Dear Two Oceans Aquarium members, fans, visitors, and fellow Capetonians,

Due to the seriousness of the global COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the requests and recommendations made by the office of the Presidency of South Africa, the Two Oceans Aquarium will temporarily close its doors to the public from Wednesday 18 March until further notice. This will be the first time the Two Oceans Aquarium has closed since Christmas Day in 1996, but we feel that this is a necessary precautionary measure to protect our staff, guests and community.

We understand that this will come as an inconvenience to some of you who may have planned to visit us over the coming weeks, and we ask you please be patient with us as we do our best to attend to your concerns.

• If you booked online tickets to the Aquarium in advance of your visit, you can either postpone your visit or request a refund. Keep in mind, that your ticket is valid for 3 months from the date of purchase, and can possibly be used after we reopen. Please contact aquarium@aquarium.co.za to make the necessary arrangements if you require a refund. Please note: For tickets bought through a third-party reseller - for example, iVenture, GetYourGuide, Booking.com, Webtickets, or Viator - and not directly from the Aquarium website, refund requests will need to be made via that reseller.
• If you booked a function or conference at the Aquarium, you can choose a new date in the future. Please contact functions@aquarium.co.za to discuss options.
• South African citizens who have their birthday during the time we are closed will be able to receive a free entry in the first month of the Aquarium being reopened.
• If your child was booked on our school holiday course, please contact education@aquarium.co.za.
• If you booked a dive or a Penguin Experience you can once again postpone the adventure or request a refund. Please email dive@aquarium.co.za to discuss options.

“We regard this situation as extremely serious and did not make this decision lightly. Many of our exhibits are interactive by nature and invite people to touch and explore. It is also difficult in the Aquarium for people to maintain physical distance while viewing our exhibits. After consultation with our owners and as a responsible tourism destination, we believe that a temporary closure is in the best interests of our staff, volunteers, members and general visitors. While our public-facing operations will be closed our animal husbandry and technical teams will continue to care for the animals while taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves against the spread of COVID-19,” said the Aquarium’s CEO Michael Farquhar. “We will review the situation in the weeks to come.”

This temporary closure extends to the onsite school holiday programmes offered by the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation, however, these programmes will soon be made available online. The Aquarium will also not be open for functions and conferences. Online day tickets purchased in advance of actual visits will be honoured or refunded and membership expiry dates will be extended to compensate for the period during which the Aquarium is closed. Any other bookings made such as dives and Penguin Experiences can either be postponed or affected parties can request refunds.

We would also like to reassure you that the health of the animals in our care will not be compromised by this decision, and that although our doors will be closed to the public, a team of committed and experienced animal keepers, aquarists and technicians will remain on duty, This team will ensure the wellbeing of our animals, and will continue to maintain the Aquarium's critical life-support systems.

For those who need a dose of “Vitamin Sea” we'll be keeping the live I&J Ocean Exhibit webcam posted on our homepage, and will be posting regular updates and interesting content on our social media - visit us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.