Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 Hurricane Ivan hits the Gulf Coast of Florida

9/25/04: Overall, the animals and park at Florida's Gulfarium have fared well, however there is a lot of clean up at this time. The hurricane winds brought large amounts of sand and debris onto the grounds and we are in the process of digging out. Therefore, we are currently closed. Right now, we cannot predict an exact reopen date.

Florida's Gulfarium is especially thankful for our volunteers who have given us endless hours of time and hard work. Without you, we would be extremely overwhelmed. You have helped us see that there is a light at the end of this sandy tunnel. We have posted a few pictures below of our volunteers and to show damages to the park with the amount of sand covering the grounds.

Florida's Gulfarium would also like to thank everyone who called and/or sent email concerning our survival from Hurricane Ivan. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and for thinking of us during this time. We look forward to seeing you again soon! Please check our web site frequently as we will be updating this page with pictures, information and reopening times.

Click on each picture to see a larger view

Behind the Living Sea backup area	The Dolphin College - roof and screen enclosure is gone	Volunteers helping us dig out	The old snack bar roof	Cleaning the ray pool
Touch Pool	Animal Trainers	Volunteers helping us dig out at the Sea Lion show area	Volunteer and sandy Sea Lion show area	Volunteers shoveling sand on the boardwalk
The boardwalk area is completely burried in sand	Volunteers cleaning up the Shark Moat	The Sea Lion show area	Sea Lion show area	Our volunteers taking a much needed break

We also want to thank our volunteers from the Eglin Fire Department:

Being a volunteer is not just for the guys!	Here is our only female firefighter volunteer shoveling away!

Thanks to our long distance webmaster, Cathy Morneault of Connecticut for volunteering to create and update this page as needed.