World Oceans Day

Celebrate World Oceans Day at the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf this Saturday. Families will enjoy fun activities, music and opportunities to meet ocean scientists, like Umi Hoshijima, who will provide video of diving under the ice from a research expedition, and will play live Antarctic-inspired music. The Sea Center, Hofmann Lab, scientists and graduate students from UC Santa Barbara, and local organizations dedicated to protecting the ocean for future generations, have joined together to create a fun-filled day at the Sea Center to showcase marine ecosystems from around the world.

Interactive Discovery Booths

• Antarctic Extreme Weather Gear
• Penguin Post
• Dive into Kelp Forests and Coral Reefs
• Antarctic Food Web –Living on Thin Ice
• Kelp Holdfast Dissection
• Oyster Restoration
• Pristine Coral Reefs
• Pop-up presentations throughout the day

Close encounters with marine animals

• Feel the skin of a shark
• Explore local intertidal animals and habitats
• Be a marine scientist on the Wet Deck

Partners include:  Hofmann Lab at UCSB (funded by a grant from The National Science Foundation), UCSB Marine Scientists, NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Marine Science Institute’s REEF, Santa Barbara Moorea Long-term Ecology Restoration Program, SB Water Project of Santa Barbara High School, Santa Barbara City Creeks Division, White Abalone Captive Breeding Program, Santa Barbara Waterfront Department, and the California Coastal Commission.

About the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History & Sea Center

Founded in 1916, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History reconnects more than 100,000 people each year (including their 5,800 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Uniquely nestled in nature, the Museum has ten indoor exhibit halls focusing on regional natural history including astronomy, birds, insects, geology, mammals, marine life, paleontology, plant life, and the Chumash Indians.

The Museum’s outdoor nature experience continues down to the Pacific Ocean at its Sea Center located on the historic Stearns Wharf. The Sea Center offers over 100,000 visitors a window to ocean life in the Santa Barbara Channel through its interactive exhibits and close-up, hands-on encounters with sea creatures. Beyond exhibitions, the Museum and Sea Center offers science education programs for adults and children, preserves a collection of more than three million specimens and artifacts, and maintains ongoing scientific research. The Museum’s mission is to inspire a thirst for discovery and a passion for the natural world.

For more information:   www.sbnature.org

Address:   211 Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Hours:   Open daily 10:00AM – 5:00PM