasures”. We may or may not have sung some Disney songs while we looked them over. 🙂
Unfortunately, we did not have an opportunity to explore the Marsh trail because it was saturated with water from the never-ending rain of the Summer 2023 season. The Oceanarium staff shared with me that strollers and wheelchairs have, and can, traverse the trail. They also shared with me they plan to make the trail a boardwalk for easier accessibility! With that said, the park is VERY walkable and those with smaller legs and feet should be able to explore all the exhibits here at the Oceanarium.
In August 2023, they also opened a Jellyfish Exhibit that we didn’t get a chance to see when we were up there in early July.
The Oceanarium also has a small outdoor playground feature that includes a small picnic table for snacking and place for parents to sit.
Speaking of sitting, there are plenty of picnic tables under a tent and in the sunshine that are great places for eating a snack or lunch. I recommend two options if you plan to have lunch at the Oceanarium.
The first option is that the Oceanarium offers some really great snacks and pre-made lunch options. In their coolers, at the time of our visit, they offered some Chow Maine (locally made in Trenton, Maine) dishes of egg rolls and various noodle salads as well as other locally made sandwiches. Snack offerings included fruit, cheese sticks, and various chip and cracker options along with granola bars. Drinks are available too as well as a coffee station!
The 2nd option is to check out Mother’s Kitchen in Town Hill for some FANTASTIC sandwiches and snacks. They are only a short 5 minute drive away. My favorite sandwiches are the Charlie Noble, Summer Kitchen, Cold Kitchen, and Uncle Henry. Uncle Henry probably takes 1st place in my book! Also be sure to grab one of their delicious baked goods! Can’t go wrong with any variety of their scones! They have easy online ordering so you can pick up on your way to or from the Oceanarium.
Credit: Trip Advisor
Some areas of growth were noticeable when we visited this summer. And I say areas of growth so very lightly because the Oceanarium and Education Center is a newly formed non-profit organization and is bringing back to life, quite literally, a facility that has sat vacant for 5 years. As someone who sits on a Board of Directors for a non-profit, I understand the growing pains of a young non-profit organization.
The first area of growth is the lack of signage/messaging on site indicating work-in-progress/rehabbing activities. If you do a quick Google search for the Oceanarium and Education Center you will be quick to find some less than 5 star reviews of this establishment where some patrons are upset about not understanding the rehabbing of exhibits and the cost-to-exhibit ratios. While there has been some really good local news coverage of the Oceanarium and Education Center where staff and the Board of Directors are quick to share their rehabbing efforts (some of which are SO AWESOME!), the Oceanarium itself does not have signage indicating such efforts.
The second area of growth is the accessibility of the Oceanarium. As you will see in the picture below, some of the aquarium tanks are quite high and required my husband to pick up our (very tall) daughter to see some of the tanks. The touch tank exhibit also features a large step up to view the tank making it almost impossible for someone with limited mobility or in a stroller or wheelchair to see any of the features of the tank itself. These patrons would need to rely on Oceanarium staff to bring sea life creatures to them.
Again, I think these areas of growth are the result of a young non-profit organization that just probably needs time and funding to fulfill some of the great ideas and goals they have for this place! I am definitely excited to check back here next year to see what they were able to accomplish!
Ok…enough said about that. 🙂
The Oceanarium has some different hours, and they are NOT open year round, so be sure to check out their website for more information. Generally their hours are:
- May 17 to June 21, Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00-5:00pm
- June 21 to September 10, Open every day, 9:00-4:30pm
- September 13th to October 29th, Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
Admission Costs:
Adult (12-64 years old): $18
Adult (65+ years old): $15
Children (ages 3-11): $12
Children (ages 3 and under): FREE
Members: FREE
Veteran/Military Personnel: $15
Groups of 10 or more: $9/per person
If planning to visit the park more than 2 times in a year, the season pass may be your best option here. The Oceanarium offers a season pass for $125 for up to 5 people. You also get the following with a season pass:
- 10% discount in the museum store
- 10% off additional passes when guest join you
- 10% off returning member discount on next year’s membership (this is a really neat option you don’t see too much with season passes!)
Sample Itineraries
With the Oceanarium being 4 exhibits (now 5 at the time this blog went LIVE) and the Marsh trail at the time of our visit, I don’t have any recommendations on which way to explore the site. With everything so close together, you should be able to tackle all the exhibits and the trail with no issues!
We spent about an hour at the Oceanarium and did NOT check out the Marsh trail or eat lunch here. If you were to add the trail and a lunch stop to your itinerary here, you could easily spend 90 minutes to 2 hours here.
Budget Friendly Option:
For the exhibits and trail that are open for the Summer 2023, I do think the admission costs are a bit high and, outside of the discounts for military members and their families (yah for that!!), they do not offer any other discounts; even a search of nearby libraries does not show that they offer passes to the Oceanarium…YET.
I will keep you updated if they offer any additional discounts for next year!
The Splurge Option:
I have to say that the gift shop here is a GREAT splurge option here! It is by far the best children’s selection of toys, gifts, and crafts available on the island! I am so bummed that I didn’t have any solo time to explore the gift shop. It is WONDERFULLY curated and I could have snagged some really nice gifts for some kiddos and folks in our lives. Be sure to check out all the goodies here!
Source: Oceanarium and Education Center
Source: Oceanarium and Education Center
The Bathroom Low Down:
- At the Oceanarium, there is one bathroom location and it is in the Entrance/Gift Shop. This is a sex separated bathroom situation. Each set of bathrooms have two stalls; one handicapped accessible and both have a Koala-Care-like infant changing station outside the bathroom stalls but still within the bathroom itself. There is ample space to put down diaper bags and what not and you could easily bring your stroller in, if you were using one here. I’m not sure about the rest of you but I really enjoy when the changing station is OUTSIDE of the bathroom stall. The combination of potentially less germs and not having to rush in case someone needs the handicapped accessible stall, lowers my anxiety tremendously.
- Also, these bathrooms are also CLEAN! I could smell the Clorox when I walked in. And for a bathroom with a lot of traffic, that makes my soul a little happier.
What’s in my car or backpack for this visit?
My favorite backpack item for this visit are my mesh zipper travel bags I bought on Amazon.
These bags are hands-down the best for any sort of adventuring! I have them in our everyday adventuring bag, hiking bag, beach bag, and luggage! They are easy to clean, see through, and come in a variety of sizes. I will be taking two of these bags on our adventure to the Oceanarium. One will have my daughter’s extra clothes in case she gets wet at the touch tank exhibit and the other will have our bug spray (because the last thing anyone needs is leaky bug spray bottle, am I right?!)
With the Oceanarium being close to the Marsh, bugs are just part of the ecosystem here and it’s always good to have some on hand. Now, we are an equal opportunity bug spray family. 🙂 You name it, we use it all! As a couple of my friends know, I don’t mess around with ticks! However, Babyganics bug spray (Amazon) is the most common bug spray we use with our daughter and I think it works really, really well for those everyday/common bug situations.
Key Takeaways:
- The Oceanarium and Education Center is a 2 ½ hour drive from Portland and just a mile over the bridge to Mount Desert Island. It is a newly formed non-profit organization that is rehabbing the site after being vacant for around 5 years. You could spend about an hour here exploring the different exhibits, walking the marsh trail, and letting the kiddos play on the playground feature. The hours differ depending on the time of year so be sure to check hours of operations before you go. You will NOT need a stroller at the Oceanarium as everything is so close together. Leashed dogs are allowed on the Marsh trail and only service dogs are allowed inside the buildings (as always, please follow these rules!).
- Packing Essentials:
- Water
- Snacks
- Sunscreen
- Mesh zipper travel bags
- Babyganics Bug Spray
- Bathroom Situation Rating: A-
- The one bathroom location is GREAT at the Oceanarium and you won’t need to walk far to get to it. They are also clean and spacious!
Thank you for reading this blog post on The Wandering Chickadee!
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~Natalie
This post may include affiliate links. If you click on one of them, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you.
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