Manly Sea Life Sanctuary (formerly ''Oceanworld Manly'') was a

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

located in Manly, Sydney, Australia. It featured sharks, giant stingrays, sea turtles, little penguins and other marine life. It also allowed guests to take part in Shark Dive Xtreme, where they could swim with grey nurse sharks over three metres long.

History

The sanctuary originally opened in 1965, as ''Marineland''. It was refurbished and reopened in 1989 as Underwater world. It was purchased and renovated by Coral World International, and re-opened as Oceanworld in 1992. After its renovation, the aquarium boasted the longest aquarium tunnel in the world, at . The aquarium was sold to the Sydney Aquarium Company (later Sydney Attractions Group) in 1999 to be operated as a branch of the

Sydney Aquarium SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium (formerly Sydney Aquarium) is a public aquarium that features a large variety of Australian aquatic life, displaying more than 700 species comprising more than 13,000 individual fish and other sea and water creatures f ...

. In February 2008,

Village Roadshow Theme Parks Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a division of Village Roadshow Limited which operates theme parks and attractions in Australia and the United States of America. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Pa ...

acquired the Sydney Attractions Group. In December 2010,

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investme ...

acquired the Sydney Attractions Group division of Village Roadshow Theme Parks. On 28 June 2012, the attraction officially relaunched as Manly Sea Life Sanctuary following a renovation which saw the addition of the Penguin Cove exhibit. It closed on 28 January 2018 due to projected maintenance costs.

Exhibits

Manly Sea Life Sanctuary was made up of three exhibits: Penguin Cove, Shark Harbour and Underwater Sydney. * Penguin Cove – Manly Sea Life Sanctuary's newest exhibit. The exhibit was home to a colony of little penguins. * Shark Harbour – a aquarium that featured a variety of

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

s, stingrays,

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

s and

tropical fish Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...

. An

upcharge attraction An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

known as Shark Dive Xtreme existed within this exhibit and allowed guests to swim with the sharks and other marine life. * Underwater Sydney – a section of Manly Sea Life Sanctuary which featured

rock pool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

seahorse 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 " ...

s, octopus and

lionfish ''Pterois'' is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. Also called firefish, turkeyfish, tastyfish, or butterfly-cod, it is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red, white, crea ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Village Roadshow Theme Parks Aquaria in Australia Defunct aquaria Buildings and structures in Sydney Manly, New South Wales Merlin Entertainments Group Sea Life Centres Village Roadshow Theme Parks Tourist attractions in Sydney 1965 establishments in Australia 2018 disestablishments in Australia Zoos established in 1965 Zoos disestablished in 2018