Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
4.5
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
About
Explore the underwater beauty of the Salish Sea - one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world! The Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea is a not-for-profit aquarium and learning centre devoted to the exploration and conservation of the Salish Sea - named after the Coast Salish Indigenous peoples of the region. Explore natural aquaria habitats of 3,500 marine amabassadors including a giant Pacific octopus, colourful rockfish, and magnificent wolf eels. Check out the marine mammal artifacts, complete with a rare orca skeleton, and take in the beautiful Coast Salish art. Journey from seashore to seafloor and discover the amazing diversity of the Salish Sea in 30 aquarium habitats teeming with marine life from anemones and nudibranchs to salmon and sculpins. Then get a close look at the weird and wonderful invertebrates in our shallow Touch Pool overlooking the beautiful Sidney waterfront. And don't miss the Features Gallery with fascinating, locally-focused exhibitions!
Duration: < 1 hour
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
381 reviews
Excellent
201
Very good
124
Average
33
Poor
16
Terrible
7
MKH000
Calgary, Canada262 contributions
Jan 2025 • Couples
Fantastic aquarium doing great work, lovely volunteers and excellent displyas. People are very helpful, educating and sharing stories. Spot for kids for young ecologists. Lovely art area featuring local artists work and your entry can be used all day so you can come and go. Neat immersive entrance, and fantastic jellyfish. A beautiful octopus was also onsite when we visited, and we watched her move along the tunnels and aquarium.
Written January 18, 2025
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tdsuperstar
Toronto, Canada19,630 contributions
Oct 2021 • Family
A beautiful, but short Aquarium experience awaits you at the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea. The many aquatic life forms, including the jellyfish that my youngest loved. There could be more use of empty space, but maybe it’s a product of Covid, but there’s room for improving the offerings for the price charged. The staff was friendly, there’s also free parking (which I didn’t know) that’s limited. If I lived nearby here, I’d probably get a yearly pass. The ability to learn about the local “Salish Sea” is a great opportunity that should not be missed!
Written November 20, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
sabrina
8 contributions
Aug 2021 • Couples
Really enjoyed our time :) my partner and I (both mid 20s) went and spent about an hour and a half here exploring all the different things that the centre had to offer. The staff was incredibly knowledgeable and the displays were awesome! My only critique was that there were a lot of kids (and parents) running around not obeying the arrows on the floor and thus Covid rules, so they would cut in front of us and go backwards through the exhibits etc. Although there were a lot of families there it was a great activity for adults too and I think an adult night weekly or something would be a really cool idea with interest. Overall very well worth the time and money!
Written August 14, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christian F
Fort St. John, Canada47 contributions
Feb 2020 • Business
I rarely write poor reviews. This will be a bit more of a suggestive piece rather then a negative one.
I am a fish keeper myself. I like tanks, fish and plants. This is why I came. When I come into a place that has such a splashy website, Im expecting to be blown away. I wasn’t.
The facility is very small, and is more geared toward small children. Which is fine. But...they wont be your repeat business, I will be. The placards were faded and crusty looking. Which was also kinda unexpected.
For $18 bucks I’m expecting at least an hour of full on fishy experience. I went through it all in 20 minutes, taking in each tank. Im not there to research all the fish, I’m there to look at them and enjoy the tanks. Some of them(tanks) looked terrible and thus the fish.
The place does have some cool things like the moon jellyfish and the octopus roaming around overhead(best tank feature). Even the salmon tank was kinda neat. The big round tank up by the microscopes was cool to. The touching/feel spot is more of a child thing and another area where more tanks and fish should be.It should be half the size. The museum part at the end is kinda lame in my opinion. I didn’t come in to see a bunch of orica and whale skulls.. this place needs more tanks and fish!
The submarine entrance was nifty.. and again built up my expectations. When i see a 40 foot screen that should be a tank with maybe some bigger salmon, or large halibut some other large local species ect ect. It kinda killed it for me. All in all I enjoyed the very short and expensive Walk about experience.
I am a fish keeper myself. I like tanks, fish and plants. This is why I came. When I come into a place that has such a splashy website, Im expecting to be blown away. I wasn’t.
The facility is very small, and is more geared toward small children. Which is fine. But...they wont be your repeat business, I will be. The placards were faded and crusty looking. Which was also kinda unexpected.
For $18 bucks I’m expecting at least an hour of full on fishy experience. I went through it all in 20 minutes, taking in each tank. Im not there to research all the fish, I’m there to look at them and enjoy the tanks. Some of them(tanks) looked terrible and thus the fish.
The place does have some cool things like the moon jellyfish and the octopus roaming around overhead(best tank feature). Even the salmon tank was kinda neat. The big round tank up by the microscopes was cool to. The touching/feel spot is more of a child thing and another area where more tanks and fish should be.It should be half the size. The museum part at the end is kinda lame in my opinion. I didn’t come in to see a bunch of orica and whale skulls.. this place needs more tanks and fish!
The submarine entrance was nifty.. and again built up my expectations. When i see a 40 foot screen that should be a tank with maybe some bigger salmon, or large halibut some other large local species ect ect. It kinda killed it for me. All in all I enjoyed the very short and expensive Walk about experience.
Written February 25, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Well, we are very sorry to hear you felt let down by your visit to the Centre, Christian, but we do value your input. As a community aquarium and learning centre, we are definitely smaller than say, Vancouver or Seattle Aquarium, but we pack a lot of amazing critters and features that are local to the Salish Sea in more than 30 saltwater habitats (tanks) over 10,000 square feet. You did not mention if you interacted with any of our amazing staff or volunteers who are always happy to point out cool things that you might not otherwise see with a quick glance. Some of our most awesome inhabitants are masters of camouflage. They'll also tell you why the incredibly alien-looking hooded nudibranchs have a slightly pink tinge to them. As we do not have live marine mammals, we do provide our visitors with an opportunity to learn about some of our local blubbery friends as a significant component of the Salish Sea ecosystem through artifacts and changing pocket exhibits (currently on the return of humpback whales to this coast - which is something we celebrate!). While it is true that some of the features of the Centre are geared towards children, we can honestly say that they also appeal to many teens, parents and grandparents because they are part of a fun experience that hopefully includes learning and exploration of what makes this part of the world so special :)
Written February 26, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Tom K
Edmonton, Canada4 contributions
Jul 2022
While the submarine entrance seems simple, it appealed to kids of all ages. For some reason, it really appealed to our children and they loved the whole thing. I am convinced they thought we were submerging under water. Once in the aquarium, the staff are very helpful and engaging. They will answer all of your questions and have additional models to help with their explanations.
All the marine life is local to the area, so you are able to get good insight into what exists in the Salish Sea and allows for an experience that is unique and local. The exhibits are well done, including one which allows you to put your head into an inverted bowl and look around at the fish from a sea floor level view.
There is also an area at the end where you are able to touch some of the sea life creatures, and the staff are knowledgeable and able to answer your questions about the different creatures.
The experience takes about an hour to go through at a leisurely pace. You are able to re-enter as many times as you want, just in case you (well, your children) want to continually go through the submarine experience over and over again.
Well worth the price of admission and the trip from Victoria. If you don’t have a rental car, the local transit system will take you there and it does not take much longer than driving.
All the marine life is local to the area, so you are able to get good insight into what exists in the Salish Sea and allows for an experience that is unique and local. The exhibits are well done, including one which allows you to put your head into an inverted bowl and look around at the fish from a sea floor level view.
There is also an area at the end where you are able to touch some of the sea life creatures, and the staff are knowledgeable and able to answer your questions about the different creatures.
The experience takes about an hour to go through at a leisurely pace. You are able to re-enter as many times as you want, just in case you (well, your children) want to continually go through the submarine experience over and over again.
Well worth the price of admission and the trip from Victoria. If you don’t have a rental car, the local transit system will take you there and it does not take much longer than driving.
Written August 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
relax7500
Calgary, Canada111 contributions
Feb 2022 • Family
From the submarine elevator that takes you into the exhibit to all the varied exhibits and amazing number of small sea creatures there’s something for everyone here. Also loved the Indigenous aspects and fact it’s not too big, you can cover it in an hour or so. Highly recommend.
Written February 21, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Roary
Vancouver, Canada3,669 contributions
Sep 2021 • Friends
Went here for the very first time with my family. Can’t really say much more than what’s already been mentioned before.
- Is it small? Yes. We spent about 30 min there going at a casual pace. If you read everything posted, you might be able to stretch to an hour.
- Is it expensive? Relative to size, yes. But I can also say the there are more staff to interact with compared to other aquariums I’ve been too. And that makes a difference.
- Would I recommend going? Depends. If you have young children who have never been to an aquarium before, then yes, definitely worth it. If no kids or you’ve been to bigger aquariums before, maybe not.
I still enjoyed our visit, and my kids did too, but one visit is enough.
- Is it small? Yes. We spent about 30 min there going at a casual pace. If you read everything posted, you might be able to stretch to an hour.
- Is it expensive? Relative to size, yes. But I can also say the there are more staff to interact with compared to other aquariums I’ve been too. And that makes a difference.
- Would I recommend going? Depends. If you have young children who have never been to an aquarium before, then yes, definitely worth it. If no kids or you’ve been to bigger aquariums before, maybe not.
I still enjoyed our visit, and my kids did too, but one visit is enough.
Written September 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
littlebug12016
Vancouver Island, Canada106 contributions
Aug 2020 • Family
We really enjoyed our time here and went through several times. My son enjoyed the big submarine door the best! Haha. Everyone socially distanced well and even without the touch tanks there was a lot to see and enjoy. The atmosphere was really great thank you!
Written August 22, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alexa H
2 contributions
Aug 2021
This small aquarium had extremely knowledgeable staff and was a great place for learning. We also got a lot of time with the Lloyd, the peppy Giant Pacific Octopus. I also like that they release the octopus back in to the water once they mature. Great for all ages.
Written August 18, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BubbaFromAlberta
Alberta62 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
This is a pretty low-rent attraction. I assumed we would see a bunch of different fish and maybe an otter or something…
Nope.
Biggest attraction is a 7-legged octopus that sits in a corner. Tons of seaweed and crustaceans to look at..and a few rock fish….
But yeah, “underwhelmed” best describes our family’s experience.
Nope.
Biggest attraction is a 7-legged octopus that sits in a corner. Tons of seaweed and crustaceans to look at..and a few rock fish….
But yeah, “underwhelmed” best describes our family’s experience.
Written August 12, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
How long does it take for a family to experience the whole aquarium? And are you allowed to leave and come back on same day for a re-entry?
Written March 24, 2018
My experience at the Aquarium is similar to Robert's. If you are not familiar with Sidney I would also add in some beach time after the aquarium, a trip to the fish market on the short pier and a walk out on the larger pier where they fish for crab. Glass beach is at the foot of Beacon and nice to beachcomb. A nicer beach is off Amherst and 3rd. Lovely at low tide. There are lots of coffee shops and ice cream near the pier. Enjoy your day!
Written March 24, 2018
Free parking is available in a downstairs parking lot. There are several spots reserved for Shaw customers. Apart from that there is lots of street or pay parking nearby.
Written June 1, 2016
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