Maui Ocean Center, The Aquarium of Hawaii

The Maui Ocean Center was very informative and entertaining. There's something for all ages. I visited with my adult daughter and her 2 year old son. My grandson enjoyed the fish, the sharks and the touch tanks. I enjoyed the local history and static displays. Although there were 60 exhibits, it did seem a bit smaller than other Aquariums I have visited.

Our family had fun here spending a few hours in the afternoon before they closed. I highly recommend the Humpback Whale 3D adventure as this totally made the price of admission worth it. Never in my life have I seen a 3D video this realistic. It's not a normal movie screen either, it's all around you like a sphere and the photography of the underwater video is phenomenal and should be on the must see lists when visiting Maui.

We were a group of 4 adults and LOVED this aquarium. Very informative. Cool creatures. Highly recommend the whale movie - very well done. We also loved that we could touch the sea stars, urchins and sea cucumbers.

It's a nice aquarium with very colorful fishes. Their staffs were very nice and friendly. However, I have been to other aquariums and this was either on the same level or not as good. In all, it still made for a pleasant Maui experience.nnEntry is a little weird. There was ungaurded access through the seascape restaurant when we were there. So it seemed like they didn't care about admission fee if you visit the restaurant.

Timed entry tickets are required in advance (although I've heard that some people have successfully bought tickets on a walk-in basis). There were not very many other people there, so we felt really safe. A couple buildings had bottlenecks where people congregated, but it cleared up pretty quickly. Even the theater (I highly recommend the 3D whale movie) spaced out the rows for social distancing. There was a pool where people can touch sea cucumbers, starfish, and sea urchins. Also, there is a baby turtle pool, and baby shark nursery.nThe whale and ocean tunnel exhibits had some really nice detailed explanations. Kind of wish there were more hands on exhibits to keep little ones entertained. Didn't get a chance to read much of it because most of the subject matter was over their heads. I could have easily spent 4hrs there if it had more little kid stuff so I could read, but we were there a good 3hrs. Without stopping at the gift shop or reading much about what you're looking at, you could get through it in about 2hrs.