Our Visit to the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor

The Wetlands Institute in located in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. If you’re going to be visiting Ocean City, Avalon, Sea Isle City, Wildwood or Cape May, it’s only a short drive away. You’ll find them at 1075 Stone Harbor Blvd. and they’re open year-round, although their hours of operations vary, depending on the time of the year.

My husband and I have visited the Wetlands Institute several times over the past year and this time around we took our granddaughter and my mother along with us. We knew it would be a great educational experience for the Princess and although it’s educational, it’s fun too!

You’ll go through the main entrance and pay your admission. They then put you into a room where you’ll sit and watch a mini movie about the surrounding wetlands, its eco-system and the animals that live there. I believe the mini-movie was around 18-23 minutes in length.

The tour guide will then take you outside and into the salt marshes where you’ll walk the gravel trails. They tell you all about the birds and turtles that live there. During the time that we were there…we spotted several female turtles coming up out of the water, crossing the paths and looking for places to lay their eggs. Once they find the perfect spot, they dig a hole, lay their eggs, cover the hole back up and head back into the water.

There are researchers at the Wetlands Institute who watch for the female turtles. When they spot them…they watch for them to be done egg-laying and then they place metal cages over those spots. This keeps the predators out and once the eggs hatch…the baby turtles are snatched up, tagged and then returned to do their thing. They can tell which females have returned back, which ones are new, monitor their health and all sorts of different things.

You’ll then go up onto their metal boardwalk which takes you out and through some of the salt marsh area. While you’re walking that…you can spot some of the sea birds, turtles and sand crabs that live in the area. We were able to see two different nesting pairs of Osprey watching over their young in the nest. We learned that Osprey mate with each other for life. During the winter season…the female goes down south to one area and the male goes to another. Once the winter is over, they both head back up to New Jersey, find one another and nest together again. Pretty cool.

There is a dock out in the salt marsh that you can visit. It’s absolutely beautiful out there and we enjoyed sitting on a park bench out on the dock and just enjoying the scenery and our surroundings. It was very relaxing and if you’re looking to take some nice family photos…that’s a great place to do it at.

You then head into a building on the property that hosts their little indoor aquarium. There are several fish tanks set up that are home to fish, crabs and other sea life. We really enjoyed seeing their octopus that they had on exhibit. I have to admit, he was pretty darn cute for an octopus!

During the afternoon they open up their “touch tank” for feeding the animals that live in that particular tank. They allow you to “touch” those animals too. My granddaughter was able to hold snails, a crab, a starfish and a few other animals that call the touch tank home. She wasn’t afraid of anything!

You’ll want to allow about 1 1/2 hours in your schedule if you plan on participating in all of the activities that they have to offer. After we were done…we headed into the little on-site gift shop to pick up some souvenirs. We had a great time and once our grandson gets a little bit bigger, we’ll be bringing him along with us next!