Jenkinsons Aquarium

Point Pleasant Beach grew into a summer resort in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when railroads brought city families down to the shore for the season. A wooden boardwalk rose along the sand, lined with the amusements, food stands, and games that defined the golden age of the American beach town, and the Jenkinson name became attached to a stretch of that boardwalk that families returned to summer after summer.

The boardwalk complex expanded over the decades to include rides, an arcade, a beach, and dining, and in time the aquarium was added, giving the boardwalk an all-weather attraction and an educational heart. Through storms and rebuildings the boardwalk has endured as one of the classic destinations of the northern Jersey Shore, and the aquarium remains one of its signature draws.

The aquarium's stars are its warm-blooded residents. A colony of African penguins is a perennial favorite, the small birds waddling on their rocks and shooting through the water with surprising speed, while harbor and gray seals swim laps in their pool and haul out to bask, delighting visitors at feeding time. Watching keepers work with these animals is one of the highlights of a visit.

Beneath the surface there is plenty more to see. A shark tank lets visitors come face to face with these ancient predators, a coral reef exhibit glows with tropical color, and tanks throughout the building hold everything from eels to seahorses. Special exhibits over the years have featured alligators, snakes, and other creatures, giving the small aquarium a surprising range.

For many young visitors the best part is the touch tank, a shallow open pool where they can gently handle horseshoe crabs, sea stars, hermit crabs, and other tide-pool creatures under the eye of the staff. It turns the abstract world of the ocean into something you can feel with your own fingers, a first real encounter with marine life for many children.

The aquarium leans into education, with talks, feedings, and programs that teach visitors about ocean conservation, local shore ecology, and the animals in its care. Because the real Atlantic is just outside, the lessons feel immediate, connecting the tanks inside to the living sea beyond the boardwalk rail.

Summer is the height of the season, when the boardwalk buzzes with vacationing families, the rides run late, and the aquarium is at its busiest, especially on hot or rainy afternoons when it offers a cool indoor break.

Spring and fall bring quieter days and easier parking, a fine time to visit the aquarium without the summer crush, with the boardwalk running a lighter schedule. Winter is the off-season, when the beach town grows sleepy, though the aquarium remains a warm indoor destination and a welcome outing on a cold day by the sea.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.