THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606210023
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 43 lines
Canny tourists to the Beach this summer will be praying for rain: Bad weather provides the perfect excuse to enjoy the city's second-best attraction.
The No. 1 attaction will always be the beach, of course. In second place, most definitely, is the Virginia Marine Science Museum.
Since its doors swung open 10 years ago, the museum has been everything the city hoped for and more. It is an educational facility dedicated to the local marine environment with enough hands-on activities to interest even the most bored and sunburned child or jaded traveler.
Not surprisingly, the Marine Science Museum has been wildly successful, drawing about 335,000 visitors a year.
That level of interest generated plans for the second phase of the museum which officially opened last weekend. Museum officials predict that the number of visitors to the museum will double during the next year as tourists and locals get a load of the new and improved Virginia Marine Science Museum.
The deck was stacked against the museum's grand opening. The sea turtles, otters and rays had to compete with sunny skies, high temperatures and the Boardwalk Art Show. Nevertheless, an estimated 4,500 visitors came to see the museum's $36.7 million addition, which includes the breathtaking IMAX theater and 300,000-gallon Norfolk Canyon Aquarium.
Those who have idled away the hours in front of the Chesapeake Bay aquarium in the original building will be awed when they gaze upon the new Norfolk Canyon aquarium - six times as large as the original.
And in addition to the ever-popular rays, museum-goers can now get close to otters, sharks, sea turtles, a flock of birds in the aviary and eventually a few harbor seals.
The Virginia Marine Science Museum proves that a well-designed, moderately priced museum can compete quite nicely with the traditional tourist attractions that are the mainstay of beach resorts.
Funded mostly by the city of Virginia Beach, the Virginia Marine Sciene Museum is something all of Hampton Roads can take pride in. The museum celebrates the rich local environment and brings the mysterious beauty of the undersea world to its visitors.
It also gives new meaning to rainy days. by CNB