Saying Goodbye to the Undersea Gardens

How many times have you seen this in your social media feeds as the click bait image for an article about "Wild Animal Encounters You Won't Believe?" 

That's not a diver being attacked by an octopus, it's part of the signage for the Undersea Gardens in Newport Oregon and has been for as long as I can remember.  On Tuesday I saw a headline that the attraction had closed. It didn't seem like news -- over the past few years I've seen a lot of stories that it was going to close or had closed. What was news was that they were offering free admission to the building for the next few days.

Twenty minutes later, the whole family was headed for the Oregon Coast. Even in its prime the Undersea Gardens wasn't all that great, but we didn't have any better plans for the afternoon.

You descend these stairs into the people-quarium, ten feet under the surface of the bay...

And then you look out these windows into what's supposed to trick you into seeing what's in the waters surrounding you. The illusion isn't all that great, especially since they've added a bunch of concrete garden statues over the years.

Those illuminated pictures of the fish are the only informational signage so unless you already know what you're looking at or attended one of the narrated dive shows, you're out of luck. 

In the mid-60s, this was probably an educational experience. Today it pales in comparison with the Oregon Coast Aquarium or the Marine Science Center. From the outside, though, it looks absolutely amazing and I'm glad I got the chance to let the kids see what was under the surface -- without spending almost a hundred bucks on the admission!