The Florida Aquarium

Tampa's aquarium follows Florida's own water from the inside out. You begin on a wetlands boardwalk among cypress knees and roseate spoonbills, with alligators lying still in the shallows, then move through mangrove and bay habitats toward the open Gulf.

The Coral Reef Gallery is the centrepiece — half a million gallons behind a curved window wide enough to stand back from, with sharks, tarpon and a reef of colour, and divers dropping in at set times to feed and talk to the crowd through underwater microphones.

Beyond it are penguins, otters, a shark and ray gallery, and touch pools where you can reach in. Outdoors, a splash pad runs all summer for children who have had enough of looking. The aquarium's own teams do serious coral restoration and turtle rescue work, and the exhibits explain how.