Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center, Santa Barbara

Small, but very reasonably priced oceanic learning center and petting zoo. My kids had a blast touching sharks, rays, starfish, sea cucumbers, and snails. There is also a live observatory where they dredge sand from the seafloor for you to sift and look for creatures. Also, there is a good selection of other live creatures for you to observe. Lots of bang for a few bucks a head, and kids are free!!

Small, but well organized aquarium with a number of interactive exhibits - small touch pools and educational kiosks. The friendly staff are available to answer questions and provide information to add to the intimate experience. Great for small children. Plan for about 1 hour to fully enjoy the exhibits and visit the gift shop.

It was a little small but they keep the place very good. Workers were very nice and they told us many great facts about the exhibitions. We had lots of fun.

Wow. This place is GREAT. We were there the first day of reopening. The first floor is filled with touch tanks that include sharks and seastars and anenomes. The second floor is more a standard aquarium with local fish. My toddler spent at least a half hour building the Channel Islands with the kinetic sand. The staff/volunteers were friendly and so informative. We talked to a volunteer for couldn't have been more than 15 years old who told us all about whale teeth. It's great that everyone was so passionate and excited to have visitors. We'll be back many more times!

Loved it here! Cool interactive displays, great friendly staff, pretty cheap and really informative. Worth the visit if you're out that way and looking for something to do.