Bahamas: Sea Squirts at Atlantis

Atlantis offers a program for kids 3-6 called Sea Squirts, which offers young ones the opportunity to get up close and personal and learn more about the sea animals that live at the resort.

Sea Squirts participants get to pet and feed several varieties of baby sea life, like this shark. They receive careful instruction and one-on-one oversight.

They also check out the turtles! In the basement, she saw and held Atlantic Green Sea Turtles.

She also loved the young zebra shark, and came back explaining to me why it is called a zebra shark, even though the adult version has spots.

The zebra shark definitely knew it was feeding time! She came right up to the platform where she knew children would soon be offering her fish to eat.

Bria wasn't so sure about holding fish in her hands, so the guide picked one out for her that she could hold by the tail...

...then she dumped the rest of the bucket out for them to eat on their own.

Next was the tank of rays. The children learned that it is important to shuffle your feet, to avoid stepping on them.

Then they learned how to feed the krill to the rays from their bucket by shaking it in their hands to break it up.

Bria wasn't about to do that, either, so he taught her how to swirl the krill with some water in the bucket to break it up, then toss it out to feed the rays.

Sea Squirts is a one hour program, with about 20 minutes of marine activities and 30-40 minutes of feeding time. The program is about $40 and includes a keepsake swim shirt. One adult is asked to accompany each squirt.

Reservations can be made at Atlantis Guest Services. We recommend making a booking near the beginning of your stay, because they can be booked up a few days out.