Feiro Marine Life Center at Port Angeles City Pier plans to resume allowing visitors to experience some of the flora and fauna that live beneath the waves.
After being closed in the latest round of state-mandated COVID-19 shutdowns, the center plans to restore appointment-only tours beginning on Friday, Feb. 5.
Tamara Galvan, Feiro’s facilities manager, said the marine center is being allowed a limited reopening schedule despite still being in Phase 1 of the state’s COVID-19 abatement plan.
“When the governor released his ‘Roadmap to Recovery,’ it allowed small aquariums to do private tours, which is basically what we are doing,” she said.
The center was first closed to the public last March as a precaution against the rising spread of COVID-19.
Moon jellyfish became new residents of the Art Feiro Marine Center in Port Angeles in March of 2019. Sequim Gazette file photo by Michael Dashiell
At that point, the front door was locked and educational programs were delivered to North Olympic Peninsula school children virtually.
When restrictions were eased in July, Feiro was able to reopen to groups of up to eight people through a reservation system that allowed 45-minute visits with a 15-minute interval between for staff members to clean and disinfect all publicly-accessible surfaces.
“That worked well this summer,” Galvan said. “We saw lots of traffic. We were almost always full, as far as groups go.”
That access was curtailed in on Nov. 15, when the state again placed restrictions on public gatherings after a surge of COVID-19 cases in Washington.
With the latest reopening plan, groups will be restricted to households of six people, Galvan said.
In this round, visits will again be limited to 45 minutes at hourly intervals between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Masks will be required for all visitors older than age 5.
Check out crustaceans and a variety of other intertidal critters at the Art Feiro Marine Center in Port Angeles, open by appointment starting Friday, Feb. 5. Sequim Gazette file photo by Michael Dashiell
People wishing a hands-on experience with the center’s touch tanks must wash their hands on site with soap and water to avoid exposing sea creatures to hand sanitizer or other contaminants.
The plastic partitions that were erected to separate docents from the public are still in place.
Galvan said that for now, admission fees would be waived but donations are strongly encouraged.
Feiro Executive Director Melissa Williams said that her staff had taken great strides in fine-tuning the center’s online presence, including virtualizing their annual ecology field trips down Peabody Creek for student groups.
The virtualizatons would be helpful for mobility-challenged youngsters who might not be able to do a creek journey in person once field trips eventually resume.
However, Williams added that there was no adequate replacement for the hands-on experience at the City Pier aquarium.
“The facility is here for education,” she said. “And while we’ve been happy to do as much online education as we can during the pandemic, there’s really no substitute for seeing and touching the animals in person.
“So we’re really happy to reopen, even with a limited capacity.”
Galvan said Feiro staff members are excited to be able to resume the center’s mission of educational outreach.
“Our volunteers are really looking forward to talking to people again,” she said.
Reservations can be made through the marine life center’s website at feiromarinelifecenter.org/bookings.
