My wife and I went to the Tall ship Sail festival 9-12-21. Is there such a thing as having too much fun? Not really. After all that has happened over the last 2 years, this festival screamed have fun now. Large crowds, fantastic shuttle service, sailing on the ships for the canon battles, helping hoist the main sail!! So many activities for everyone, even the children. Overhearing families talk about experiences, their children talked about what they did and the fun they had. This was what was needed, not to be missed. Even the those that worked for the Ocean Institute were friendly, loved to interact with the visitors. Thank you Jim for talking with us before the sail event and even looking us up after the event, asking about our adventure. This meant a lot too my wife and I. I was told about programs and camps for children and youths during the summer. Worth checking out parents. Fun was what the doctor ordered, I was not disappointed and would love to do it again in an heartbeat.The only con was, (not their fault), was the food trucks. Now that was disappointing. Basic food for the cost of an arm and leg!!! Was not anywhere near worth it. Better to have brought your own food. We had the BBQ food truck, something down in the title. How bad it was, I forgot the name. 44 dollars for 2 sandwiches and 1 order of fries. The fries was the only good thing, basically from the season salt seasoning.Otherwise, fantastic time!!!!!! Beautiful place!! Check it out!

We had a “blast” at the Maritime Festival! The cannonball battles aboard the Curlew made for some wonderful memories. Our grandkids loved it!

We had the best day. Everyone was so excited to learn more about our Ocean Friends. Dissecting a Squid was a high point but all of it was great. The Docents were kind, knowledgeable and wonderful

The tour schedules are well designed to allow family to browse the museum and attend the interactive tours in one trip. Staffs are friendly to illustrate any educational information. Kids loved the tour of showing how sailors do work on a ship and sonar experience. Overall, we adults and kids all had a lot of fun in one afternoon!

We did a whale watching tour for Father’s Day and it was spectacular! The staff was so friendly and entertaining! They taught us a lot about the local wildlife and marine animals. We didn’t get to see whales but we saw tons of different pods is dolphins and they came right up to our boat. It’s was super fun!! I highly recommend it!!

This was great for all ages. I had just as much fun dissecting a squid and learning about it as much as the young kids I was with did. Fun inactive activities and loved that you could come and go through out the day too. Definitely recommend for all!

I love the Ocean Institute! Ive been whale watching with them several times and every time Ive had an amazing experience. Also, their boat rides at night are stunning! I believe they also have some amazing programs for kids.

This place is great! Was worried about parking but they have a nice sized lot with a fair amount of space. Exhibits are intimate and my small children were really engaged the whole time. I like the size, being on the smaller size it wont overwhelm young kids. A really well designed space and I definitely recommend it if you have the opportunity to visit.

My boyfriend and I visited the Ocean Institute for the first time this week! This place is awesome! The staff is so kind and knowledgable. It is very affordable for the experience you get. We learned a lot and even got to interact with some local species! I would highly recommend it to families especially. The Ocean Institute provides lots of learning opportunities (I think more so than an aquarium by far.) Highly recommend a visit so worth it!

Best Auto Body & Mechanical sevices all around orange county. Thanks Marc & Crew for your professionalism. You can really count on these guys to get your vehicles back to or better than new. and there pricing is some of the best on the southland.

I took my 5 year old to the Ocean Institute and she had a blast. I originally thought Id spend maybe 30 minutes at the most, but we ended up spending over an hour and we still didnt see everything. While we were there we did the squid dissection, which was interesting and the kids liked looking at the different organs. My 5 year old also loved looking at the octopus and touching the sea stars and sharks. The staff was also very informative and kind.

As a local, this is one of my favorite spots to stroll, chill and breathe. I always plop down on a boulder but there are benches to sit on. Enjoy the low tide in the small Cove. The original Killer Dana Surf spot before the jetty was built

Our family visited your Ocean Institute on a Sunday afternoon. It was so nice. ForStarters, your front cashier was so very nice and curteous. My 4 yr. old grandson lovedlooking at the different fish aquariums you are displaying he was very curious about all he saw. Your scientists available on site and were very informative. We felt our visit was a memorable one and will return again. Thank you.

We took our 6 year old granddaughter to the Institute. The exhibits and lectures were excellent and informative to both children and adults. Staff was very friendly and great at explanations and assistance. 5 stars!

What a wonderful place to visit! The staff was so kind and informative. The displays are wonderful and we absolutely loved the touch tanks! The opportunity to touch sharks, rays and starfish never grows old, even for over grown kids like us! Wonderful place for kids of all ages.

The Ocean Institute may be a small facility, but boy are they mighty. They have great staff to attendant ratio. We spent half an hour talking about the octopus and Gray-Sea. That is something that a larger facility cannot offer, that almost one-on-one personal experience. They also have a lovely little botanical garden out back on the way to the shore. Amazing views, perfect for the Instagram worthy post.

The Ocean Institute is an amazing gem in Dana Point! It is a must see if they are open during your vacation! If you are a local take advantage of their membership and camps! Our oldest just finished camp last week and it is always one of his favorites! Wonderful staff, fun activities and lots of ocean learning!

What an exceptional crew! What a great time! Well worth the price.Saw glow in the dark sea plants. Saw some glowing jellys too!

It was a great evening for the bioluminescence cruise. The stars and planets on the clear night was an added bonus. The photo attached is my phone capture of the bioluminescence off the wake on the side of the boat. So cool looking.

We took the boys (12 and 10) on the night-time bioluminescence tour. It was thrilling for them to be on a big boat at night (left around 8pm), crashing through flourescent blue waves! The milky way was a dusty band across the starry sky. We stopped after about an hour and they lowered a net. After some time, they pulled up glowing pickle shaped creatures and let the passengers pet them. The staff examined krill under a high powered microscope in the galley. Hot chocolate and coffee were offered. We headed to the prow of the boat on our return (about 10pm), the sea spray in our smiling faces as we made for the harbor.

Wonderful way to experience the ocean. We didnt see any whales on this trip, but spent some amazing time with a pod of dolphins who were showing off for the boat.

Amazing place for the whole family, educational and exciting. Dont miss out on the ship tour!

I love coming here. Great spot to just relax & enjoy the ocean.

I booked reservations for the whale and marine life tour. It was an amazing experience with perfect weather. I took my two young children and they loved it (5,7mo. Old). We got to see dolphins!Jacob and Brad were great. It was very chilly so make sure to take a jacket. I would recommend this tour, great for the whole family.

The ride was beautiful. The crew was extremely knowledgeable and super friendly. Would highly recommend. Great price and great organization!

Love the Tall Ships Festival and being able to explore the various ships that sail in. Such a fun experience!

Had a great time out at sea!!! Crew was very friendly and very educated. Had a great time learning and seeing mammals. The time on the boat was perfect, not too long or too short.

Great people with a passion for teaching kids about the ocean! The mermaid show was great!

Great experience for our boys. It’s a nice way to spend the day if you’re not at the beach. Staff was super friendly and many hands-on activities for the kids!

Beautiful place to visit. Dogs are not allowed in the tidepool area. The gift shop was not open today 😕

Is nice place to be relax

We enjoyed our hour there. It is well done but it is small. All the volunteers there are super nice and informative. Overall we had a nice time.

Had a great time at the Ocean Institute, very hands on w/ helpful employees and a beautiful location. Learned a lot about ocean life, the damage we have caused, and the positive things we are now doing to reverse that damage.

My daughter went to girls in ocean science conference and she loved it! She learned a ton and had fun doing it. Will definitely be getting a membership here. Great place to engage and teach children. Very professional and fun. Thank you.

Wonderful Place!This place is great for families, individuals, couples, or anyone really! The Ocean Institute is very clean, accessible, and fun. The picture of the dock shows where the Tall Ships are berthed. My wife and I saw these a few days ago, and watched them shoot canons a little ways off-shore. So cool! We loved it here so much that we got married at this very spot. Great place!

A great sail on the Exy Johnson at the Maritime Festival. Not often that you can experience tall ships under sail in close maneuvers.

Very nice place. Everyone was helpful and friendly.

This place is a gem. Small enough to go with little kids, but theres a lot to see and touch there! Employees here is the great source of information for everyone.

Dont waist your time or money. No sea life appeared, couldnt operate the equipment properly, couldnt even bring up mud from the sea floor. No one on board could identify anything in a sample of sea water. Very expensive trip to rescue a balloon. Email to address concerns is faulty. The first mate has a very bad attitude.

Sent a number of e-mails, but with no response. It was a terrible experience. I imagine if I had said I would leave a big donation then they would have responded.

My high school daughter attended the one day all girl conference in Ocean Science. She learned so much and was truly inspired by all the speakers, the labs and the boat ride! Definitely worth it! Thank you for making an awesome day for her!

Our family - 2 seniors, 1 adult, and 2 children ages 8 and 10 - had a fantastic time on the bioluminescence boat tour. The tour started at 8 and lasted for 2 hours. I was concerned that the younger ones would be tired and bored by the end of the boat ride, but they were enthralled from beginning to end. We had a beautiful night - warm and calm, so that helped, too. We saw things that wed never seen or even heard of before - including pyrosoams. The kids were also fascinated looking through the microscope at the sea life that we brought up from 800 feet. We were so impressed with the quality of the Ocean Institutes tour that we plan to do more boat excursions with them, including the tall ship and whale and marine life tours.

Kids had so much fun exploring! We check the low tide time online and come 30 minutes before low tide. Tons of hermit crabs! They also found sea slugs that were huge! We walked on a trail around the cliffs and found a cave. It took about 25 minutes of walking though. We didn’t do any of the inside activities. We stayed outside and enjoyed everything for free. This was our second time coming and we will definitely be back.

I signed my son up for summer camp at the ocean institute. Something outside of our control came up, and I’ve been trying to get in touch with them for the past 2 months to work something out, all to no luck. My emails to their account bounce or get no response, my text replies to their texts bounce, I’ve called at all times and cannot get anyone on the line, I’ve left numerous voicemails but haven’t gotten a call back. I cannot get in touch with them no matter what!

Absolutely loved this spot. Staff and volunteers were knowledgeable, energetic and excited to share with the visitors. A great mix of science, nature and fun. We became members on the spot.

Ocean Institute is a wealth of information and is a great resource for youth and adults. Located in picturesque Dana Point Harbor, it’s a great place to visit when you are in the area.

The Ocean Institute is beautiful and well maintained. The staff and volunteers are so friendly and knowledgeable! We got to take part in a squid dissection with Alex. Learned about echo location with Sara. Met Leche (a milk snake) with Elizabeth. And learned so much at the touch pools. Its a beautiful location, and such a great learning experience for any age!

My 7 year old enjoyed this place and all the fun activities. Thanks for hosting the free entrance event last weekend.

My kids attended summer camp here and had a blast! Looking forward to next summer already!

It was closed when we went but down below the rocks waz amazing!

Great venue. Educative and fun.

Just walked by to watch the large waves crashing on the rocky beach. Awesomeness

I took some pictures of good skilled surfer. But i do not know who they are. I’d like to give these original photos to them. Please let me know email.Nice view, nice surfing. Thank you

Whale watching adventure made fun for all by the crew. Went out a little late in season but we still managed to find some whales out there off Laguna.

My favorite place

The ocean institute is a great place to visit. The facility, the gift store, the surrounding points of interest, the landscape, and especially, you guessed it, the seascape makes this a must see not just once, but any time possible throughout the year.Sincerely,Gregory L. Kinney

Very nice place.

Great place to take the kids for a fun, interactive ocean experience.

The Pilgrim boat has sunk. My Kids did the Squid dissection and it was an incredible experience.

Locals call it The Indian! Beautiful day. Low tide. On the other side of the jetty was the Sand Bar. Nice pace to relax and breath some fresh ocean air!

Love the back where you can explore the tide pools and has an area for kayaking

Excellent education in marine ecology and maritime history.

Saw greywhales...rare entire breach of a humpback whale, hundreds of dolphins . maybe thousand...sea lions and seals.Thousands rich of living things on a feeding frenzy. Incredible boat journey.

Always a great feeling to contribute to this. Wonderful staff. And a great purpose.

Amazing people doing great work!

Great place to visit.

Awesome place with a baby beach right next to it

Awesome place to take the family, jacket and beanie are a must have it gets cold!

We participated in the Bioluminescence night cruise. 2 hours was a perfect amount of time for this. My daughter and i took a turn riding the front and it was magical...like riding a mythical sea creature with the waves out front and the lights down low. Two dolphins joined is-more than we bargained for. We got lucky on our trip. I wish the same to you future traveler.I love that this is a non profit with a goal to educate underprivileged children, igniting their hunger for knowledge. Highly Recommend.

Great place to visit and check out sealife. Nice gift shop with thoughtful books and clothing. The beach behind it is a nice place to chill too.

We fully enjoyed this place for several days. My 3 year old and we; parents learned a lot here and really appreciated very informative and kind staffs who works the best here!Thanks a lot for good memories! My daughter will remember this lovely place and the nice people here! We Recommend Dana ship tour and whale watching as well~

Great educational experience and hands on displays. We also throughly enjoyed the Tall Ships Festival!

Small but informative oceanographic center. Great for the whole family.

Their management sank their ship Pilgrim. And still uses the picture of the grand and historic ship in their advertising. Negligence has continued to lower their performance. This organization needs improvement and new management.

Always a great place to visit.

Excellent side sightseeing!

Dated and on the decline. A few dirty fish tanks and touch tanks (star fish, rays and small reef sharks). Lots of educational displays but we were finished in under 30 minutes. Half of the place was closed when we attended 12/30/19 and was not explained when we purchased our admission $62 for 7 of us. Would not recommend.

The ocean institute is wonderful. It is fun for the entire family. There was beautiful waves and a beach for the kids. There was two pirate ships there as well.

Closed due to Pandemic :(

Stopped by to donate a $100 gift card in the name of Truist Bank. Paying it forward as we all should ♥️♥️

We came to visit the tide pools but since it was high tide we had to find a different activity. Lucky for us the Ocean Institute was open! The kids enjoyed seeing the ocean creatures and exploring the Pilgrim.

This was so fun. My girlfriend and I came here to check it out and have some fun. Very awesome. Grand and Leo were a great help to us, they knew a lot and showed us around. Very friendly people

Perfect for toddlers. Mine loved the tide pool play area and the ship tour. They loved seeing the animals and the parents learned more about our oceans too. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and fun! One staff member took the time to read a picture book to our kids! We had an amazing time.

Very nice location, picturesque... helpful and friendly volunteers... But, one complaint was that the tanks dont have a lot of information on them. Hard to always know what fish youre looking at.

High tidesLets hold heads high this year put the past in the past from 2020 wow year no one will ever forget .What will the history book say

Great place to stop in for a few minutes. I felt like it would be nice to have more to see and learn there, but its small and not meant to be a full day trip. Excellent learning center of youre strolling the area

Perfect place to go. We did a homeschool field trip here! There were so many things for the kids to explore and touch!

I was waiting until the Seafood festival at S.B. Harbor to finally fulfill my dream of going back to my roots on the ocean. Very disappointed that I could not go down below, and even more disappointed that you are charging $50.00 a ticket for the sail. This is not the Spirit of Dana Point.

Paddleboarding with my daughter was great!

Beautiful walk 0n the harbour

Last year I went out on one of their boats. We saw a hump back whaleVery impressive. The Institute itself offers such wonderful education for kids.

Touched a shark

Great place 👌

I have so many memories coming here when i was in 4th grade, wish to go back, love it

Great place for the kids to learn. Nice gift shop.

Great place for kids, I use to love going here when I was younger, especially for the squid dissections.

Amazing Ocean exploration programs for kids offered. Interesting expositions with marine life.

The Ocean Institute just jired the most fantastic new executive director, Dori Moorehead. Dori was formerly with The California Museum in Sacramento, where she brought new life to the Museum.Sacramentos loss is Dana Points gain. She will be sorely missed, but we congratulate her on her new journey.

Good for school field trips, luxury building mostly used to walk around and look at small area of ocean front

Had a great time at The Ocean Institute! Love the interactive exhibits!