FLORIDA KEYS ECO-DISCOVERY CENTER TO DEBUT SATURDAY
KEY WEST, Florida Keys - Beginning Saturday, visitors can experience the Florida Keys' underwater ecosystem even before they snorkel or dive at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, a free-admission environmental facility on the Key West waterfront at Truman Annex.
Incorporating more than 6,400 square feet of interactive exhibits, the center is to debut with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m.
The center showcases the underwater and upland habitats that characterize the Florida Keys, with an emphasis on North America's only living contiguous barrier coral reef, that parallels the island chain.
Through interactive and touch-screen modules, text and audio/video components, visitors can explore the region's hardwood hammock, mangrove, patch reef, seagrass, deep shelf and Dry Tortugas environments. They also can observe the spectacular annual coral spawn through an underwater camera.
The center's highlights include a walk-through version of the Aquarius Undersea Lab, the world's only operational underwater laboratory, now located off Key Largo. Those who venture inside Aquarius can hear actual recordings from the lab, take interactive video tours of the Keys' undersea world and view indigenous fish and sea creatures through the lab's "portholes."
The Saturday grand opening is to feature presentations by regional and national political and environmental leaders, the debut of the center's orientation film by renowned wildlife filmmaker Bob Talbot and tours of the facility. Face-painting and other activities for children are to continue through the afternoon.
The creation of the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center is a cooperative effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. the South Florida Water Management District and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
The center is to be open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For information, call (305) 809-4750.
A visitor at the Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center examines an interactive exhibit focusing the Florida Keys contiguous coral barrier reef. Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau
A walk-through model of the Aquarius Undersea Lab, the world's only operational underwater laboratory, is on display at the Eco Discovery Center. Photo courtesy of FKNMS.