Topsail Aquarium
📍 Location and contact
📷 Photos from Topsail Aquarium
ℹ️ Information
The public touch tank aquarium is a one of a kind attraction here on Topsail Island. Our aquarium houses many different marine creatures. Since we are constantly releasing them and catching more, there is always something new to see. We believe in encouraging conservation through hands-on learning; so you will have a chance to touch the majority of the animals at the aquarium and in the jungle room. Some animals that you may encounter include: ball pythons, bearded dragons, and geckos! Depending on the time of year, we will probably have stingrays, starfish, urchins, hermit crabs, and fiddler crabs. We hope that you come by to visit!
Welcome to Topsail Aquarium, a delightful destination for families and animal lovers alike! Located in the beautiful Topsail area, our aquarium offers an engaging and hands-on experience with marine and reptilian life.
Highlights of your visit will include:
- Friendly and knowledgeable staff ready to share fascinating insights about our animals.
- Interactive touch tanks where kids can gently interact with a variety of creatures, including sea urchins, sting rays, and more!
- A fun upstairs play area for imaginative play, perfect for our younger visitors.
- Unique opportunities to learn about the behaviors and habitats of various species, enhancing educational experiences for all ages.
- Exciting activities like the Ghost Crab Hunt, a hit among families.
Our commitment to animal care ensures that all our creatures are well-taken care of, creating a positive environment for both animals and visitors. Join the countless families who have made Topsail Aquarium a treasured part of their beach experience!
🕒 Opening hours
- SUNDAY: (CLOSED)
- MONDAY: 10H-20H
- TUESDAY: 10H-20H
- WEDNESDAY: 10H-20H
- THURSDAY: 10H-20H
- FRIDAY: 10H-18H
- SATURDAY: 10H-14H
🎟️ Buy your ticket
🗣️ Topsail Aquarium: Reviews
Fantastic experience: awesome experience the staff was so kind and the animals look so well taken care of, 10/10 would recommend everyone to go visit!
Fantastic experience: 10/10! Such a fun experience on the Ghost Crab Hunt. Our fearless leader kept it upbeat, and fun for all ages! Have already recommended it to multiple friends!
Fantastic experience: We loved this little aquarium! It was pretty neat the set up. You can also touch some of the animals with 2 fingers ✌️
Fantastic experience: Kids had a great time!
Fantastic experience: This place was really neat, especially for kids. Staff gave fun facts and answered questions for folks and there's a spot upstairs with neat imaginative play toys. For a small aquarium, they had some of the cleanest tanks and healthiest reptiles, especially chameleons, I've ever seen. Kudos for providing excellent animal care!
Thank you so much!
Positive experience: A cute aquarium that is great for kids as a beach break. The staff is super friendly; however, there was something I saw that was somewhat upsetting. They have a veiled chameleon. I’ve owned veiled chameleons for years and have done extensive research. Watching one of their employees use this terrified creature to impress 3 girls was a bad impression. Poor chameleon was showing extreme stress colors of bright yellow and dots and his mouth open while this employee laughed about it saying he’s “feisty”. He’s not feisty, he’s extremely terrified. These creatures know 2 emotions- safe and not safe. They cannot be trained to enjoy being held. They want to hang out in their enclosures and be left alone except for food and water spray time. Stressing them out like that decreases their life expectancy. I’m sure the owner will respond saying they know how to handle the animals which any reptile enthusiast knows isn’t true by just watching the exchange occurring today.
Hi Kat!
Thank you for stopping by and supporting our small aquarium! It is a dream to do what we love and your support makes those dreams come true!
We also greatly appreciate when we get passionate customers! The goal of our aquarium is simple: learn, love and protect these (and ultimately) all species! Most of our animals are rescues, with very colorful pasts, which guide how our animals behave, their habitats and their care.
This is not something that we, as owners, aquarists and animal enthusiasts, decide. This is something that our exotic vet and animal husbandry teams decide after the animal is observed, tests are run after rescuing and we have a true assessment of the individual animal's needs. We do understand that there are vets who would do things differently from each other even with the same training and education. The same goes for husbandry teams and aquariums overall. We trust our teams and have had great success with our animals.
In the spirit of your review, I'd love to share a little more about our beloved, Hoss, the veiled chameleon. We have had him a few years now, where he has been cared for by our aquatic and above teams. He has always preferred to be a private guy, which we completely respect. In fact, if you looked around our reptile room during your visit, you will see that we have a handful of animals who do not want to be handled and therefore are not handled unless necessary. This even includes species who are often considered "handleable".
Behind the scenes, we have a few other animals who are handleable, but do not enjoy the aquarium setting, so they are in our offices and classrooms. Additionally, we have some animals who do not enjoy being handled nor being in the aquarium setting, so they are also in a location that is best for them!
Hoss was an "observe and only touch when necessary" friend, meaning that we did not handle Hoss outside of necessity due to his behavior and what he was telling us. Hoss’ colors have always been bright, even while sleeping and resting. In fact, if you come to visit around 5pm, you can see him put himself to sleep.
Recently in his geriatric years, he has been hard to keep in his enclosure! When we spray his tank or feed him, he is quite literally climbing onto our arms. When he does that, we absolutely will allow others to see him and observe him within his comfort level. When he shows any of HIS stress signals, we listen and return him to his space.
In fact, the aquarist that was handling Hoss during your interaction has been an exotic veterinary technician for over 7 years.
As an education center, we understand our responsibility and the weight of the work that we do. We spend countless hours, funds and resources to ensure that the animals that come to us are happy and comfortable for the rest of their lives. All teams, husbandry and aquarists teams, work with these animals extensively behind the scenes before introducing their enclosures to the public. Any public animal handling has the same protocol.
Our purpose is always conservation education, and to do that, our trained staff bring out our comfortable animals for people to see up close. We get guests who have never seen these species before, who love to watch and learn about their habitats and behaviors. We chime in with some silly facts about their personalities and experiences-- which oftentimes leads to further connection, leading to a real passion and awareness to protect them to our visitors.
We appreciate your concern and want to assure you that our staff are trained to handle, read the body language and behaviors of the animals that they have out. We are with these animals for at last 8 hours every single day of the week. They are family to us and their health and happiness is our top priority always.
Thank you for sharing your passion for, and your kind words about, our little aquarium! It wouldn't be possible to do what we do without your support!
Fantastic experience: ✨This is the most amazing experience!✨ My family and I have been coming here every year for a few years because of how incredible everything is! If I could rate this more than five stars, I would! Kendra is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!
Fantastic experience: Honestly one of the most engaging places we've gone to around here - it is small but so mighty! And the staff, they are just wonderful (and knowledgeable)! Our oldest kiddo also did the camp here and it's been one of his favorite experiences, ever!
Fantastic experience: A true highlight of our family vacation
Fantastic experience: Landon and Sage were both extreamly informative and friendly in our time here. My girlfriend and I probably spent roughly an hour on and off just asking them questions about all of the different aquatic and reptilian spiecies. If you're near topsail and youre looking for something to do with the family, or if you're an enthusiast, this is the place you wanna stop by. A wonderful experience over all and we will definetly be back!
Fantastic experience: Small and cute aquarium in topsail! 100% recommend visiting especially with kids. Upstairs they have a playroom. The staff is very friendly and clearly show care for the animals. The facility is well maintained and clean. A must visit when in topsail!
Fantastic experience: Cheap price to enter and really cute. Would go again.
Fantastic experience: Always a go to when we go to the beach!
Fantastic experience: My 2yo son loved this and so did I! He was a little too young just because he doesn’t listen that well and he has short arms so it was hard to reach all the animals. However the staff were amazing and helped him touch some of the reptiles and were very sweet! The upstairs is a playroom that was small but very fun for my son.
Negative experience: This facility might look decent on the surface, but if you spend any time observing the animals or asking questions, it becomes clear there are serious problems with how they're cared for. There’s a Red Tegu—a large lizard, about 4 feet long—being kept in an enclosure that’s only around 6 feet by 2 feet. Staff claim he has "free roam of the place," but after multiple visits, I only ever saw him out of his cage briefly, maybe 30 minutes at most. That’s nowhere near enough space or stimulation for such an intelligent, active reptile. Leopard Geckos and Bearded Dragons are also housed in enclosures that are far too small, and some reptiles are even kept on walnut shell substrate, which has been known for years to cause serious health issues. It’s outdated and potentially dangerous. The aquatics area is in bad shape—I saw dead animals in tanks, with algae buildup, cloudy water, and detritus covering sand beds and decorations. The tanks look hastily assembled and are clearly not maintained to any professional standard. While most of the general staff seem kind and try their best, it’s obvious they’re not being trained properly. Halle, who often works at the front desk, stands out as someone who’s genuinely helpful and respectful. She’s a bright spot in a place that really needs more people like her. Unfortunately, the issues seem to stem from upper-level management, particularly whoever is in charge of overseeing animal care. Whether it’s reptiles or fish, the lack of adequate care, hygiene, and modern husbandry practices points to poor oversight and outdated methods. Some staff are following protocols that haven’t been considered best practice in over a decade, which is deeply concerning. The educational signs are well made and provide useful facts—but unfortunately, good signage doesn’t make up for neglect. I hope someone in a position to make changes takes a closer look at what’s really happening here. The animals—and the hardworking staff—deserve better.
Hi there! Thanks for your honest review of our beloved aquarium. I'm sorry that you didn't have a great experience. I would love to address some of your concerns about our animals.
First, let me begin by saying that we truly love our animals. These animals would be considered spoiled by most standards. They receive loads of interaction, proper food and housing environments, and more love than you can imagine. They are considered family, each and every one of them. Their husbandry, enclosures, substrate, and all that it includes are carefully considered by multiple staff members, each of whom have had over 15 years' experience in housing reptiles, as well as a team of experts and veterinarians. I can assure you that these animals are taken care of and given every chance of a happy and healthy life, we make sure of it. That being said, I want to express our view and understanding that no animal should be kept in captivity. While we do our best to mimic its natural surroundings, this is no comparison to what these animals would get in their natural habitat. These animals, reptiles in particular, are rescues who are not able to be released. So, we give them the absolute best experience we can since they are un-releasable. While they are in their enclosures during most business hours, our animals each get what we call "Enrichment Time" each week, where they will spend considerable time outside of their enclosures. You're right, if it was busy in the aquarium, we wouldn't want to risk our beloved Borris getting injured, so we typically wait until the aquarium is much slower to let him roam around, and believe me, he loves the sunny spot by the back door.
As far as the aquatic tanks, I've personally spent many years to get these tanks up to the standard where they are now. The tank parameters are better than they have ever been and the fish and inverts inside these tanks are living happy and healthy lives. I can assure you that these tanks took months to plan, assemble, and guarantee that the quality is up to where it needs to be to introduce animals. We have a full-time aquarist who is constantly checking, changing, and making sure the water is safe for all of our animals and guests. This happens multiple times a day. While certain algae will grow in tanks, this is completely normal and actually healthy for our tanks. Once again, we cannot match the quality and consistency of the ocean, but we do our absolute best to try and mimic it for the safety and health of these animals.
I can guarantee that all of these points that you brought up today have been discussed amongst our team and vets. We feel confident and sure that these animals are happy, safe, and most importantly loved. While we hope this is not their final location, it's what we have at the moment. We are constantly working at new building locations to expand, with that comes a bit more space. We hope that you will come visit us again. I am happy to take the time to walk with you through the aquarium and address all of your concerns personally.
Once again, we love these animals, and we love our guests. Our whole reason for this touch tank is to incite and excite change within our visitors to help with the conservation of these incredible animals. We hope to see you soon!
Fantastic experience: They're so cool here and it's just a fun place to go check out and support. Everybody is super knowledgeable and it's fun for kids and adults alike.
Fantastic experience: Absolutely awesome truly enjoyed this place
Fantastic experience: They had a neat wall outside that we used for engagement photos. (Keepsake Memories Photography)
Fantastic experience: We went to the aquarium in the morning and ghost crab hunting in the evening. We enjoyed both experiences with topsail aquarium. The ghost crab hunt was so fun! It was nice to be able to go there and do some crab hunting since the tide is too high at our rental. We learned so many interesting things! Highly recommend for anything looking for something to do!
Fantastic experience: This place is a must go for everyone. The staff is so friendly and are happy to share any knowledge they have! There are so many different animals to gently pet and interact with. There are fun facts throughout the aquariums as well telling you about the animals. My favorite part was getting to hold hands with a sea-anenome! I would love to come back here!
Negative experience: Review for Topsail Aquarium – Visit on May 26 I recently visited the Topsail Aquarium on May 26. While I’m not sure if my experience was typical, I unfortunately left with mixed feelings leaning toward the negative. Positives: • The aquarium does have a good variety of animals, which was interesting to see and educational for visitors of all ages. Areas of Concern: • Many of the animals appeared to be in relatively small enclosures, which raised concerns about their well-being. • I noticed several children handling starfish and other touch-tank animals quite roughly, with little supervision or staff guidance. • The space was very overcrowded, making it hard to enjoy the exhibits comfortably. This also seemed to put stress on both the animals and the staff. Suggestions: • Consider implementing a cap on the number of guests allowed inside at one time. This would likely improve visitor experience, help ensure better care for the animals, and reduce the strain on staff. With some improvements, this could be a much more enjoyable and respectful experience for both guests and the animals.
Hi Whitman! Thank you so much for your review of our Aquarium. We truly appreciate your concerns and are happy to help clarify some of them.
1. Our animals mean the world to us. Their enclosures are all spacey, bioactive enclosures that are specifically designed for each species. They are larger than most Zoo guidelines for their perspective species. We have several professional aquarists, as well as a veterinarian, that have all seen and approved these enclosures. Most animals in the wild live within spaces that are much smaller than I would have ever guessed— safety looks different for them. While having any animals in enclosures isn’t ideal, we certainly go above and beyond to ensure their comfort and safety. We love them, and only want the best for them while they are with us. Most of our animals are rescues and non-native species or non-releasable, which do require them to stay in captivity with us.
2. All of our touch tanks are staffed for an aquarist to be there while there are guests at these touch tanks. We make sure that our guests are handling these animals safely and carefully. While we can’t always guarantee that our guests will comply, we have active trainings on how we can help and encourage them to be kind and safe— including signage and instructions before entering. Educating people of all ages doesn’t always look like progress, but I promise it works. We are honored to be able to share our love and passion for the animals we have with others, so they can continue that conservation work themselves! We will for sure let them know of your experience so that they can be more aware and conscious!
3. We are a very small aquarium. With it being Memorial Day, especially a rainy one, this has been the busiest day we’ve had all year. We do have a max capacity and once that is reached we ask others not to enter until some of our families leave.
The shape and size of our building is unlike many buildings, especially aquariums, so we do try to space out our attractions throughout our space to allow groups to find their own space during busy days.
We are sorry that you didn’t enjoy your time at the aquarium. We would love to have you back during a non-holiday weekend so you can enjoy more of the events and activities we have to offer. We hope to see you soon!
Fantastic experience: Great place to visit! Our 3 year old loves it there and wants to go every day of vacation, and was asking about it since the year before. They are amazing with the kids and answering questions, getting animals out to visit....etc. Halle was SO nice, and engaging. In addition to the animals they have a really cute play vet clinic upstairs. Looking forward to coming back next year.
Fantastic experience: The staff was very knowledgeable and made for a fun hour for our 2 yr old, my wife and I
Fantastic experience: I took 6 kids here ages 2 to 10 and they all loved it! Very reasonable prices!
Fantastic experience: We loved this! Such a cool place! They have a lot of hands on things for the kids. We loved getting to feed the sting rays. My kids absolutely loved the upstairs play area. Well worth the time and money. My kids are younger though, but it seemed like there was a lot of older kid things to do as well. The staff was amazing and so friendly!
Thank you for the kind review!
Fantastic experience: Such a fun spot to explore! They offer lots of touch tanks and cool exhibits, plus the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. You should defintely check them out.
Thank you so much!
Fantastic experience: More than meets the eye….. pulling up to the building, it doesn’t look like much (it looks a little sketchy). However, we were pleasantly surprised. The staff members were knowledgeable and friendly and our toddler loved exploring and interacting with the sea creatures; this experience held his attention for a whole hour (very impressive for a 3-year-old).
Fantastic experience: Our 2 year old had a BLAST today. So glad we came. The staff was unbelievably kind and we learned all kinds of facts!
Positive experience: Cool place. It's not an "aquarium" per se. It is VERY small but they have some very cool tanks (aquariums and lizards). They were walking around and encouraging touching, which is really the cool part. The staff were all very personable. If you take your time, you'll be out in about an hour.
Fantastic experience: It's an absolute hidden gem in topsail. And the best deal there. I highly recommend checking them out.
Fantastic experience: Awesome place to pet all sorts of animals. For a small place my son my nephew ,my sis ,my mom and I really enjoyed it.. never pet a shark or a Australian skink lizard or sea urchin before that was awesome I've pet a sting ray when I was little but that was awesome too. The stingrays swam up to the surface and loved to be petted. Staff was amazing and the sweetest people ever best vibes and energy.❤️☺️ They have insects upstairs to look at where the kids can play and learn about animals with toys. A few places to learn about things downstairs too :). I would definitely go back again with my family in the future
Fantastic experience: Such a fun and hands on place. Employees are so friendly and super knowledgeable on all the animals. Definitely a fun outing.
Fantastic experience: I can't believe we haven't visited before, we pass this inconspicuous building all the time. It was perfect for our 2.5 and 5.5 year old. It's a small touch tank aquarium with stingrays, hermit crabs, turtles, lots of different fish and reptiles. It was small but entertained us, perfect for a beach break.
Fantastic experience: This was such a neat find for the family. The kids are young and they loved being able to touch and play upstairs
Positive experience: Enjoyable little aquarium! We had 4 under 5 years old and they loved it.
Fantastic experience: Wonderful place to visit, the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable!
Fantastic experience: Excellent! We had the best experience with Halei and Halle showing us the animals. Our 3 and 5 year olds loved it!
Fantastic experience: Our new favorite place! We’ve been twice in the last few weeks and are already excited to go back again! Everyone here is so kind! The love and care they show to the animals is top notch!
Fantastic experience: My 3-year-old is an animal lover. The staff a very kind and friendly! All the animals are well taking care. The staff are very knowledgeable and making sure that we know how to touch the animals and feed the animals. The upstairs has a little play area that my daughter absolutely love! We signed up for the whole year and we came at least one or twice a week so it's definitely worth it!
Fantastic experience: There are so many displays in a very small area but nicely done. And the staff is great. Every age will enjoy it. Wish they had more for souvenirs. Little ones love to be able to take something home. Not much choice.
Fantastic experience: My kids love being there and learned a lot i learned a thing or two my self
Fantastic experience: For a small aquarium they have amazing animals to see and the staff take great care. Great for all ages. My favorite was the baby sharks!
Fantastic experience: A lot of fun and the staff are amazing with kids. Ms Mikayla was wonderful teaching my son about the creatures.
Fantastic experience: Small, few things to touch. Very busy.
Fantastic experience: Our grandkids loved this place. Our grandson lived playing upstairs using his imagination and our granddaughter loved the touch tanks.
Positive experience: I was thrown off by the name of this "aquarium", expecting to see more local marine species. The majority of the animals housed there are herps, so if you know that ahead of time, then you won't be disappointed. There is a really fun room upstairs which allows young children to play veterinarian, dressing up, wearing a stethoscope and observing x-rays of various animals. My granddaughter enjoyed the visit.
Fantastic experience: This place is small, but enjoyable. My family which included adults, a senior, and a teenager all had fun learning about the wildlife. You get to touch stingrays, sea urchins, etc. They also have a chameleon and other reptiles. You don't get to touch them though. The attendant was very knowledgeable and friendly. A fun way to spend a afternoon. Admission is $7.
Fantastic experience: Small aquarium with touch tanks Fun, creative children's play area
Fantastic experience: My wife, son, and I absolutely loved coming here last week. They have so many exciting and unique animals - snakes, chameleons, sting rays, hermit crabs, turtles, tortoises, and much more. This was one of the highlights of our recent trip, and we'll definitely be back again in the future. The service here was excellent, too - all of the staff were very positive, engaging, and helpful in guiding us when we had questions, helping us see and touch certain animals, but also giving us space to explore on our own. Would give them 6 out of 5 stars if I could!
Fantastic experience: Ms.Halle was amazing! My kids fell in love with her.
Fantastic experience: Went with my Mom on a weekend trip and we had a great time. The owner is really passionate about the animals and you can tell that they are well cared for. Informative and educational, it was a great place.
Fantastic experience: What a wonderful place! The employees are so helpful, friendly and informative and the animals/reptiles are so cool! Took my 2 year old here and had so much fun. We were there for about an hour and learn all about the animals and got to interact with a lot of them. Definitely recommend checking this place out
Fantastic experience: An awesome place to check out, especially with younger kids. They have so many different types of animals that you can pet and learn about. The employees absolutely made the trip special as they are so knowledgeable and so incredibly nice! They taught us so much about the sharks and sting rays. Would recommend for everyone to check out.
Fantastic experience: This place is so freaking cool!!! Had soooo much fun. We are grown adults, and our kids (older teens / early 20s) weren't with us on this trip, but we definitely want to bring them the next time they're down here for a visit. The sharks are now our favorites!! The employees are super knowledgeable. They encourage positive behaviors like petting the animals/reptiles softly with 2 fingers, and they take different species out at specific times and let you know all about that particular animal. It's fascinating!! Another couple and 3 families arrived while we were there. It was cool to see everyone interested regardless of age.
Fantastic experience: Nice little place with a knowledgeable staff. Kids can touch small sharks, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and a stingray. Usually the staff will get out one of the large lizards for the kids to touch as well. Worth visiting for a change of pace and to learn about the beach you're visiting.
Fantastic experience: Please read the whole review: Initial review:We arrived at 18:30 and the placed was closed. I edited the hours according to the sign inside. M-F 10A - 5P SAT 10A - 2P Update 1: Because of thoughtful and considerate response from the owners upgraded to 3 stars. Once we have an opportunity to visit will revise. Thank you to the owners for taking the time to respond. We're looking forward to visiting. Update 2: while I didn't make it back out grandson did (with his Dad) and loved it. He loved and learned and said the people there were very nice. It's the kids reviews that count for a place like this. Highly recommended.
Hi David! We are so thankful that you tried to come visit us. Unfortunately, we have to close earlier due to low staffing this time of the season. We have changed our hours google (it takes a few days sometimes), published the changes on Social Media, and tried to be completely open with our followers of our time changes. We are a small mom and pop shop and most of our employees are seasonal. When school starts we lose several of our incredible staff. We are very sad that you would leave us a 1 star review, especially with this being the first day of our schedule changes and not having given us a true chance. We are open from 10am-6pm, a Monday through Friday and would love to have you give it another shot.
Fantastic experience: Our kids love coming here. We bought the annual membership and it is worth every penny.
Positive experience: Nice educational short trip for kids & family. The staff are very knowledgeable and pleasant to engage with. Ideal for kids who like hands-on learning.
Fantastic experience: Great way to spend a rainy afternoon, or a sunny one at that. The staff is really friendly and knowledgeable and they have a wide array of animals you can touch from bamboo sharks to horshoe crabs and reptiles.
Fantastic experience: We had my daughter's 4th birthday here and she had the best time! I was so impressed with Morgan-who was so wonderful with the kids. She got out animals for the kids to see/touch/hold and explained so well to them and even taught them some things while keeping 3 and 4 year olds engaged and listening. We could not have asked for a better day for our girl. We love visiting, but if you are looking for a party venue for kids. This is the way to go!
Fantastic experience: This place is incredible! I couldn't believe how cheap admission was! So cool to touch all the animals and see some of them up close!
Fantastic experience: Even as an adult I enjoyed the walk through with my sister. An employee walked with us and gave us back stories about the animals here. He was very knowledgeable and gave us some other ideas of places to visit on the island.
Fantastic experience: We love the Touch Tank! Actually, so much so that we bought the family membership & love bringing our family to explore the aquarium too. The staff are super friendly & knowledgeable. Our daughters favorite is Boris, a red tegu. Whether you are a local or just visiting this is a fun spot to checkout with the kiddos.
Fantastic experience: We had the best birthday party here while vacationing in Surf City. Our guide was so great with the kids sifting and fishing on the beach and touring the aquarium and getting to hold some animals. My 7 year old deemed it the best birthday ever. 10/10 recommend!
Positive experience: Great little place to take kids! Lots of open tanks to touch the sea animals and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable.
Fantastic experience: A great spot for when the little ones have had too much sun. You do not have to reserve or buy tickets ahead of time, just walk up. Our 4 year old loved touching the sting ray and sea urchins. Affordable fun. The staff is knowledgeable about all the animals . Recommend.
Fantastic experience: We always make sure we stop at top sail touch tank when we are in town. The staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable about all the animals. There is always something new added when we visit. If you’re in town definitely make this one of your stops.
Fantastic experience: I’ve visited this location several times now, and it’s always been amazing. The staff are so energetic and knowledgeable. You can tell they love their jobs and their animals. The fact that most of the animals are donations makes my heart so happy. They take fantastic care of their animals and have always been so sweet. You have the opportunity to touch several creatures (the horseshoe crabs and sea urchins were a fav) and get to see many reptiles, bugs, and aquatic creatures. Not from NC but will definitely be returning whenever I have the opportunity (maybe even tomorrow). Overall an amazing experience and a great way to see these animals in a place that treats them well.
Fantastic experience: We loved it so cute and lots of little friends to look at and enjoy. Had designed times they brought out the animals, so you get to interact with them. Upstairs has a neat little play area for kids, and the touch tanks were so cool. Staff was wonderful, talked about all the animals, and answered questions.
Fantastic experience: Our group had one of the best experiences in this little place. All the amazing creatures they feature were very active and entertaining. They are very well taken care of. The employees are extremely friendly and engaging. Great place to stop in and check out!!
Fantastic experience: We had the best visit! The employees were fantastic- especially Hailey, who went above and beyond to make our kids feel special and learn about the animals. Highly recommend!
Fantastic experience: Don’t be fooled by the small size of this place. It was absolutely perfect for my curious 6 year old (and we loved it too). We touched turtles, horseshoe crabs, a shark, and a skink. The employees were wonderful and gave us some individual lessons on the animals. In addition to the marine life when you first walk in, there’s reptiles, arachnids, and incests located throughout the facility. Definitely a great way to spend an hour. Parking is minimal so be prepared to pay to park on the street or in surrounding lots.
Positive experience: Very cute aquarium. It was a bit smaller than expected but well worth the visit. Very friendly and informative staff. Thank you!
Fantastic experience: We enjoyed ourselves touring here. They let you touch a shark and horseshoe crab. They inform you all about the animals.
Fantastic experience: Great experience! Staff was very friendly and educational.
Fantastic experience: Fun place for kids. It can get crowded though.
Fantastic experience: A perfect 1-hour activity for kiddos and parents alike. The staff was lovely and informed, and everyone was so sweet with our two-year-old. Absolutely recommend a visit!
Fantastic experience: Great place to bring the kids to see and interact with some cool creatures. I love the fact that it wasn’t a big place, where you would pay way too much for very little interaction.. if at all. Good spot to break the mundane of shopping and eating.
Fantastic experience: I can't say enough wonderful things about this place!! I've been coming to Topsail for years and have never been before!! This will definitely be something I do each year from now on! Special thanks to Landon for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for all the tiny ocean critters (Snails, shells, crabs, etc) that often get overlooked for being spectacular and amazing! Wonderful experience!
Fantastic experience: This place was very fun and we and our grandkids loved it. Friendly knowledgeable staff who really seem to know their critters and enjoy what they do.
Fantastic experience: Took my wild reptile/ fish loving almost 2 year old a couple times now and they are so good! They always remember his name when we come in and know his favorite animals. Sawyer has learned so many new words and animals from the staff like “lizard”, “stingray”, and “skink”. Typically we see Halli there who is awesome very personable and a tall young man who is always so amazing as my son just follows him around! It’s a great place! It’s a great learning environment for every age!
Fantastic experience: The staff at Topsail Touch Aquarium are simply exceptional. From the moment you walk in, their passion for marine/wildlife life shines through. They're knowledgeable, friendly, and always eager to share fascinating insights about the creatures they care for. Whether it's answering questions, leading interactive demonstrations, or providing expert guidance, they go above and beyond to ensure visitors have an unforgettable experience. Their dedication to conservation and education is truly inspiring. A visit to Topsail Touch Aquarium wouldn't be the same without their fantastic team. Highly recommended!
Fantastic experience: Cute, small aquarium that is perfect for younger kids. The employees really seem to love their jobs and were so sweet. My son loved getting to interact with so many animals.
Fantastic experience: This little aquarium is amazing. Took our 2 year old on a rainy April day today, along with every other parent within driving distance I think . It's a quaint little place with a ton to offer! The workers are super sweet and go above and beyond, offering to take out most animals from their tanks for the kids to touch, while teaching them tidbits of info about the animals. They also had some type of school/group walking through during the public hours. I will 100% come back here if we ever visit topsail Beach again!! 10/10 recommend. Only bad thing was parking, we ended up parking across the street, paying $5 for an hour. But that's not on them.
Fantastic experience: My friends and I visited this aquarium for our spring break and had so much fun! Aaron was so kind and helpful, telling us all the ins and out about the creatures.
Fantastic experience: We had so much fun with Erin and Aaron (sorry if I spelled your names wrong) at Topsail Touch Tank Aquarium! Lots of interesting information about marine life. The kids were having so much fun learning about and petting Rob the shark! We can't leave out his friends Ozzy, Boris, Miss Shelly, Gordon, Pascal, the one and only Moe and all of the other characters! Please keep up the stellar work you are doing. Anyone visiting the area must stop in and meet the crew and help support the cause♥️.
Fantastic experience: Celebrated my granddaughter's birthday at the touch tank yesterday. It was a wonderful and enlightening time for all of the children. I would recommend this wonderful place to anyone.
Thank you so much, Carol! We enjoyed celebrating together!
Fantastic experience: Our 4 year old absolutely loved this place. If we lived close by we would most definitely be regulars. The staff was amazing and the animals were super cool. Our daughter could not get enough of touching all the animals especially Boris. They will also be expanding their bug area.
Fantastic experience: My 10, 8, and 3 year old had the most amazing time here! Halle was tremendous and was so patient and kind with my kids! She let them touch and hold so much and I really can’t say enough good things about her and our time there! We will be back!
Fantastic experience: The staff were so knowledgeable and kind. Our kids loved all the animals, and we did too!
Fantastic experience: Went with my 2 and half yr old grandchild Very kid friendly Knowledgeable friendly staff Hands on experience I learned alot
Fantastic experience: Awesome place. The sharks are awesome!!! The staff were so friendly and welcoming.
Fantastic experience: I highly recommend the Topsail Touch Tank Aquarium. We brought our 3 year old and she loved every minute. The staff was amazing. They would take out the animals as many times as she asked and explained so much to us. We definitely had more hands-on opportunities than we would have at a larger aquarium. It is clear how passionate the staff are about the animals they care for!
Fantastic experience: Our almost two year old loves it here!! We went in the off season so it wasn’t busy at all and we got tons of information! Molly was great and so informative and nice! Thank you :)
Positive experience: We were the only visitors during much of our visit so we got lots of personal attention. Our visit was enjoyable and the child with us enjoyed it very much, especially being able to touch the snake, tortoise, and sharks.
Fantastic experience: You can't do much with a non verbal 2 yr old and they absolutely blew my mind. Patience, friendly staff and animals and definitely a hidden gem and great for a two year old let them pet they'll love it. We'll be back every time we vacation down here. Very nice experience.
Fantastic experience: This place is awesome! Such a fun spot to take the kids. We had our daughters 4th birthday here and it was the COOLEST birthday! Morgan was wonderful and got out a bunch of animals for the kids to interact with and learn. I wish I could give more than 5 stars!
Fantastic experience: Awesome fun little place for the family! Sorry friendly and knowledgeable staff!
Fantastic experience: Not too expensive and the Kiddos had fun! Learning things on the first floor and a kids area upstairs.
Fantastic experience: This place is awesome! The kids really enjoyed it, and everyone there was knowledgeable and kind. I will definitely go again.
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