Manly Sea Life Sanctuary facts for kids
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An overview of Manly Sea Life Sanctuary when it was known as Oceanworld Manly
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| Date opened | 1965 |
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| Date closed | 28 January 2018 |
| Location | Manly, Sydney, Australia |
| Coordinates | 33°47′57″S 151°16′53″E / 33.7991°S 151.2813°E |
| Volume of largest tank | 4,000,000 L (880,000 imp gal; 1,100,000 US gal) |
| Website | www.manlysealifesanctuary.com.au |
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary (once known as Oceanworld Manly) was a cool public aquarium located in Manly, Sydney, Australia. It was a home for many amazing sea creatures. You could see sharks, giant stingrays, sea turtles, and even cute little penguins there. The sanctuary also offered an exciting activity called Shark Dive Xtreme. This allowed visitors to swim with large grey nurse sharks that were over three metres long!
Contents
A Look Back at the Sanctuary's History
The Manly Sea Life Sanctuary first opened its doors in 1965. Back then, it was called Marineland. It was later updated and reopened in 1989 as Underwater World.
Changes Over the Years
In 1992, Coral World International bought the aquarium. They renovated it and reopened it as Oceanworld. After this big update, the aquarium had the longest underwater tunnel in the world. This tunnel was an amazing 110 metres (361 ft) long!
In 1999, the aquarium was sold again. This time, the Sydney Aquarium Company (which later became Sydney Attractions Group) bought it. They operated Oceanworld as a part of the Sydney Aquarium.
New Owners and a New Name
In February 2008, a company called Village Roadshow Theme Parks took over the Sydney Attractions Group. Then, in December 2010, Merlin Entertainments acquired the Sydney Attractions Group division.
On June 28, 2012, the attraction officially relaunched with a new name: Manly Sea Life Sanctuary. This change came after another renovation. A new exhibit called Penguin Cove was added during this time. The sanctuary finally closed its doors on January 28, 2018.
Amazing Exhibits to Explore
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary had three main areas for visitors to explore. Each area showed off different types of marine life.
- Penguin Cove – This was the newest exhibit at the sanctuary. It was home to a colony of adorable little penguins. You could watch these small birds waddle around and swim.
- Shark Harbour – This was a huge aquarium, holding 4,000,000-litre (880,000 imp gal; 1,100,000 US gal) of water! It was filled with many different kinds of sharks, stingrays, turtles, and colorful tropical fish. The exciting Shark Dive Xtreme activity took place in this exhibit. It let brave visitors get up close with the sharks and other sea creatures.
- Underwater Sydney – This section of the sanctuary showed off marine life found around Sydney. It featured cool rock pools, delicate seahorses, clever octopus, and striking lionfish.
