Tybee Island Marine Science Center

I loved having the opportunity to visit the Tybee Island Marine Science Center during my trip to the area this past week! Everyone was so friendly and informative. And I got to see Westie eat some delicious turtle brownies! Definitely check this place out during your travels if you love learning about the ocean and all its creatures.

A complete gem! What an amazing resource for Tybee Island. Guests learn about local marine life from the exceptional staff. They are friendly and eager to share information. Everyone in our group, ages 2 and up (way up), learned something new! The touch tank and other "hands on" experiences were so amazing. And we were fortunate to be able to witness the release of Ike the Loggerhead Sea Turtle on the morning of our visit! And the playground is pretty awesome too!

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. I try to find an educational venue or museum anytime I go on a vacay or adventure. This was perfect. I love learning about reptiles and the shelled creatures. Not many people know turtles, tortoises, and terrapins are different creatures that are all most people know as turtles. Love it!!!

Such a cute place to visit and for $10 a person, it is definitely worth every penny. You get to see a variety of sea animals, a well-known sea turtle, and there is also a touch pool! The staff are very educated and passionate. There are also many different educational opportunities including a big interactive touch screen that tells you about the animals and the reef and their mission. There are also fossils and other cool enriching topics. I added several photos so you can consider the trip but I didn’t want to spoil it for you!

This place is awesome. We left learning so much. The staff are all very knowledgeable. We learned so much from talking with them. It's small, but we were there for a long time talking with the staff and holding the crabs/snails in the touch tank.

Great views from the light house after the 178 steps! The visitor center and historic houses are fun to see and well maintained.

Neat place, took my 6 and 3 y.o. boys. Staff was extremely friendly and interactive with the kids. Nice little playground in the middle of the features for the kids to run out some steam. It is smaller, and takes roughly 30-60 minutes to walk through minus the playground time. Will visit again.

Very surprised how nice the Science Center is. My 3yr old Granddaughter had a blast! We got to see Ike the Trutle his last day there.
Great kid friendly experience and the Staff was so nice and didn't seem to mind educating us about the various species they have.

If you go when Frank is working make sure you ask him about his knowledge of horseshoe crabs! He is full of knowledge and I learned so much! Such a great center for a great community, they even rehabilitate the animals and release them.

This is a must see place on Tybee! The staff is super friendly and knowledgeable. They have a great touch tank the kids love. My child really loves the playground, especially the zip line. They have a lot of marine life to see including sea turtles, alligators, shrimp, sharks and rays. Definitely set aside a couple of hours to go here!

Roped into being a chaperone for an 8th grade trip to Savannah and this was one our stops... I am so glad. Take the trip out from Savannah and support this facility! Beach ecology, animals, and so much incredible information for visitors of all ages! The guides were well-equipped to balance the age group with information and fun. Hands-on learning while on the beaches of Tybee Island is my idea of a great school day! There's a smaller children's area, restaurant, gorgeous beaches and of course the lighthouse. I plan to go back for another visit soon

A really interesting excursion in a convenient spot. We were going to the beach anyway and it was right there. Got a bit of history about the island. Learn a bit about the native wildlife. Saw some baby alligators, which are absolutely adorable. Hard to believe they'll grow into swamp dragons. Anyway, a really cool place in a really cool spot.

This is such a cute little center. Some great critters here and very friendly and knowledgeable staff. We stayed for a demonstration on sharks and were enamored by the passion and kindness the man had for these animals and the kiddos with us. Obviously the price is a little steep but hey, it’s Tybee Island and the aquarium is a walk to the beach. You pay for convenience and location and it goes to a good cause.

We absolutely loved this place!! We started the day with the Sift & Seine program. The guide took us down to the beach, where we got into the water to sift through the sand for organisms. We didn't find much there other than a few butterfly clams, but we had never seen live ones, and it was really cool to see how they moved in the water! While we were sifting, our guide found a cannonball jellyfish that we got to experience & learn about (cannonball jellies don't sting! I had no idea!), then a moon jellyfish washed up on shore & she taught us all about that. It was so cool!! After that, we took the Seine net into the water to see what we could find. It took a while for us to catch anything, but seining in the ocean was really fun, even though we didn't have immediate success. If you do this activity, you definitely need to wear a swimsuit. Between using the net & the ocean waves, we were absolutely drenched afterward! I was glad to be wearing a swimsuit.

Later in the day, we came back for a Turtle Talk, which my family also highly recommends. This was more of a lecture style class, not a hands on adventure like the Sift & Seine. That said, the instructor presented the material in a captivating way. We got to see & touch turtle shells, turtle egg shell fragments, bones, and an entire turtle skull! We learned a ton of fascinating things about sea turtles, then we went downstairs to feed Ike, the Center's resident sea turtle, who just moved downstairs to a bigger tank.

After our Turtle Talk, we had about 10-15 minutes before the center closed, so we went to their aquarium & touch tanks. While we were up there, our instructor from earlier called us over to see a baby alligator that she was holding! She also talked is through all sorts of interesting things in the touch tank.

I HIGHLY recommend going to the Marine Science Center and participating in these activities. This place is small, but it makes great use of it's space on the beach & proximity to the ocean. It's packed with information and staffed by passionate people who are enthusiastic about the environment.

This was a such a great experience. Yes, it’s not very big but everything they have is enough. Lots of learning and getting to see some animals up close. The tanks were the cleanest i’ve ever seen and the animals were well taken care of. Enjoyed our time here! Will be back to see Westie again ^_^

My daughter loves it here. The staff will tell you anything you want to know about the wildlife that stay with them. We love the sea turtles who will non stop swim towards you in the tank wanting human contact.

Such a cool little cutaway from the beach! My kiddos LOVED the turtles! Charlie is a HOOT!

Customer Service was 10/10, every employee here was pleasant, excited and eager to answer questions.
They had 2 sea turtles, baby Spider Crab, large amount of Diamondback Terrapins, baby alligators, fish, eels, touch tank and fossils. Would like to come back and see how they continue to expand the science center.

I would suggest they expand the Gift Shop further down the road. Not much to choose from an adult perspective.

Very informative little aquarium. The volunteers were so friendly and knowledgeable. The kids loved the touch tank, all the different sea creatures, the fossil room and getting to meet a sea turtle.

The exhibits were nice, and the staff was patient. There was a touching tank where the kids could hold starfish and hermit crabs.