Aquarena Center Aquarium - San Marcos, Texas
Posted by: 
Tygress
N 29° 53.595 W 097° 55.830
14R E 603264 N 3307437
My house is larger than this aquarium ... but it has lovely displays and lots of information particular to the San Marcos Springs and Edwards Aquifer.
Waymark Code: WM8TYY
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/13/2010
Views: 10
Where else are you going to see
A blind salamander -- or maybe three?
Spotted gar swim 'round their tank
Baby turtles your interest thank.
Tiny aquarium it's true
But a visit there you will not rue.
The Aquarena Center on San Marcos Springs is a 'repurposed' theme park, now operated by Texas State University San Marcos. Piece by piece they're converting the grounds to a dedicated nature center, where already good natural history and archaeological research is conducted. You can still see the remains of the old theme park: the Aquarena Center (where the audience used to be lowered for submarine viewing), sky train towers and station, and art decoish buildings. But you can also wander the Wetlands Boardwalk and the shores of Spring Lake for natural views, rich with riparian habitat, above and below the water line. The historic glass bottomed boats are still in operation, and worth every penny if you have the time.
Near the boat ramp, you will find this small, but neat, aquarium, which features creatures particular to the Springs. Seriously, you're not going to see the Edwards Blind Salamander anywhere else.
Admission is free -- though donations are gladly accepted. And the Center's gift shop has a small assortment of interesting things, as well as a smaller still snack counter.
Educational tours can also be arranged (there was a horde of middle schoolers there when we were -- but they weren't too annoying =g= Plenty of room on the grounds, at least, to spread out)
The official website of the Aquarena Center is (
visit link)
But there is a WONDEFUL overview article of the area, with lots of vintage photos as part of the Edwards Aquifer (dot) net at (
visit link)