Our Partner Highlight for this week is the Museum of Coastal Carolina and Ingram Planetarium. We’ll have two separate posts for these two must-visit coastal spots, so make sure to read them both and then check out all that this museum has to offer on Ocean Isle Beach!
Let’s start with all the incredible things to explore in the Museum of Coastal Carolina.
Tucked away on the island of Ocean Isle Beach is a natural history museum great for family day trips. The Museum of Coastal Carolina’s exhibits include interactive displays about topography, water pollution, and sea life, along with a touch tank filled with live sea animals, a wide array of shark jaws, live snakes, bird dioramas, and an ocean reef diorama that includes life-sized models of whales, sharks, sea turtles and rays. Other exhibits highlight river basins, barrier islands, and tides. The museum also features displays of local and maritime history, including shipbuilding and area Native Americans. The museum offers afternoon and evening programs and special lectures, including area efforts to protect sea turtles.
Every day we are open the Museum hosts fun, interactive, family friendly programs at 11:00 am. Touch Tank Feedings (where you can watch our hungry sea life feast!) are held Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Other programs include our Science in 3D programs: Volcanoes, Hurricane Maria, and Sea Turtle Quest. Strap on a pair of virtual reality goggles to experience flying through the eye of Hurricane Maria, or an up-close view of a volcano. A visitor favorite program, Swamp Sleuths, is also back. Swamp Sleuths allows guests to solve the mystery of who crushed Penny the Vole’s home. Through a series of clues, you learn about the local environment and the creatures that live here, as well as solving the crime.
During the summer we also host special events like Pirate Week and the Shark Soiree. July 9 through 14, the Museum will be taken over by pirates. Sword fights, lectures on locals such as Blackbeard, and pirate related activities and crafts will fill our galleries. Thursday, August 10 at the Shark Soiree learn all about some of the sea’s most misunderstood denizens and take home a shark tooth of your own.
In the evening, local experts discuss everything from our coastal environment to Outer Banks history. Sandbar Lectures are offered every Tuesday, Memorial Day through Labor Day. These entertaining presentations will leave you inspired with curiosity about our unique environment.
The Museum of Coastal Carolina is located at 21 East Second Street in Ocean Isle Beach, NC. Admission is free for members. Non-member all-day admission effective March 31, 2022 is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors (62+), $8 for children (3-12), and free for age 2 and under. For more information, call 910-579-1016, visit www.museumplanetarium.org, or like us on Facebook.com /MuseumCoastalCarolina.
