WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION
St. Augustine Aquarium
St. Johns County · Atlantic Coast
A five-acre aquarium off State Road 16 built around an open-air lagoon that visitors can snorkel in.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Shawn and Kathy Hiester spent more than two years planning this before it opened on December 19, 2016, and what they built is not a conventional aquarium. The centerpiece is an 80,000-gallon open-air tank holding over a hundred species native to Florida and the Caribbean, queen angelfish and cownose rays among them, and for an extra charge a visitor can put on a mask and snorkel and get into it. That is the reason to come; swimming among the fish is a different thing from watching them through glass. The site covers about five acres at 2045 State Road 16, on the mainland side rather than out on the island. Touch tanks and further indoor exhibits have been in planning and permitting, so what is open may have grown since. It is a small independent operation rather than a chain aquarium, and it suits families with children old enough to manage a snorkel
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