Sea Museum and Dolphinarium

Review of  Sea Museum and Dolphinarium in Lithuania

Address: Smiltynės Str. 3 LT-93100, Klaipėda
Website: Sea Museum and Dolphinarium

IN THIS REVIEW

• Video
• Location, how to get there and when to visit
• Dolphinarium
• California sea lions
• Fishing vessels and farmstead
• Fort
• Aquarium
• Eat and drink

Video

Location, how to get there and when to visit

• Museum located in an excellent place near Baltic Sea "Smiltyne." To get to "Smiltyne," you have to take ferry or boat from Klaipeda. The distance from the ferry is around 1,5 km, and you can go with the bus (it was free during our visit) or select more romantic ways of travel (carriage or little train). With some boats, it is possible to go straight to the Sea museum and Dolphinarium, but you have to check it before going.
• The museum is the perfect place for all family, and it is possible to spend all day inside or outside of Museum and Dolphinarium.
• It is possible to visit during the whole year, but some events like Sea lions show will not be open.

Dolphinarium

• Last time we been in Dolphinarium, it was almost 9 or ten years ago. Since our last time, it was reconstruction, and now Dolphinarium looks much more modern, and living space for dolphins have expanded. It was possible to see Dolphins not only during the show but from the first floor it was possible to see them under water.
• Dolphins are not just because of the show, but it is more to look at the green side and to understand how beautiful Dolphins are in reality. During the last 50 years were catastrophic for Dolphins because of the human activity Dolphin population has decreased many times. Dolphins are very friendly and want to communicate with people. Dolphins helped fishers during fishing periods to move fishes to the net. It is very similar to the dog's function during the hunting. For that, they expected reward and people usually left some fish for the Dolphins.
• For dolphins to swim near the ship is a great amusement, and it is very similar to going with the bicycle after the car (easier to cycle for the driver and for the dolphin it is simpler to swim).
• Did you know that dolphin can survive without an oxygen just about 10 minutes, so if the Dolphin hit the net, usually they just choke? And it is the truth. Modern nets work like a repellent and deter Dolphins from in the ship to avoid being cached. I never knew that on the can of Tuna you could check if these fish were caught using new nets which save dolphins life or not.

California sea lions

• To see sea lions show in the open pool is possible during summer time. Like dolphins, Californian sea lions are mammals as well. It was a great show and great opportunity to see these beautiful animals.

Fishing vessels and farmstead

• On the way from ferry and Dolphinarium building, it is possible to observe old fishing ships. Inside one ship (Dubingiai) we found an exhibition about fishing at sea.
• Very close to the ships it is possible to see an ethnographical fisherman's farmstead with all furniture and fishing equipment from the historical times.

Fort

• During the World War II, the fort was destroyed and restored as a museum in 1978. For a few years, it was reconstruction for external part of the fort and was repaired the bridge to the fort. The trench around the fort was cleaned first time since 1978. Without all mud, it cleaners removed few hundreds of shells which left after the second World War. In the fort, it was German's storehouse, and what they didn't destroy they just dropped to the trench. All shells were removed safely and didn't detonate. In the fort, we found a lot of models of historic ships and boats, anchors, how forth looked in the past. From outside it is also possible to see penguins, seals, pelicans, sea lions and some other animals.

Aquarium

• During our visit aquarium was under reconstruction and according to staff, it should start working in the Autumn of 2017. If you go to Sea museum when the aquarium is open, just share your opinion in the comments below.

Eat and drink

• On the first floor, it is possible to get lunch in the Dolphinarium and on the roof is an excellent Cafe where you can drink coffee with an exclusive view to the sea.