For nearly 60 years, Sea Life Park Hawaii (SLPH) has been the place on Oahu to learn about and visit with dolphins, sea lions, rays, sharks, native fish and more. According to general manager Valerie King, education is always at the heart of SLPH’s family-friendly activities and programs.
“From talks by trainers to high-tech exhibits to up-close sessions with marine animals, our experiences are often transformative for guests,” she said. “Everything we do inspires a conservation-minded connection with the ocean and its truly amazing inhabitants.”
Here are the park’s newest offerings.
Everything we do inspires a conservation-minded connection with the ocean and its truly amazing inhabitants.
Shark Cave
Shark Cave, SLPH’s dramatic entryway, is where clients can view a 300,000-gallon, 17-foot-deep habitat where residents include sandbar, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks commonly found in Hawaiian waters. Notable among its recent enhancements are five 275-gallon Gallery Tanks that were developed in partnership with the park’s neighbor, Hawaii Pacific University’s Oceanic Institute.
These new displays — featuring videos and informative plaques — highlight the value of aquaculture as a sustainable food source and a way to fulfill the demand for aquarium fish. Over-harvesting can damage reefs and decimate fish populations, which impacts the health and diversity of the ocean ecosystem. One plaque reveals how modern-day aquaculturists have excellent mentors if they look to the past: By the time Captain James Cook arrived in the late 1700s, Hawaiians were tending more than 400 thriving fishponds throughout the islands.
The Shark Cave features species of sharks found around the islands.
Credit: 2022 Sea Life Park HawaiiSea Lions and Dolphins
As part of the new Sea Lion Encounter and Dolphin Exploration activities, visitors can personally meet members of SLPH’s ohana (family). During the 20-minute Sea Lion Encounter, they will feed and touch sea lions Ululani or Leona Kai, and elicit responses to simple training gestures.
Trainers vary the 30-minute Dolphin Exploration to ensure it’s fun for the animal, while covering a range of topics of interest to human participants. Clients are able to feed and stroke the dolphin, and swim and play with it in a pool.
Among other facts, visitors will learn about dolphins’ intelligence; studies have shown they are self-aware, can solve problems and appear to express emotions such as happiness, empathy and excitement.
The new Gallery Tanks highlight the importance of aquaculture.
Credit: 2022 Sea Life Park HawaiiLimu Discovery Tour
Set to launch on Jan. 1, the 45-minute Limu Discovery Tour will focus on limu (Hawaiian seaweed) and the efforts of volunteers from Waimanalo Limu Hui, a local nonprofit organization that is working to restore it.
First, clients will watch a film that explains how limu benefits the marine environment and plays a significant role in Hawaiian culture. Next, they can go “backstage” to meet volunteers and discover how they are cultivating three species of native seaweed at SLPH. Finally, clients will view a pond that emulates how limu grows in the wild and weave limu lei for planting in the ocean.
