ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — One Florida aquarium is making sure that everyone has a special experience when visiting.

The St. Augustine Aquarium is designed to give children hands-on encounters with nearly everything they do at the facility.

Sydney Daniels, lead biologist at the aquarium, heads up several unique programs, including shark painting.

“It’s our shark painting program, where guests hold a T-shirt or a canvas, and the shark’s movement moves the paintbrushes, and they create a painting,” Daniels said.

Guests stand on a platform, hold a T-shirt as two nurse sharks are given a bait ball attached to a pole, and as the sharks pull on the ball, the paintbrushes move around and paint. 

Daniels admits jokingly that the finished artwork is subjective.

“It’s a little more abstract than most people would think of. But it’s exciting watching them grab their toy, move the paintbrushes, and create their own little masterpiece, while learning about sharks,” she said.

The park has several educational stops where guests who just want to learn about sea creatures can walk through and listen to a tour guide. 

The stops include learning about horseshoe crabs, seahorses, stingrays, and starfish.

Another fun experience is feeding nurse sharks with tongs while learning about the animals.

Aquatic education guide Dan Smith said he hopes guests walk away with the understanding that sharks are not out to attack people.

“I hope it teaches them to have a healthy respect for our ocean animals. And also understand that by no means are they out to get us,” Smith said.

A highlight of the aquarium is its snorkel adventure, where guests can go on a one-hour adventure and snorkel inside the facility’s 80,000-gallon tank.

The water-filled habitat is full of more than 100 colorful fish, stingrays and man-made coral.

The snorkel adventure is perfect for someone who wants to learn how to do it in a controlled environment.

“We provide wet suits, water shoes, masks and snorkels, as well as the life jacket,” Daniels said.

Guests are given a squeeze bottle full of krill (fish food) and can feed the fish while snorkeling.

“It really draws some of our fish toward the guests, especially our lookdowns, our grunts, our pompano. They really love it,” she said.

If you want to visit the St. Augustine Aquarium, the cost is $14.99 per person and $9.99 for children 3-12 years old.

The price to do the snorkel adventure is $50 per person, and that includes all your gear and your entrance fee, along with a tour of the aquarium.

Reservations are required online.

Shark painting and shark feeding also cost extra.

Visit the St. Augustine Aquarium for pricing and other information.