Living Coast Discovery Center

The Living Coast Discovery Center is a zoo and aquarium on Gunpowder Point, a small peninsula jutting into San Diego Bay inside the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. What makes it unusual is the setting: the bayfront boardwalk and bird-watching platforms look directly onto active wetland habitat, so the exhibits and the real ecosystem blur together. The shark and ray touch tank is a highlight for families, and the centre holds native raptors, sea turtles, and shorebirds in enclosures designed to blend with the marsh landscape.

A short trail loops around the point, and the boardwalk over the marsh gives close views of great blue herons, egrets, and shorebirds working the mudflats. The refuge and the centre together form one of the best urban wildlife spots in San Diego County. Tram service runs from the free parking lot on E Street. 1000 Gunpowder Point Dr, Chula Vista.

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The Living Coast sits inside Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge on San Diego Bay, which means the exhibits and the wildlife outside the windows are part of the same ecosystem. Light-footed Ridgway's rails — one of the rarest birds in North America — nest in the marsh just metres from the shark tank. The centre also runs a California condor recovery programme and has released birds back into the wild.