Sea Life Park is home to a wonderful selection of sharks, dolphins, sea lions, penguins, and so much more, all spread across the attraction’s numerous aquariums, habitats, and exhibits. Here you’ll also find a bird sanctuary, green sea turtle breeding colony, and reef touch pool, as well as a lively calendar of events that regularly features animal feedings, educational talks, and interactive programs that enable you to interact closely with dolphins and sea lions. Sea Life Park is located on Oahu’s majestic windward coast just up the road from Makapuʻu Lighthouse and a 45-minute drive south of Kualoa Ranch.
History and Background Information
Sea Life Park first opened its doors to the public over a half-century ago, and for multiple generations now it has delighted visitors from all over the world with its interactive marine mammal experiences, exhibits that showcase wildlife native to the waters around Hawaii, educational programs, and ongoing conservation efforts. Sea Life Park has rescued thousands of seabirds and released tens of thousands of green sea turtle hatchlings into the wild during the past two decades alone.
While best known for its numerous marine exhibits, Sea Life Park contains an assortment of amenities suitable for all visitors. Here you’ll find five different places to grab food, including Kau Kau Kitchen, which serves sandwiches, salads, seafood plates, teriyaki chicken, and offers a full kids’ menu; Longboard Lounge, where you can grab an adult beverage and appetizers overlooking the Sea Lion Habitat; and the Wiki Wiki Snack Shop, a fun kiosk near the Penguin Habitat that sells hot dogs, French fries, funnel cakes, and ice cream. Sea Life Park is home to several shopping experiences, too, ranging from a gift shop to souvenir stand to a sea-themed boutique.
What’s Here
For the visitor wanting to experience some of the ocean’s most popular creatures up close and personal, Sea Life Park has an abundance of riches. Shark Cave is a 300,000-gallon aquarium where you’ll be able to view a variety of sharks native to the waters around Hawaii, including sandbar sharks, whitetip reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks, and more.
The Dolphin Lagoon and Sea Lion Habitat are two more of Sea Life Park’s most famous exhibits well worth seeing, and you’ll certainly want to make time for the Penguin Habitat, too, where you’ll get a kick out of seeing the Humboldt penguins—which are native to South America—splash and paddle all around their space. The Hawaiian Reef Lagoon is a beautiful exhibit where you can learn about stingrays, tropical reef fish, and some of the region’s smaller shark species, while the Hawaiian Monk Seal Habitat always makes for a fun time.
There are also several special programs available at Sea Life Park tailored for those individuals wanting to make their experience here all that much more memorable. These include Dolphin Aloha, which takes you behind the scenes of the park’s dolphin habitat and enables you to meet, touch, and feed a dolphin; Dolphin Encounter, an incredible premium experience that culminates in participants being able to float in deep water right alongside the park’s dolphins; Sea Lion Encounter, where you can feed and interact with sea lions while learning all about these beloved animals; and the Hawaiian Reef Encounter, which provides guests the chance to snorkel in the midst of reef fish and whitetip reef sharks.
Sea Life Park is known for the work it does rehabilitating sick and injured local birds, and their Sea Bird Sanctuary is where you’ll find those feathered friends that have been nursed back to healthy living today. Another highlight of the attraction’s conservation efforts is its Honu Green Sea Turtle Habitat, which proudly hails itself as the only active breeding colony of green sea turtles in the United States.
If the time has come for the little ones to burn off some extra energy, then the Adventure Kids Play Zone is a great spot for them to have some fun climbing a variety of safe and enjoyable play structures while you relax in the shade of a few trees in a comfortable seating area. The Discovery Reef Touch Pool is another fantastic place for the little ones; there they can actually touch sea urchins, sea stars, and baby Hawaiian green sea turtles.
Tips for Visiting
*Reservations are required for all of Sea Life Park’s interactive programs, which include popular park activities like the Dolphin Exploration or Sea Lion Encounter. When in doubt, visit the Sea Life Park official website for more information in advance of your visit.
*If you are interested in one of Sea Life Park’s interactive programs, it’s a terrific idea to plan ahead, as many of these interactive programs are available at a discount if you book your spot more than two weeks in advance. You could save upwards of 15% on each ticket if you go this route.
*For a small fee, you can rent a locker during your time at Sea Life Park. This can be a good option for families visiting the attraction who decide at any point in their trip that they don’t want to lug around that stroller or extra bag any longer (just keep in mind, of course, that Sea Life Park takes no responsibility for any lost items). Wheelchairs may also be rented here as well.
*Be advised that Sea Life Park no longer accepts cash anywhere on its grounds. This means every single purchase you make here, big or small, must be completed via a credit card, debit card, or some type of mobile payment method. If necessary, you can stop at one of the park’s cash-to-card kiosks and transfer funds directly to a card that can be utilized anywhere cards are accepted (even outside of the attraction). There is no charge for this service.