Barrier Island Sanctuary - Melbourne Beach (FL)

5 /5 Kenny Dorsey: Wonderful, family friendly facility with amazing volunteers. The one mile trail on the other side of the highway is incredible, a real sanctuary. Thank you for hosting the sustainable Easter Egg Hunt. Really made our visit special.

5 /5 Jo Anne Tingle: The BEST teaching area on the Coast of Fla! And, its totally FREE!! I loved the video about the Turtles and how to protect them! We enjoyed meeting a Marine Biologist there as well. The gift shop and the lady there were just delightful! Thanks so much to the staff for entertaining and educating us!! We will be back!!

5 /5 David Lieu: We visited on a Friday afternoon in late Dec 2024. There was plenty of parking and we only saw one other group walk in after us. There are a ton of fun hands on exhibits in the visitor center here and also live animals. There is a little shop to buy souvenirs and a theater. All the volunteers we spoke to were very friendly and knowledgeable about the parks and wildlife refuges in the area. They also have a number of stamps for the blue goose passport book of all the local National Wildlife Refuge Units. These included: - Archie Carr - Pelican Island - Lake Wales Ridge - Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area - Everglades Headwaters All of these stamps also include dates. We also hiked the Barrier Island Sanctuary Trail which starts from the corner of the parking lot and crosses the street. The weather was in the low 70s and once you crossed the street there was a number of mosquitos. So the tip is to not stop walking. We completed the trail with one or two bites each. We did not know the trail would have so many mosquitos so we did not apply any repellant. There was a great little hole you could see a bit of the bay side but you cross the street again and head out onto a boardwalk that goes to the ocean side along with the back of the Bird Sanctuary Visitor Center. It was a nice trail and we would certainly do it again if we were in the area and had a 20 mins. Overall great visit and we would gladly come back again.

5 /5 Haven: A hidden gem off A1A… free $.99 (donation) entry-primary exhibits visuals that educates the public about SEA TURTLES.. a protected species & how fabulous they are to our ECOSYSTEM.. very impressed w/the movie theatre & interactive displays. My fav was the conservatory deck beachside view & trail. The view was spectacular “picture perfect”. A must see for everyone.

5 /5 Donald Mosley: This place was super cool with lots of information for you to learn. Love the aquariums with creatures for kids to see up close!