The Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart is a fun indoor/outdoor science center devoted to sea creatures. The indoor part is much smaller than the outdoor part.
Inside is a display of locally-caught fish mounted on the wall. Their species is listed below so visitors can try to match names to bodies. The fish were caught in the Atlantic and Caribbean by Frances Langford, a famous singer and entertainer from the 1930s to the 1950s. She donated the fish and the land for the center!
A couple of tanks show different parts of the sea floor that we'd otherwise never get to see.
The star attraction of the center is ray feeding pool. A couple of times each day, a volunteer gives a talk about rays, describing their biology, habitat, and diet. Our guide showed us some of the stingers rays use to defend themselves.
After about ten minutes of talking, the volunteers brought out some bits of fish for visitors to feed to the rays. The instructions were simple: hold the fish in your hand with your hand flat against the shelf just below the waterline. The ray will swim up and suck the fish out of your hand much like a vacuum cleaner. The trick is to stay still or the ray won't come near you. We enjoyed feeding even though it was a little scary.
My youngest needed my help to hold his hand still under the water. At age five, the situation was intimidating but fun when it actually worked.
The center also had a fun cut out for posing.
One of the guide's recommendations was to shuffle your feet when you walk along the surf. That avoids stepping on rays accidentally. A stepped-on ray is a stinging ray!
Another outdoor tank had hermit crabs and snails. This one snail had a long shell and it would occasionally bury itself in the sand to find tiny critters to eat.
At the center's lagoon, they had a shark-feeding demonstration. Visitors were not allowed to hand-feed the sharks, as you might imagine. They would definitely bite the hand that feeds them!
Another display let my youngest make bird tracks in the sand with special stamps.
We walked around to the far side of the lagoon for a demonstration on sea turtles. On the way we saw them growing sea grass for use in the lagoon and other spots.
The turtle demonstration was a little boring because it was all talking. The lagoon turtles eventually swam near but hardly ever surfaced.
We did enjoy the visit and I picked up a copy of Jonathan Dickinson's journal. He was traveling from Jamaica to Philadelphia and was shipwrecked in the area in 1696. The journal is about his travels north from there to Saint Augustine where locals helped them continue their trip. Dickinson has a major park named after him.
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| Fish suncatcher at the front door |
Inside is a display of locally-caught fish mounted on the wall. Their species is listed below so visitors can try to match names to bodies. The fish were caught in the Atlantic and Caribbean by Frances Langford, a famous singer and entertainer from the 1930s to the 1950s. She donated the fish and the land for the center!
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| Guess the fish |
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| Frances Langford (1913-2005) |
A couple of tanks show different parts of the sea floor that we'd otherwise never get to see.
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| Oyster bed, good camouflage for oysters |
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| Sea horse in another tank |
The star attraction of the center is ray feeding pool. A couple of times each day, a volunteer gives a talk about rays, describing their biology, habitat, and diet. Our guide showed us some of the stingers rays use to defend themselves.
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| Ray tank |
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| Spine with stingers |
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| Seeing the rays/petting the rays |
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| Swooping around underwater |
After about ten minutes of talking, the volunteers brought out some bits of fish for visitors to feed to the rays. The instructions were simple: hold the fish in your hand with your hand flat against the shelf just below the waterline. The ray will swim up and suck the fish out of your hand much like a vacuum cleaner. The trick is to stay still or the ray won't come near you. We enjoyed feeding even though it was a little scary.
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| Cousin feeding |
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| Trying to lure the ray |
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| My daughter's success |
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| My son's success |
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| A second turn |
My youngest needed my help to hold his hand still under the water. At age five, the situation was intimidating but fun when it actually worked.
The center also had a fun cut out for posing.
 |
| Did the ray eat my daughter? |
One of the guide's recommendations was to shuffle your feet when you walk along the surf. That avoids stepping on rays accidentally. A stepped-on ray is a stinging ray!
 |
| Do the ray shuffle! |
Another outdoor tank had hermit crabs and snails. This one snail had a long shell and it would occasionally bury itself in the sand to find tiny critters to eat.
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| On top of the sand |
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| Buried in sand |
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| Feeling other crabs |
At the center's lagoon, they had a shark-feeding demonstration. Visitors were not allowed to hand-feed the sharks, as you might imagine. They would definitely bite the hand that feeds them!
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| Tossing food out for the sharks |
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| Not the most photo-friendly fellows |
Another display let my youngest make bird tracks in the sand with special stamps.
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| Footprinting |
We walked around to the far side of the lagoon for a demonstration on sea turtles. On the way we saw them growing sea grass for use in the lagoon and other spots.
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| Underwater greenhouse |
The turtle demonstration was a little boring because it was all talking. The lagoon turtles eventually swam near but hardly ever surfaced.
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| The back end sticking out |
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| The front end sticking out |
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| Display of local turtle types |
We did enjoy the visit and I picked up a copy of Jonathan Dickinson's journal. He was traveling from Jamaica to Philadelphia and was shipwrecked in the area in 1696. The journal is about his travels north from there to Saint Augustine where locals helped them continue their trip. Dickinson has a major park named after him.
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