Morro Bay Aquarium

From the reviews, I already know this place is horrible. But it’s even worse that you walk by the aquarium and you can hear the seals and sea lions crying. I can’t believe this place is still in business! When you are reading this review tell your friends or anyone who is going to the Morro Bay Aquarium, DON’T GO!!!

I’m not even an animal right/​welfare enthusiast, but this place seemed very cruel to the sea life kept there. Tiny tanks, overcrowded, and pretty much empty. The animals look obviously stressed and depressed. Seriously don’t support this place…

Dory of «Finding Nemo» fame may call this town her birthplace, but this aquarium is NOT the «Jewel of Morro Bay, CA.» It is an inhumane prison. It was founded purely for tourism dollars.
Hopefully the old sack of crap running this place does us all a favor and croaks soon.

Local biologists and animal lovers alike are calling for a boycott of this awful place before they can renew the lease in 2018. The conditions here are disgustingly inhumane, with tiny enclosures only big enough for the seals to swim in circles all day with no toys, companionship, or stimulation of any kind. They also grow fat because the owners allow people to feed the seals all day instead of feeding them the controlled diet they do need to thrive. This is more prison than aquarium. Please do not take your children here, there are much better places in Morro Bay to observe seals in their natural habitat, not locked in a shallow tank for us to gawk at.
Do not support this business.

My relatives took me to this «place» when I was 16… I have just discovered that nearly 25 years later, it’s still going… I remember being so distraught at the time I went and stood outside till my family was finished observing what I consider to be the epitome of human cruelty. The seals are bad enough, but the underground aquariums are also terribly depressing, particularly the octopus tank. I am horrified this place has never been shut down. Apparently this is scheduled to happen in 2018, but that is still 2 more years of suffering for these hapless creatures. Not much can be done now, but I would implore anyone living in or visiting Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo, California to be vocal with the local authorities about this horrendous facility, because they all seem to be in complete denial…

The Gorilla says:
«Seals are fun to feed!
Thirty years, and it’s still fun.
Too bad it’s closing!
Go inside to see,
Many fish and kitch-​y vids!
Good fun for small cash!»

Dirty, smelly, and crampt. There are many many other places to shop in Morro Bay. I’d pass.

Don’t go into this place it’s extremely depressing the poor sea lions are in tiny enclosures trapped for 24 hours a day! This in my eyes is animal abuse everything is run down and dirty watching those poor seals brought me to tears I called a couple seal rescue places already to see what there able to do

This is a sad display of animal cruelty: tiny and filthy tanks, seals in puddles of water, dirty floors, stinks. My husband and I took our 3 and 5 yo daughters. Even they noticed the grime on the tanks, peeling paint and stench. It was only $ 8 but I felt robbed and desperately wished I had donated the money to an animal charity instead. Please don’t let tourism keep their doors open. I do not get how this place is not in serious violation of animal treatment. Please appreciate the beauty of nature in the area. Enjoy watching the happy and FREE seals just steps away on the harbor. We were idiots to go. I am writing this so you do not make the same mistake.

This place was so upsetting I walked out in tears. The seals are in a very very small enclosure and are NOT having a good time. I can still hear the sounds of him wailing– not the excited wails– he sounded in deep despair. Poor poor thing. He should be sent to the zoo to live with other seals to socialize (a huge part of their lives, they are very social animals). I need to research if anything can be done about this. Do not pay and support this horrible place. Shameful.

My 2 year old had recently been very interested in a children’s book we have about sea life. After reading it all week to him, I asked him if he’d like to see some real starfish and manta rays and he was very excited about it. I wanted to take him to the other local aquarium, but it was closed. I remembered there was one in Morro Bay which I had not been to since I was a child. Determined to see starfish, we started out towards Morro Bay, my toddler enthusiastically babbling about starfish the whole time. My mother began to Google it (for directions) and stumbled upon very troubling information about this Morro Bay Aquarium, such as the 22 violations of animal welfare they amassed between 2009 – 2010 and the petitions to have the aquarium shut down. I went in, hopes high anyway — surely it’s been enough time to get this place to code?
Paying 3 dollars to visit an aquarium with seals, eels, starfish, and an octopus should set off red flags. Still went in.
I have to warn you: what I am about to describe is quite distressing. Just don’t go, ever, at all.
One holding tank for the seals suspiciously resembles a bathtub and the other tank is not much better. These guys are literally swimming in sad circles no bigger than your bathroom.
Into the depressin closet that hold several fish tanks… I don’t have specs for the tanks but they are all about the same size, with no thought to species, no scenery/​cover for the sea creatures. Two of the tanks actually were empty except for big chunks of dead fish… WHAT THE…
The eel tank, same size as the rest of the tanks, something like 2ft by 2ft by 3ft, contains three eels (can grow to be five feet long!) Just wrapped around the bar in the middle because, where else could they go??? They can’t even swim.
The starfish… were they even alive? I am not sure, there were no rocks for them to climb on or anything. No movement.
Before you can leave, there is a big trophy case (fish tank?), at least three times the size of any other tank, containing taxidermy of sea otters etc. Which somehow makes me think of all the sea creatures just waiting to die in their tanks.
My son was asking to leave and pushing the stroller to the exit in no time.
I can’t believe this place exists.

Wow.
And not in the good way.
I didn’t even look at Unilocal before I came here. I was just walking by and saw that it was just $ 3 to get in, so I thought, why not?
Well there’s so many reasons why NOT to come in, despite the $ 3 charge. The seals they have (that you can feed for $ 0.50) are in an area so small they can only swim in circles of the diameter that is maaaybe the length of their body. The rest of the aquarium is incredibly old and there’s so much mold on the glass. The glass isn’t even clear any more. The sea creatures inside are so mismatched, it’s like they went into the ocean, picked like 5 things that looked like something you wouldn’t necessarily see everyday, and stuck them in a cage together.
Most depressing collection of animals ever. Please don’t give them money.

This place needs to be shutdown. A horrible excuse for an aquarium. It is the equivalent of Sea World on the Central Coast but for poor sea lions.

The sea lion cage was really small — about 8′ x 8′ for each sea lion. The sea lions are in there 24 – 7 which seems like animal abuse to me. Those small quarters should only be for animals recovering from injury. One sea lion was barking the whole time and I don’t blame it. The other water aquariums were really small. In one of them was a really beautiful octopus with, as another commenter said, nowhere to hide from the bright lights.
Don’t go here because it will make you depressed about humanity.

This is the aquarium equivalent to an abandoned insane asylum. The facility looks very dilapidated with a number of small and brightly lit «tanks» that provide little-​to-​no cover or stimulation for the occupants. Most animals barely moved when I visited, appearing on the verge of death. While the seals were active — becoming more vocal when they were fed by the guests — they live in embarrassingly small «kennels». I’m sorry I stepped foot in this place.

One star does not give this aquarium justice. The enclosures are in complete disrepair and there is nothing stimulating for the poor creatures trapped there.
I wanted to cry when I left. I hope there are people in the community trying to close this place so these animals can find a more suitable habitat. I understand they can’t be released into the wild, but at the very least they need bigger enclosures.

If I could give zero stars I would! That place is inhumane and cruel those seals live in small concrete bathtubs 365 days a year with ZERO enrichent! They are still in business because you selfish people paying to get in with your bratty children! STOP giving them business they have tons of violations! Look it up!

The only thing still good things about this dilapidated aquarium is the ability to feed the seals and that small children are free!
Feeding the seals remains the main reason to pay the fare. Good for the seals is .50 cents a bag. One bag is enough fish for the over fed seals unless you have children who need their own bags.
From there on out, the place is small and really not well cared for at all. The tanks are dirty and contain the remains of the creatures who didn’t make it. Although this will allow you and your kids to watch how feeding in the ocean actually occurs. The bones and specimen in the display case appear they haven’t been touched, dusted, or maintained since I was a kid.
Our daughter enjoyed the seals, but otherwise we felt ripped off. Next time we will just drive the 20ish minutes north to the elephant seal rookery and watch those seals for free.

Super disappointed that this is the only aquarium in the area, if you want to see happy seals, go for a walk on the pier or a boat ride and you’ll get a better experience. I felt horribly sorry to see the small confinements these animals were in. The store front and gift shop were ill-​maintained and overpriced and the staff were very short with us. I won’t be returning.

It’s really a lame aquarium, it really is. But there’s something about it that keeps me coming back and I don’t know what it is… wait, yes I do! It’s those delightfully silly seals and sea lions that await your visit.
One of the most rewarding and fun things is walking in (especially on a lazy, slow weekend where they haven’t been bombarded with visitors) and seeing the «excitement» on the faces of those cute little sea creatures waiting to have some chopped fish tossed down to them. Can’t you see the smiles on their faces? So cute!!! The sea lions are the ones that bark with pleasure upon your arrival and seem to get the most attention because of it, but the seal (s) loves seeing you too, even if he doesn’t say much. I’m sure they aren’t waiting on my words of love and pleasure, it’s probably just the snacks that they love… but I like to think they are genuinely happy to see me. THEY are why I keep coming back.
There are mixed feelings and mixed stories as to whether these guys are actually rescued or not… it makes me sad that they are in small little pools, and I hate to think that there is any cruelty going on here. I just love that I can see them, and I hope that they are living a happy life.
The displays inside the aquarium are kinda dark and dingy but there are some really interesting things to see and learn about if you read the signs and check them out.
Regardless of truth or myth, the seals and sea lions deserve to have lots of stars… and fish… I hope I never find out that there honestly is anything shady going on here.
Love you little guys!