SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
Curved acrylic underwater tunnel built inside disused sewage tanks, with sharks and rays passing overhead.
This guide to SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium in Auckland traces the career of the treasure hunter turned aquarium builder, from diving on Spanish galleons in the Caribbean with wreck hunter Mel Fisher to searching the Auckland Islands for the gold-carrying General Grant, and finding a pair of anchors dropped by the French explorer Jean de Surville in 1769. It follows his 1980s project to convert a disused set of waterfront sewage tanks into an aquarium, building his own oven to hand-mold the curved acrylic tunnel that lets sharks and rays swim overhead. As you walk the tunnel, look up at the bend in the acrylic above you, still his original design.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.