For years, REEF Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) has encouraged divers to slow down, learn a fish’s name and contribute what they see to science.
A year ago, the Key Largo-based nonprofit opened a new front door for everyone else, offering a gathering place on land where anyone could discover the ocean through curiosity, exploration and citizen science.
This month marks one year since the Ocean Exploration Center (OEC) welcomed its first visitors. More than 18,000 people have wandered through the immersive headquarters and outreach center. Another 2,600 participants have joined REEF’s offsite educational programs in classrooms, on field trips and expeditions and through virtual learning opportunities.
Later this year, the OEC will also host fellows from Anthropic’s inaugural Claude Corps, who will work alongside REEF staff to build new AI tools for the Volunteer Fish Survey Project.
“For over 30 years, we’ve been integrating citizen science and public education into everything we do, and the Ocean Exploration Center is the physical embodiment of that mission,” said Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF’s co-executive director. “It’s another exciting chapter in REEF’s story.”
Much like an artificial reef becomes a refuge for wandering marine life, the building — and the people who bring it to life — have become a refuge for ocean-lovers throughout the Keys and beyond.
Inside, visitors can search for more than 100 reef fish painted, placed and otherwise hidden throughout the exhibits during a “dry century dive,” a land-equivalent of a well-known REEF survey accomplishment. Elsewhere, guests build fish adapted to different habitats, climb a stairway that places them in the middle of a Nassau grouper spawning aggregation and peer through microscopes at the stomach contents of an invasive lionfish.
The exhibits are intentionally designed to spark curiosity while quietly teaching the skills behind citizen science.
“We’re sneaky that way,” laughed Jill Kuehnert, the OEC campus director. “People are learning without realizing they’re learning.”
The center was designed so that no two visits have to look the same. Some guests spend an hour hunting down every fish in the building. Others settle into a chair to admire the rotating art exhibits or just enjoy the air conditioning. Shelby Thomas, engagement coordinator, credited this “choose your own adventure” philosophy with much of the building’s success.
Thomas said one of her favorite memories from opening week was when a grandmother and granddaughter spent more than an hour completing the dry century dive together.
“They were down to their last three fish and asking, ‘Where are they?’” Thomas said. “It was really fun to see them having this connection with each other.”
The center is and will always be free and open to the public. REEF never wanted cost to be a barrier to learning about the ocean, and the center is run on the organization’s same values of inclusivity, access and engagement.
Construction was supported in part by the Monroe County Tourism Development Council, an investment Kuehnert said reflects a broader vision for the Keys.
“The TDC realized that having an informed visitor is good for the Keys in all kinds of ways,” she said. “We want to attract a more conscious visitor, not just by telling them ‘Don’t do this’ or ‘Don’t do that,’ but by offering them things to do to help keep the Keys special.”
Tuesday evenings now feature free “Oceans for All” programs, including “Fish and Friends” lectures, ocean yoga and workshops to make lionfish jewelry. School groups regularly fill the classrooms, and the campus is used for everything from teacher training to community meetings to conservation events.
“I really hope the OEC is a valuable asset to the Florida Keys community,” Kuehnert said. “I hope it does all these things for people coming from far away, but I really hope it helps people from here.”
