The Pier Aquarium, St Petersburg Florida By WarPainted on Dec 17, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

The Pier Aquarium is a good find, but be warned before you enter that the whole aquarium is about 2,000 square feet total. When you visit "St Pete" it is hard not to miss the interesting and colorful structure at the end of the pier, but recognize that the actual aquarium is only one floor and that the entierty of the exhibit is about 1/3 gift shop. I just want to be sure you don't have the same "where is the rest of it" experience we had when visiting. That being said....

The exhibits are really well done and cover the Tampa Bay area fish as well as world wide creatures. They have wonderful and knowledgable staff that will gladly answer any questions and help guide visitors while exploring the touch tanks. Recently, the aquarium was proud to announce the arrival of several baby sharks and invites the public to view the videos online at their web site, pieraquarium.org

Open 10am to 8pm Monday through Sat and Noon to 6 on Sunday. One of the best things about this location is if you are entertaining a group of people, all with different interests and of different ages this is a good spot. The building houses the aquarium, many shops restaurants and bars as well as great views of the beach and harbor. You can do a little of everything all in one place.

The Pier Aquarium

800 Second Ave. NE

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701