Six real exhibit halls. One continuous dive.
From a hands-on Touch Pool to the pitch-dark Deep Sea Gallery, Tidehaven is built to feel like descending through real ocean depth — not just walking past tanks.
Six halls, six real ecosystems.
Keep scrolling and watch the water around you change — the light, the current, and what swims through it are all real to the depth you're passing through.
Kelp Forest
A three-story living kelp forest — the same giant kelp that carpets the California coast, growing fast enough to watch it happen.
Full exhibit detailsCoral Reef
Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor — and support roughly a quarter of all known marine species. Ours packs that density into one glowing tank.
Open Ocean
A 350,000-gallon ring of blue water built for animals that never stop swimming — yellowfin tuna, sea turtles, and hammerhead sharks in one continuous current.
Full exhibit detailsYellowfin tuna swim a continuous current loop — they can't stop moving
Green sea turtles share the water column with scalloped hammerhead sharks
350,000 gallons, shaped as a ring to match real pelagic swimming patterns
Deep Sea Gallery
Past where sunlight reaches, animals make their own light. Meet the anglerfish and vampire squid of the deep — genuinely strange, genuinely real.
Full exhibit details
Jellyfish Gallery
No brain, no heart, no bones — just a pulsing bell and 500 million years of getting the job done. Moon jellies and sea nettles drift in specially engineered kreisel tanks.
Everything you need before you go.
Hours
Daily: 9:00am – 6:00pm Summer Fri–Sun: until 8:00pm Last admission one hour before close
Location
1 Harbor Promenade, Bayside Pier — at the edge of the working harbor, a five-minute walk from the waterfront transit stop.
Accessibility
Wheelchair accessible throughout, with complimentary wheelchair and stroller loans at Guest Services. Sensory-friendly early mornings (lower lighting and sound) run the first Tuesday of every month. Service animals welcome.
Parking & Getting There
On-site parking garage, $12/day, free for members with validation. The waterfront shuttle stops directly outside, and bike racks are at the north entrance.
One visit, or all year.
Adult
Ages 13\xE2\x80\x9364
- Full-day admission, all six exhibit halls
- Access to the daily Dive Show in the Kelp Forest
- Free re-entry same day with hand stamp
Child & Senior
Ages 3\xE2\x80\x9312, or 65+
- Same full-day access as Adult admission
- Under 3 always free, no ticket needed
- Stroller and wheelchair loans at Guest Services
Annual Family Membership
2 named adults + household dependents
- Unlimited admission for 12 months, every exhibit hall
- Members-Only Mornings, first Saturday of each month
- 10% off in the gift shop and harborside caf\xC3\xA9
- 4 single-visit guest passes per year
- Reciprocal admission at 150+ partner AZA aquariums nationwide
Accreditation is a floor, not a headline. We run real rescue, breeding, and research programs every day of the year.
AZA Accredited
Tidehaven is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums \xE2\x80\x94 a rigorous, on-site evaluation of animal care and welfare, veterinary programs, conservation education, and safety, renewed every five years and held by fewer than 10% of animal exhibitors licensed in the United States.
Rescue & Rehabilitation
Our team responds to cold-stunned and injured sea turtles as part of the regional stranding network, treating them in our on-site veterinary hospital and releasing healthy animals back to the wild.
Breeding & Restoration Programs
We culture moon jellies and propagate coral fragments in-house \xE2\x80\x94 reducing wild collection \xE2\x80\x94 and partner on active kelp-forest restoration work along the coast.
Research Partnerships
We work with the regional university's marine biology department on water-quality monitoring and contribute citizen-science reef-health data from our own coral collection.
Beyond the exhibit halls.
Kelp Forest Dive Show
Divers hand-feed the Kelp Forest and narrate live over a diver-mic, right at the main viewing window.
Members-Only Mornings
The building to yourself before public hours \xE2\x80\x94 a members-only benefit, coffee included.
Behind-the-Scenes Life Support Tour
A guided walk through the filtration and quarantine systems that keep every tank alive. Limited to 12 guests, additional fee.
Ocean Science Speaker Series
Visiting marine biologists talk about current research. Free with same-day admission.
Real visits, real reactions.
“Our four-year-old touched a bat ray for the first time in the Touch Pool and asked to go back three times before we even made it to the Kelp Forest. The staff running the pool were patient with every single kid in line, not just ours.”
“I've been diving myself for ten years and I still stood in front of the Open Ocean tank for twenty minutes watching the tuna loop past. You forget you're looking through glass.”
“The Jellyfish Gallery is worth the ticket price on its own. My daughter has an anxiety condition and dim, quiet spaces with slow movement genuinely calm her down — we ended up sitting on the bench in there for almost half an hour.”
“Took my nephew to the Deep Sea Gallery specifically because he's obsessed with anglerfish, and the lure on the footballfish actually glowed while we were standing there. He talked about it for a week.”
Ready to surface with us?
Request your tickets below — we'll email a confirmation with payment options. No card required online.