If you wanted to see Gray’s Reef, you could grab some friends, book a scuba charter at $150 per person and head offshore for a day of underwater exploration. Of course, you’d all have to be dive certified already with appropriate advanced diving skills.
Or you can visit the Tybee Island Marine Science Center and check out their new interactive Gray's Reef exhibit. For $10 you can take a peek at diverse species and undersea goings on that are less than 20 miles off the Georgia coast and just 70 feet below the surface.
Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of 14 such sanctuaries in the U.S. It spans roughly 22 square miles and protects habitat for whales, sharks, loggerhead turtles, and fish species migrating through the western Atlantic Ocean. As many as 900 species of invertebrates also find refuge in this unique ocean oasis.
The center’s exhibit may not be exactly like being underwater in full scuba gear, but it does capture what it’s like for a range of species living on the reef. There’s a touch screen you can move through with images of fish, corals, and turtles to learn where and how they live. The interactive live footage even shows a loggerhead sea turtle gliding over the camera—that same turtle later bumps into a slow-going nurse shark.
Plus, there’s an audio track of clicks, pops, and trills that showcases shrimp, dolphin, and myriad fish all in their glorious undersea cacophony. It’s as close as you can get to the reef without getting into a boat and donning a wetsuit.
The exhibit’s floor also boasts a large, colorful map of the earth’s tectonic plates, faults, and oceanic trenches. Most compelling is how the map notes “Dino Doomsday Asteroid Impact.” Though the exhibit is primarily about Gray’s Reef, it does show respect for the day the dinosaurs died.
In spring of 2019, The New Yorker and Radiolab published stories on new information revealing just how terrifying and cataclysmic the asteroid impact was. The devastation occurred quickly, in a day wiping out 75% of Earth's species. The floor map not only includes the asteroid impact zone, but it also notes areas all over the earth where the impact set off a chain reaction of tsunamis and earthquakes. Key research that contributed to these new dino doomsday insights came from scientists drilling in the ocean in and around the Chicxulub blast crater noted on the floor map.
It's an easy, fun one-tank trip that you can take with your family, or go by yourself. While you're there, check out nearby Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum, and then grab a quick bite at North Beach Bar and Grill—their Brussels sprouts are tops.
Tybee Island Marine Science Center is located at 37 Meddin Drive, Tybee Island, Georgia. Currently, the center is open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Admission is $10, kids four and under are free.
To learn more, go to:
www.tybeemarinescience.org
www.graysreef.noaa.gov
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island Marine Science Center takes you to Gray’s Reef virtually
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