South Carolina Aquariums

South Carolina Aquariums

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>> hopefully soon, faces filled with wonderment will be walking the holes of the south carolina aquarium.

But someone has to take care of the menagerie of animals awaiting their curious guests.

We are happy to be joined by susan mclaughlin, interpreter, telling us how they're weathering the stay at home order, and keeping kids and adults alike entertained while stuck at home.

And thank you for being with us.

>> thanks for having me on.

>> so you're standing in front of that famous fish tank, and how many gallons are standing behind?

>> this is not one of the largest, but it's called our carolina seasons event.

And it's the third largest here, but it's pretty awesome and we're excited to have this cool background.

And all of these animals joining us.

>> it's wonderful, and good to see the movement of the fish and the activity and that's limited because no one is allowed through the doors s.

So how are you getting the south carolina aquarium into people's homes?

>> we have been doing virtual visits through our facebook page, and these are free activities through the aquarium.

For a while, we were doing them on-site and video footage that we take in different times too.

We miss having guests independent building, so the different guests, and giving them a tour even if they can't come in the doors.

>> exactly, and that kind of leads into my next question is, a lot of kids in spring break, they would come and visit and learn, other education programs, and do you have anything else available through your website or do you have anything planned for the future?

Because as we're kind of looking down the barrel of this quarantine, we could be stuck at home for several more weeks.

>> absolutely, and we're kind of taking it a little bit at a time to prepare and make sure that we have lots to share with everyone.

So spring break is usually a huge thing here at the aquarium.

We have a lot of guests here.

And we like to organize something fun.

We have our pax port to fun, and it's usually a tour through the aquarium.

And you can experience the state of south carolina and all of its regions from the blue mountain ridge, from the blue mountains all the way to the low country, all the way down to the ocean.

So the aquarium is designed to give you a tour through all of that, and even if we can't have people in the building, we need to make sure that we get the experience.

So next week, starting on monday, we are going to be having our pass port to fun, and you can download the map of south carolina and go through the region.

The actual state and wilderness and enjoy the regions, and highlight the animals that we have in these regions in the wild.

>> that sounds like so much fun.

And it's such a great way for people to explore and learn and not let a minute go by waste.

The south carolina aquarium, i know you do a lot of work with sea turtle rescue, and i'm curious as to how that has been going.

I notice that you're keeping your staff to a limited number right now just to care for the animals.

And to have someone there physically.

How is that going?

And have rescue operations completely ceased or is anything still in operation at this point?

>> we're letting it run behind the scenes, and all of the animals that live here, and all of the rescue operations ready to go.

So if there's a stuck or injured sea turtle found in our area during this time, we're working with all of the authorities to bring them in and take care of them here.

So we have staff available for that, but there won't be as many people in the building.

So keeping the staff really small, but we have people on standby.

So we have the hurricanes, we have the rideout team.

>> and natural events that tend to keep us at home and on on commone.

So for more information, where do people go to learn about the virtual tours?

>> you go to the website.

There's a button that says stay connected.

And we have things for all ages.

For the little ones, but i could watch videos of some of these animals all the time.

>> so could i.

>> so we can all enjoy it.

>> thank you, susan and thank you for taking the time.

And we'll