Manatee Observation & Education Center

Although manatee are few and far between, the staff was very nice and knowledgeable. The gift store is great. They offer boat rides at 1:30 every day to go see manatee although you may not really see manatee and they are very honest about that, that you may not actually see manatee everytime you come there. It’s a very nice place.

This is a great place for kids. The price can’t be beat at $ 1.00 per person. This is a small center but has lots of interactive things for the kids to do. The really cool part was that we saw a manatee in the harbor just outside the center. Very cool. I would recommend it with families traveling with kids.

For an incredibly paltry donation, a very chipper volunteer will guide you through the small visitor center and tell you a bunch of interesting things, and you get to touch stuff in a little aquarium, and that’s all well and good. And then, if you’re very lucky, you’ll walk outside and some wacky looking dude in half a wetsuit, a straw hat, and no shoes will just saunter up and tell you EXACTLY where to find a couple of manatees chillin out right next to the pier. And you will see the manatees, scream with delight, and take a million pictures that look like pictures of a brown lump.
The end.

The Manatee Center is small but mighty. And you get your fair share of entertainment value for the $ 1 entry fee they levy.
Sit down and enjoy the manatee educational video (possibly made back in the ‘80s), wander around and check out the various aquarium exhibits with live fish, various crustaceans, turtles, and even an underwater petting zoo.
Listen to the volunteers talk about the history of the center, learn about the crazy hurricanes that demolished it, and the few animals that survived the wreckage, and the ones they had to let go into the wild (that are most likely deceased/​eaten by this point).
And if you’re especially lucky, you might spot «footprints» on the surface of the water in the inlet right outside, indicating a manatee floating just under the surface. Our timing was impeccable, and a volunteer called us out to spot just such a sea cow. And a big ‘un it was!
Pop in for a brief 30 minute fun, informative interlude. It’s well worth the price.