Sandoway Discovery Center, Delray Beach

About Sandoway Discovery Center

Sandoway Discovery Center houses a 15,000-gallon reef pool where visitors watch nurse sharks and stingrays in bright turquoise water during daily feeding programs at its historic oceanfront Delray Beach location. The museum occupies a restored early-twentieth-century home and offers hands-on exhibits across multiple rooms: an Everglades room with native reptiles and pythons, a coral reef room with live corals and invasive lionfish, a nocturnal room exploring Florida's creatures of the night, and the Yvonne S. Templeton Shell Gallery holding Southeast Florida's largest shell collection with nearly 10,000 museum-quality specimens. Visitors touch sea stars and urchins in the invertebrate touch tank, meet resident animals like Maggie the gopher tortoise during scheduled encounters, and explore the butterfly garden and observation deck. The children's activity room provides microscopes and science books. A visit suits families and school groups wanting to learn about South Florida's marine and freshwater ecosystems. Children under three receive free admission, while general admission charges apply to visitors ages three and up. Tickets sell online through sandoway.org.