Coastal Wilds

This was such a great little place! I highly recommend the Otter Swim. Vivian was knowledgeable & you could tell she loves her job. We swam with Poseidon & another Otter that I'm sad to say I can't remember his name but they were both great! Katie that did the tour was extremely knowledgeable & it never felt like she just rehearsed what she was supposed to say. You could tell she was actually enjoying herself. We will definitely return here at some point for sure! Highly recommend doing all the encounters! Thank you for a great morning Katie & Vivian!!

My boyfriend and I drove a little over four hours each way to swim with otters and it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. We got an educational tour of all the animals with Rachel. She brought out some smaller animals for us to handle and answered any and every question we had about each of the critters. She was really sweet and knowledgeable. Michael was our guide for the otter swim and we had a blast. Not only are the otters themselves hilarious, but he also made sure we were all having a good time. I have been to A LOT of animals exhibits across the country, a lot of which were really depressing. At Coastal Wilds, you can tell that the animals are well loved and cared for. None of them exhibited any signs of being depressed or lonely. I would definitely recommend this place and I’m sure I’ll be back!

I’m a big animal lover, and not a big fan of lying in the sand all day, so when my family took our annual trip to the beach, I was excited to take my son to this. He’s under 2, so really, it was mostly for me.

That said, I think this is worth the trip, as long as you do your research and have realistic expectations. There’s not a ton here, it’s not a huge facility, and it’s not cheap. However, it is very unique in that you can get pretty close to the animals, pay extra for animal encounters if you wish, and walk into a fenced area of I believe NINE kangaroos — what zoo allows you to go hangout with the kangaroos?!

The facility isn’t huge, certainly isn’t state of the art, but the staff seem to really love their job, and are extremely kind. It seems like they’re truly doing the best they can with the resources they have.

Finally, yes, it’s not cheap, but it’s a 30 minute drive from the beach and if you’re doing this while you’re on vacation, nothing is cheap. This is a ticketed tour, meaning you need a booking to walk in the place, which means you know how much it’s going to cost when you sign up. Many of the negative reviews talk a lot about the price, but it’s not like it’s not advertised. Lastly, if those prices are helping the animals and paying the passionate employees, I’m happy to support a small business more than the large zoo in the city.

We’ll probably return when my son is a bit older and can walk around and actually remember the trip. But until then, I definitely recommend you check it out!