North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island

I was very torn on which way to go with the final rating on this one.
On one hand there is only so much stuff to do/​see in the OBX area in general especially in the offseason so anything I suppose is better than nothing just like the price is great here but with that comes the expense of there being very little to see so in comparison it damn well should be cheap or else it would be a total ripoff.
I mean there are the big boy aquariums in Baltimore or Camden, NJ but those places have so many drawbacks that they’ve become almost draconian to visit between the disasterous parking situations/​prices coupled with sky high ticket prices coupled with near daily claustrophobia-​esque crowds it really becomes more of a PIA to visit them versus this one in Manteo that even during a holiday break week had fairly low crowds except again, also low is the fact that if you’re taking much more than an hour to see this aquarium you must have been blindfolded and then told to find the exit.
So what’s good:
The touch tanks are very large and the British volunteer who was there the day we were was awesome talking about everything from the rays to rating her favorite 007’s.
The wild wetlands area with its turtles, albino alligator and river otters is neat and very well lit with natural light which gives the room a lot of visual appeal.
The parking area is fairly large and the idea of parking at an aquarium for free is damn near unheard of. A+
So what’s not good:
The construction that was/​is still going on was a bit of a nuisance.
The treasure cove gift shop seems to be the biggest display in the entire building. I mean I get that aquarium/​zoo type places cost a pretty penny to operate but the size & scope of the animal displays versus the gift shop size is a bit off putting.
For the sake of full disclosure we also did the program where they take you up to the second floor to watch the sharks/​fish in the Graveyard of the Atlantic display get fed and to a point it was interesting but to a point is lasted too long, really didn’t offer a ton of information and the initial process of when/​where to meet the guides was chaotic to say the least.
I’m not one of those contextual retards that doesn’t look at places websites or maps before I go somewhere so it didn’t surprise me that this place was small but I guess the best way that I could put it would be to say that what they offered seemed even smaller/​less impressive in person than what their website shows.
So I guess what that means is that what they have is quality just don’t go expecting a lot of it.
If you go:
Regular hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily year-​round (closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day) except currently the aquarium is closed for renovations until sometime in late March.
ADMISSION FEES (not including tax)
$ 10.95 ages 13 – 61
$ 9.95 ages 62 and over
$ 9.95 military
$ 8.95 ages 3 – 12
Past the regular admission fee there are several additional fee add on programs offered on different days and times. Some are fairly cheap at only a few dollars and others are more steep going up to fifty per person. Check their website once they reopen as their calendar is very well laid out.

Lapin and I visited the aquarium during a family trip to NC. I try to visit the aquarium every time I got somewhere. The admission was $ 10.95 plus taxes. The museum itself was very small but they had an outdoor picnic area and a pier included in the price. Personally, the whole aquarium could be seen in 45 minutes to 1 hour and that’s with taking breaks. We did enjoy the shark exhibit. I feel this would be better priced at $ 8 or $ 9 a person.

Am I spoiled because I’m from Baltimore and we have the National Aquarium? I’ve been to aquariums in Chicago and New Orleans… this seems like a cute little pet store for locals. Then again, if you were visiting OBX, you wouldn’t worry about an aquarium I guess. We met another couple that had stayed in Corolla and we drove up from Rodanthe, we decided to have a day on Roanoke and check out this little spot.
Of course I enjoy any type of creature, so the otters made me happy (how can you be sad with a sea cat-​snake doing flips in his little pool?). There was also a touch-​a-​ray exhibit, which was pretty fun.
I didn’t understand the weird animatronic dinosaurs, but it was a nice day and a pleasant view from the aquarium and inexpensive to get in (National Aquarium is $ 35, this was $ 7 I think)… all in all, a solid down the middle experience on vaycay.

Decent small-​sized aquarium, a fun way to kill a few hours and it’s super affordable as well.
Highlights:
— Sea lions: okay these things are way too cute!
— Turtles: they rescue ocean turtles. I had no idea they get so huge!
— Sharks: because come on, shark week, hello?!
— Touching sting rays! So fun and scary! I was surprised the younger kids were not scared of it. I was.
— The «dinosaur» exhibit outside. A nice touch. Got some fun photos. The dinosaur models were bigger than I expected!
All in all, it’s a small place, but well worth the small admission price and it’s right next to the «Dare County AIrport» so you can walk right across the street after you land there if you’re traveling by small airplane through the outer banks.

We brought a 2 year old and 5 year old. They had the best time. There was just enough for them to see and do. Their favorite was petting the sting rays and the dinosaur trail. It was a great activity to keep the little ones entertained!

Nice aquarium. Nice for a rainy day. Not huge place but for $ 10 a person it’s not bad. It has a really cool turtle rehabilitation center. Very informative and interesting

Beautiful aquarium!
I loved how you can actually watch a sea turtle’s live surgery! Super cool and fun.
Only thing I didn’t like was the turtles caged up in little tanks, not knowing weather they have freedom to move or not. Even though they were placed in a rehabilitation center, I feel as if they should have a little more freedom as turtles who have just been through accidents and such.
All the exhibits were pretty cool and I could totally imagine a kid loving this place, I’m 16 and I thought it was delightful.
The dinosaur «hike» was also super silly and fun! My boyfriend and I had a good laugh out of that.

Aquarium was very nice, especially for a smaller aquarium. It’s smaller than the aquarium at VA Brach and Myrtle Beach, but it’s a cool and fun way to spend a couple hours during your stay in the OBX area. I arrived around 9:15 am so we got there pretty much right when it opened. It seemed a good time to go because we were able to watch the albino alligator get fed. We also really enjoyed the otters. The sea turtles and sting ray petting station were also some of my favorite things in the aquarium. Highly recommend for families and groups. The price for entry was about $ 10 (adult ticket) so it’s very affordable.

Very affordable and alot of fun! The shark tank, otters and manta rays we’re our favorites!

Small but very nice aquarium! The «kids» in our group ranged from 10 to 19 but they all enjoyed the exhibits and rehabbing the turtles. The grounds were lovely, and admission price was very reasonable.

Needed a place to entertain the babies for the day. So we hit up this aquarium. In a pretty cool location, really nice outdoor space. I think that there are event that are held there, like weddings and what not. The pictures that I saw were beautiful.
Rather inexpensive entry, about 10 or so bucks per adult. Can’t say it is too big, in comparison to the Baltimore aquarium, but honeslty, I totally think it is worth the price. There are nice display areas, and a pretty cool touch tank filled with sting rays and crabs.
Loved the fact that they had interactive activites for the kiddos, my niece enjoyed healing her ailing turtle.
The feeding of the sharks was pretty dope, they have shows, unfortunately we weren’t able to catch any of them.
Oh there was also a hurrican simulator, which I tried, and gave my family a great laugh. I guess I didn’t respond in the way that they expected.
All in all, it was a pretty cool way to spend some time in the area.

My family and I went to the North Carolina Aquarium in Manteo and we loved it. My little cousin Jack who is two years old thought it was super neato. I liked looking at all of the fish and the turtles. They even have an exhibit where you can pet sting rays. My favorite part was the shark tank. We were fortunate enough to see scuba divers in the tank. It’s a small place but it’s really nice and very reasonably priced. They also have a dinosaur trail with animatronic dinosaurs. After the dinosaur trail there is a dock with a gazebo where you can look out on the bay. It was very zen. If you’re looking for something different to do with the kids, this is the spot to visit.

This place was cute — as four adults, we paid $ 10.95 a person and went through the whole place in about 1 – 1.5 hours. The white alligator was cool and the view outside was also beautiful. There were a lot of kids and it’s great to see them excited about everything that was going on.

Really nice aquarium in a great small town. Sort of in the middle of nowhere and was not expecting it to be that nice. Of course it isn’t as big as a Baltimore or San Diego but still tons of stuff. The staff was super friendly and informative, many were volunteers but really knew their stuff.
They have an area where you can touch the sting rays and other mollusks which the kids loved. They have a huge shark tank with other really big fish. At 10:30 they have divers go in and have a show which was cool. At a bunch of other times they have sessions with different fish and feedings so make sure to call ahead for the schedule.
You can even do weddings there! The price just for entrance is about $ 10 for adults which isn’t horrible. They have nice grounds and a pier and playground as well.
They have otters and alligators and all the usual cool fish. They even have huge sea turtles they are rehabbing that were hurt which they explain in a certain room. All in all a great place to spend a few hours.

We go here every trip to the outer banks. Love the aquarium and love the new sea turtle rehab section. The only thing is that we signed up for an annual pass because the list that they show has a couple zoos that are local to where we live listed as included in membership. However when we were reading through the book on our way home we saw that it is in fact just a discount to those zoos, and not complete admission. Had I known that we would’ve just gone with the daily admission and not splurged on the annual pass.

Not to bad it’s on the smaller size as aquariums go, a decent value for the price.
The kids enjoyed the activities with the stingrays, snails and fossil dig along with the other displays.
looking around.
My self found shark tank and other fish tank to be enjoyable and easy to get around in a wheelchair.
The green screen photo shot was a lot of fun for everyone. Note extra cost for print outs, reasonably priced.
Nice outside area for a picnicking and good views of the sound.

In actuality maybe 2.5 stars, but I rounded up b/​c it does pain me to trash local businesses.
Full disclosure — we do not have children. If I did they would not be the poorly behaved specimens on display this past Saturday! But that’s neither here nor there. We ended up at the aquarium b/​c we simply could.not.take.the.weather. It was 100% humidity and light rain and we had spent the morning sweating our buns off in downtown Manteo. We ended up at the aquarium and paid the 11 and change. We were promised ‘cool air-​conditioning’ by the front gate attendant. We entered and, yeah, negative on that promised cool a/​c.
It took us longer to check in on FB then to see the aquarium. Remove the bad a$$ kids from the equation and I still doubt we would have enjoyed our stay.

It is not the best attraction one can visit on the beach if you have a small child who loves fish totally worth it but if you want more bang for you buck you can go else where.

It was fun, yes, but I wasn’t totally blown away. When I had found out months prior that our family vacation was going to be in this area I looked up ahead of time what we could do one day. This place popped up and I thought, «why not?»
Man, was I disappointed. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the place, lots to look at, good interactive displays, exhibits meant for the area, etc. But price wise, and when I say this I am talking about your bang for your buck, it’s a bit steep. I expected much more to look at, things to do and an overall grand experience. For an aquarium it is on the small side. Some areas are dated as well, as some of the screens that display the information for the species in the tanks need some replacing.
Driving here is a little offsetting as well. Makes you think that you are going to a very remote area in the wrong direction. It’s like that one attraction in an area that all the kids grew up with visiting almost every year for their class trip.
*A sidenote after reading over other reviews, it is no longer $ 8, it’s in the double digits now.

The aquarium exhibit is on the smaller side which I guess suits its rural area purposefully. There’s a few fish tanks, snakes, amphibians, otters that were hiding, small alligator, touch pool, turtles, theater, small shark tank, and kiddie learning center. Nothing impressive or unique. I got bored real quick. And the $ 8 adult ticket price is a bit high for what you receive. $ 5 would be sufficient.
The outside has a café, benches & tables with gorgeous views of the water & bridge, and a pier with gazebo.
OVERALL:
Definitely far from world class but not terrible either.