South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston

South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston is in a bright, modern, waterfront building that reminded me a little of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's building. It has some nice exhibits, but is a bit overpriced.

On the bottom floor, there is a rounded tropical tank with coral, and a turtle rehabilitation center for injured turtles. Here, kids can measure their height compared to the height of three different types of turtles.
A large, two-story tank has sharks and big fish. There are some beautiful small tanks with tropical fish. Tanks display interesting things like Sargasso seaweed, an octopus, camouflaged fish, and jellies. You can check out a giant lobster or adorable little shrimp. A touch tank has horseshoe crabs and sea stars. View tortoises, toads, tree frogs, baby alligators, turtles, and snakes. Southern fish like longnose gars and catfish are always fun to watch. And most delightful of all are the river otters, in a tank in an outdoor area.
Kids can work fishing poles, or play in the toddler play area on a  colorful turtle, a submarine, and seal statues. There are some other fun hands-on areas for kids, where they can move a shark or crab, manipulate light-up tanks, or put balls through air tubes. Kids can stand in an eagle's nest or pose in a shark's jaw.
Walk outside to check out nice views of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.
There is a gift shop.
This aquarium really saves the day when the weather is so bad you can't go outside on your vacation.
After, drive eight minutes to Waterfront Park and check out the Pineapple Fountain and the French Quarter, a beautiful part of town centered around Broad Street. It's a bit too ugly and industrial to walk to this nice part of town from the aquarium, so drive if you can.

Directions

South Carolina Aquarium is located at 100 Aquarium Wharf, Charleston SC 29401. There is a public parking lot, with fairly expensive rates at $1.50/half hour.
Open 9-5 daily. Closed Thanksgiving day (fourth Thurs in November) and Dec 25. Closed early at noon on Dec 24.
Admission is $30 for adults, $23 for children aged 3-12, and free for children under 3. The aquarium doesn't accept many reciprocal annual membership cards.

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