Coral World is a marine park and tourist attraction located next to

Coki Beach Coki Beach is on the island of Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean. Coki Beach is a white sand beach on the North East (Atlantic) side of the island Saint Thomas, adjacent to the Coral World Ocean Park. Coki is well k ...

on the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Facilities and attractions

Since its opening in 1978, the park has featured a signature Underwater Observatory Tower. The tower descends 20 feet in the ocean to allow underwater viewing. Later additions to the park include an 80,0000 gallon circular Caribbean Reef Encounter tank, which houses local fish and other sea life, and an enclosure for

South American sea lion The South American sea lion (''Otaria flavescens'', formerly ''Otaria byronia''), also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the western and southeastern coasts of South America. It is the only member ...

s. The park uses an open-water system to circulate ocean water through the exhibits. Other park animals include

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...

s, juvenile sharks,

seahorses A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

sea star Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...

iguanas ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his bo ...

, and

lorikeets Loriini is a tribe of small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. The species form a monophyletic group within the ...

. Many of the animals, such as the turtles, are rescued from the wild and released when possible. The park focuses on visitor education and interaction with the animals, through touch encounters, feedings, swims,

snuba Snuba is form of surface-supplied diving that uses an underwater breathing system developed by Snuba International. The origin of the word "Snuba" may be a portmanteau of " snorkel" and "scuba", as it bridges the gap between the two. Alternati ...

, and Sea Trek.

History

Coral World opened in 1978, as Coral World International's second marine park, following

Coral World Underwater Observatory Eilat's Coral World Underwater Observatory is a public aquarium, park and conservation center located in Eilat, Israel. It is the biggest public aquarium in Israel, and it hosts over 800 species. It was founded in 1974 and was the first of its ...

Eilat, Israel Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jorda ...

. In 1989 it was destroyed by

Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million peop ...

. In 1995 another storm,

Hurricane Marilyn Hurricane Marilyn was the most powerful hurricane to strike the Virgin Islands since Hurricane Hugo of 1989, and the third such tropical cyclone in roughly a two-week time span to strike or impact the Leeward Islands, the others being Hurricane ...

, destroyed the observatory and other tanks. Coral World was sold to new owners more than a year later. During the 1990s, Coral World hired former world boxing champion Julian Jackson as a celebrity tour guide, to attract more tourists to the park. In 2007 the park added sea lions. In 2012 Coral World proposed adding a controversial dolphin swim attraction. In 2017

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two ...

and

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

caused an estimed $2 million in damage to the park. In 2018 Coral World began construction of an in-ocean

dolphinarium A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums consist of one pool where dolphins pe ...

Gallery

File:CoralWorldSeaLion.jpg, Sea lion Remo jumping at Coral World File:Turtle feeding at Coral World.jpg, Sea turtles feeding at Coral World

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.coralworldvi.com Marine parks of the United States Virgin Islands Coral World International's Public Aquariums 1978 establishments in the United States Virgin Islands East End, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands