Discovery

For 31 years, the Seaside Beach Discovery Program has invited summer visitors to learn and talk about the natural world they have come to explore.

This is a free program on the beach in front of the Seaside Aquarium. Young and old alike are delighted with the personal attention, hands-on displays, old photos, and great discussions that occur.

2026 Seaside Beach Discovery Program Schedule:

July 10 AM – 4 PM

10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th, 30th, & 31st

August 10 AM – 4 PM

7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 20th, & 21st

Seaside Aquarium staff members use several interactive displays, including microscopes, which showcase diverse creatures such as plant and animal plankton, amphipods and seaweed.  We have many historical photos to help people compare human and geological changes over time.  We add shells and other tideline discoveries to reinforce the idea that an ever-changing ocean can lead to important changes for people, plants, and animals.  One popular display, in the form of a signpost, points out that people are not our only visitors. Numerous flying or swimming animals make enormous round-trip journeys every year and many use our beach as a pit stop to rest and feed.  We use instruments such as tide tables, wind gauges, thermometers, and salinity gauges to compare daily, and sometimes hourly, changes to a seemingly static beach.  These lead to displays about beach safety, verbal talks about gravity, the moon and tides, sand movement, upwellings, rip currents, and the food chain.  All of this helps to spark discussions that lead to helping people see the interconnectivity of sand, water, air, plants and animals, the earth, the moon, and humans’ relationships to that process. 

Every morning before the program officially opens, staff members record the wind speed, air and ocean temperature, ocean salinity, and tide data.  They collect samples of plankton and tiny critters along the ocean’s edge and note anything unusual for the day.  Wide-ranging discussions occur daily with a steady flow of information, questions, and ponderings that keep our displays fresh and evolving.  Some visitors stop and are gone in under five minutes.  Many stay for half an hour or more.  

The Seaside Beach Discovery Program began in 1995 as a way to engage the public about life on an open sandy beach. The idea was to try to change people’s perspective from being a beach they use to recreate on to a beach as a whole thriving ecosystem.  

2026 Seaside Beach Discovery Program Schedule (The Program is weather-dependent. If it is too rainy or windy, the Program may be canceled or broken down early).