Gulf Specimen Aquarium

This past weekend we took a mini-adventure over to Panacea, FL. From our house in Wewahitchka, the inland route (Hwy 20 to Bloxham Cutoff) took about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It just so happened this car ride was multitudes better than our dinosaur trip ride! Jax decided to nap for most of the way there, TGH (Thank God Hallelujah!). The ride over was nice and easy and we went through places we hadn’t been in ages, like Wakulla and Crawfordville.

Gulf Specimen Public Aquarium is tucked back off of Hwy 98 under some shade trees. The last time I remember coming here was an elementary school field trip, and about the same for Matt. We figured it must’ve been pretty cool if we still remembered it. Jax is super into animals right now and you may have seen a video I posted about his excitement for sharks. We knew he’d enjoy getting to see some up close and in real life. This big guy is out front and started the experience off right.

 

We bought our tickets inside the gift shop and the lady gave us a map and explained all of the areas to us. Tickets are $9.50 for adults (12 & up) and Jax was free (kids under 3 are). Youth (3-11) are $7.50 and Seniors (65 & up) are $8.50. We headed out and started at the Jim Culpepper Memorial Pavillion. It has a huge ‘sandbox’ filled with shells! There are informational signs covering the sides and shadow boxes of shells there too. There are two big water tanks (they weren’t housing anything the day we were there) and a television running informational videos. There are some nice benches all the way around. (It started to rain on our way out so these benches and covered area were a good place to hang out until it passed). Jax’s favorite part of this area was the sea turtle and octopus statues (just his height for a kiss!).

Right next door was my favorite area, the Touch Tank Room! There were 10-15 tanks with cool creatures in them that the kids could pick up and study. There were urchins and conchs and sea cucumbers oh my!

Jax liked the lower tanks that he could walk up to and he liked the starfish too.

There is a cool tank where they can poke their heads into the opening and be ‘underwater’.

We walked on through to the Stingray Tank Room where there is a big tank with sting rays and also a huge sea turtle swimming around! There are other tanks of different types of fish here too. 

We looped back around to the much anticipated Shark Tank Room. There is a huge tank that held 3 nurse sharks. We held Jax up and let him watch them. He looked in awe. One shark kept swimming around beside him. These sharks were big to me y’all, so I know he thought they were giants!

We headed for the Mother Ocean Room that tanks of different types of fish. One tank had large fish and the smaller tanks in the back had Nemo and Dory fish for the win! There is a cool octopus tentacle photo opp in here too so Mom got silly.

Right outside is the Fiddler Crab building. Jax liked watching them scatter as you get closer. He’s seen them before near St. Joseph Bay and was fascinated then too.

It had started to rain so we ran across to the shelter of the Urchin Tank Building. We saw lots of big red fish and even cobia here, as well as other sea turtles.

Staying under the cover we explored the different types of crabs in the open Crab Tank Building. Then over to the Horseshoe Crab Building to see those and get a picture with this dude! 

It was still raining so we headed back to the first pavillion to let Jax run around. We probably spent about n hour total exploring, but I imagine older kids could enjoy it even longer.

We decided to take the coastal route home down HWY 98, which was about 20 minutes longer, but a beautiful drive. We stopped in Carrabelle at an old school diner called the Carrabelle Junction. This place was awesome with delicious sandwiches and treats. We ate outside so Jax could play, but they have old school diner booths and a cool vibe inside. I didn’t get any pictures while we were here, but here are some I found. Cute little place, but note that they only take cash. 

We finished off our meal with a chocolate milkshake. The lady put some of it in a little cup for Jax. We let him taste it and he went to town! I guess this was his first milkshake and he loved it! 

We enjoyed our little mini-adventure and made a day of it. Try it out if you can!

Aquarium hours are: 

Monday - Friday 9-5 Eastern

Saturday 10 - 4 plus Eastern

Sunday 12-4 plus Eastern.