The Maritime Museum in Santa Barbara is full of amazing exhibits and some surprising stories. With permanent as well as traveling exhibits, the Museum offers tours, camps and even overnight Tall Ship stays.
One of the most beloved places for both locals and visitors to spend time in is the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. While the building itself has been a part of the city’s history since the 1930’s, the museum as we know it today opened its doors in July, 2000.
The Maritime Museum is located at the Santa Barbara Harbor and has nearly 8,000 feet of space for both permanent as well as traveling exhibits. Permanent displays show everything from whaling ships to shipwrecks and the Chumash exhibit is a favorite with its 23 foot canoe. Push button interactive displays detail the various adventures of explorers that traveled the waters of the central coast and the history of the Santa Barbara waterfront is detailed in a beautiful timeline.
Throughout the museum are ship models from the museum’s extensive collections and there are plans to create a ship model building touch screen display that will let the visitor construct different types of ships. For those that want a larger model, actual ships outside the museum include the 42 foot flagship of the Museum as well as a 14 foot Sea Mew. Upstairs holds even more displays, including exhibits on survival at sea, flying boats, surfing, and commercial fishing. A state of the art audio-visual facility in the shape of a boat is also on the upper level and shows films and videos for most of the hours the museum is open.
Education is a major part of the museum’s mission and programs range from docent tours to overnight stays aboard the Spirit of Dana Point tall ship. During the summer, on the first and third Saturdays of the month there are maritime activities for children and there are a number of tours of tall ships throughout the year. Group and youth tours are available and for those that want to be a part of the crew there are many volunteer opportunities for those over 13 years old.
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon, or even the whole day. With its fascinating exhibits and endless educational options, the Museum is filled with amazing bits of history and lets everyone that walks through its doors feel a bit of what it must be like to sail the open sea.