Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters

This place is awesome, for a day with the Family. They have a tiki bar that they serve food and beer, wine, champagne. The food is phenomenal, such a hidden gem in Marathon. Must Do while Down in the Keys!!! :)

Cool place! Worth the entry fee and there’s a FL resident discount! Welcome addition to Marathon! Kids love the touch tanks and feeding the Rays and the turtles… Tons of options for encounters. next time we will do one of the swim/​feed encounters. We did the $ 15 pp stingray dry encounter. Cool but not worth it when anyone can feed them for $ 3. Of course you don’t get the personal experience with the details from your own tour guide but I’d spend the money on a shark feeding or vip encounter!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the aquarium. All of the employees are extremely knowledgeable. The prices are very reasonable. We got to touch a nurse shark and stingrays. I would highly recommend going here.

I loved it!!! Paid $ 18 for being a Florida resident and also got the Big Shark Feeding Dry Encounter for $ 10 more (at $ 35 regular price). Our instructor Kee was awesome. She was very informative and answered all my questions and curiosities. She help me to touch the shark and also showed me how to feed it. I got the one that splashed alot but it was awesome and a bit hot so that splash was well needed. Upon going to the photo shop we were greeted by Bob and another male employee they were really funny. The girl that was there helped us and we got the 3 picture deal for $ 10.75 really good price :). Overall it is a must needed experience to have!

Wow. Great place. They did it right! We visited w two small kids and the aquarium was wonderful. Shaded outdoors! Thank you for saving our skin while we enjoyed all the various tanks. We loved petting the sting rays and the shark viewing was 1^st class. Oh, and the owners went the extra mile by having a shaded sand pit where the kids can dig for shark teeth that they can then take home with them! So cute!

Terrific place. Beautiful, shady, lovely grounds. Very nice staff. Plenty of ways to engage even if you don’t dive into the tanks. Feed the tortoises and rays. The touch tank is great. Do not miss!

Just spent the day here at Aquarium Encounters & it was awesome! This place is a great find in the heart of the Keys. Relatively inexpensive as far as tourist attractions go in the Keys but $$$ well spent. It’s interesting, informative, educational & enjoyable. You can interact with, feed & touch many of the creatures. Big, beautiful tanks. The grounds & facilities are nice, clean & neat. The staff is friendly, educated & knowledgeable. Great for everyone, especially families with kids. Great ½ day trip, 2 ½−3 hours is plenty. I would definitely recommend it.

Went there with my five year old daughter spent $ 60 to go in for 3 people. I’ve seen more fish and turtles in a pet store or outdoor world for free or Robbie’s pier for a $ 1 .they told us they were fish breeders I have seen More fish at publix supermarket. They told us there was a 200 pound grouper in canal but worker said he could find it all he found was a tarpon .They sent us to see sharks come up to dock all we saw was 3 tarpon Fish again worker couldn’t find sharks .This place is waste of time my five year old said lets go this place is boring was there for about 30 minutes and left. Waste of time

We went here following recommendation from our concierge in the resort. We drove to marathon after a not so great breakfast and were not sure what to expect. The lady in the front desk was very helpful and guided to beat encounters considering my inability to swim. We decided to go for the stingray cove which is encounter with the stingray.
We had about 80 – 90 mins to kill and went around the place. It is a well maintained and the concept it quite nice. It seemed to me that they were adding more creatures from the water and expanding further. We also went to the stingray well and got a lil scared with their excitement and regretted having bought the encounter tickets.
We were quite apprehensive and were waiting for our slot and out instructor to come and guide us through the protocol. We saw some genetic video in the classroom and went to meet our instructor — Erin. We had seen her feeding the mobula rays and were sure since she seemed pretty experienced. She handed two wet suits, shoes and gloves. We wore all of them and got ready to go into the well.
We had one massive stingray called the big momma and an awesome and adorable spotted eagle ray called daisy. The others were a bunch of cownose ray. Erin taught us how to handle them and also feed them. We spent some 30 mins with them and absolutely loved the experience.
This is a must do in this place. And am sure most people would love Daisy.

Cool animals: tortoise, sting ray, eagle ray sharks and conch. We spent around 560 $ for diving in the tank. 139 for 2 of us who are dive certified and 275 for the one who isn’t certified. Withing the first 2 min we got in the tank, the uncertified person got water in his mask (because the guide refused to let him put vasiline on his mustache)
He goes to the surface to clear his mask and the guide took his weight belt and wouldn’t give it back. So his 45 min dive was only 5 min. Even though he asked to go back down the guide refused to give him his belt back.
When we went to talk to the owner, he got in his car and said I’m off today and drove off.
Go somewhere else

Don’t miss this hidden gem when in the keys. Just a little ways south of Islamorada or on your way to Key West. The animals and hands on experiences are great, but it is the staff that really makes this aquarium special. Well worth the price of admission!!!

A great aquarium, perfect for kids with lots of hands on fun. You can feed fish, turtles, Rays and huge tarpon! The guides are super and make learning more fun. If you want to relax there is nothing better than looking through the big viewing windows at the fish– so many different species with posters and movies for more details. The grounds are so well maintained– we enjoyed lunch at the café, nice breeze, and we could watch the iguanas stroll by, and see kids in the sand pit searching for shark teeth. It’s a great adventure! Get there early to take it all in!

This place is so great! Perfect place to visit on an afternoon to get a sense of the aquaculture that is the Florida Keys. Very friendly staff and enough exhibits to see for the whole family. You can even feed stingrays, turtles, and tarpon too (for an additional fee). The wristband you purchase is good for all day access — meaning you can come and go as you please! There are 2 large tanks filled with sharks, fish, and coral that can capture anyone’s attention. A must see when visiting Marathon!

Great place to visit to see SHARKS, Stingrays, permit, bonefish, barracuda, Goliath grouper, turtles and lots more! The café has excellent smoke fish dip and you can interact with the fish and even feed them by hand. My daughter did NOT want to leave she loved it! This is a must see in Marathon.

What a great find. $ 20/​adult and $ 15 for children and you get a wristband that allows you to leave and come back the same day. The best part??? As Florida residents, we got a discount. That’s worth it in my book.
So, there’s two large observation tanks, a coral reef and a predators tank. They have feelings and educational sessions throughout the day. My children both enjoyed it. There is also a tide pool touch tank and a tank with various species of sting rays. There are a lot of pools of various fish and you can purchase minnows or pellet food to feed them. We fed the barracudas.
Our kids liked the sandbox where you can dig for shark teeth and a small pontoon-​boat-​turned-​observation-​deck in the lagoon.
There are also various encounters that allow you to feed various sea life, swim in the tanks, or even with the nurse sharks.
Our son is looking forward to being old enough to take part in their camps they offer.

What a beautiful place. So many fun things to explore for the family. My kids love petting the stingrays and feeding them. If you have children its a must. We are looking forward to swimming the big tank soon and feeding the Sharks :)

Great for young kids. Only a few attractions but if you’ haven’t spent a lot of time in the ocean it will be good fun for the kids.

This aquarium just opened in July, such a fun place! I just loved feeding the stingrays, they just crave your attention. Came to us to be petted some were soft and bumpy, the beautiful Brown with white spots were so gental and silkey soft.
We had the most fun here, made me feel like a little kid again. if you don’t believe me look at all the pictures. If you want you can even go into the big tank and hand feed the fish and stingrays. A woman went in while we were there. Take a look at her in the tank!
This is definitely a place you must visit, exspecly if you have kids, they will have the time of their lives.
I enjoyed this way more then Key West, guess I am still a kid at heart.

Spent a couple of hours here today awesome place they just opened in July and saw them on the show Tanked! If your looking for some thing to do in the Keys check this place out!

This place is amazing and a must see if you are in the area. The staff is courteous, knowledgeable, fun with kids and professional. We went with a huge group and the owner came out and made us feel like family. Thanks Ben!
I am planning to make the trip back out to next year to swim in the big tank and feed the sharks. The touch tanks were also a huge hit with the whole group. It’s such a great location that where ever you are in the Keys it is a short trip.