Field Trips & Activities

Field trips will be held on Friday June 13^th.  Costs for the field trips listed below must be paid at the time of registration.

Salt Marsh Tour

Salt Marsh Tour Description: A hands-on opportunity to learn about Galveston Island's unique aquatic habitat, led by Texas A&M graduate students. The trip includes an overview of the coastal marsh community typical of a Gulf Coast barrier island, an introduction to common salt marsh vegetation, a discussion of local birds, and an opportunity to use seines to sample representative fish and invertebrate species.

Special Attire: Expect to get wet. Wear light weight clothing that will dry easily. On the salt marsh trips expect to wade in up to waist deep water. Wear closed-toed, sturdy shoes that can be tied tightly. Also recommended are sunscreen, insect repellant, and hats.

Cost: $ 15 - transport to Sportsman Rd. (5 miles from Hilton) not included.  Duration: 3 hrs., starting at 9 AM

Harbor Tour

Galveston Bay Harbor/Marine Biology Tour Description: Participants will travel aboard aboard Seagull II, Texas Seaport Museum's 50-foot twin-engine motor vessel. Fast, stable and sheltered, she was built specifically for harbor sight-seeing excursions and education, and is a perfect platform for waterborne experiential learning. Seagull II is restroom-equipped, offers soft drinks and bottled water for sale, and has a comfortable main deck, sheltered from sun and rain. An open upper deck affords a full panorama of water and sky. During the trip the physical, chemical, and biological processes of the bay and area will be discussed. Oceanographic techniques such as shrimp trawls will be employed during the course of this tour.

Cost: $ 12 - transport to Texas Seaport Museum (3 miles from Hilton) not included.  Duration: 1 1/2 hrs., in morning and/or afternoon depending on interest.

Moody Gardens Aquarium and Rainforest Pyramids

Aquarium Pyramid: This multilevel, 12-story pyramid enables guests to visit four oceans of the world. Exhibits are contracted around aquatic environments found in the North Pacific, South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Caribbean. Each section is constructed in a different fashion to allow the guest to explore the underwater world from many different vantage points. In the Caribbean area an air tunnel runs though an underwater tank giving the person a diver's eye view of the fish, coral, sharks, and sea turtle. In the South Atlantic area guests are able to view the penguins from both above and below water level.

Rainforest Pyramid: This 10-story pyramid features all aspects of the tropical rainforest environment from the continents of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The exhibit includes exotic vegetation as well as birds, tropical fish, and mammals. Some of the mammals that will be encountered are an ocelot, coatimundis, and chevrotains as well as the  free-roaming two-toed sloth and cotton-top tamarins. Also featured in this pyramid is the Bat Cave - the largest of its kind in the southwestern United States.

IMAX Theater: View a variety of films in 3D in this large auditorium style theater. A number of films run periodically throughout the day. Check out the Moody Gardens website for the current shows being played.

Moody Gardens Website

Space Center Houston

Location: Space Center Houston at NASA's Johnson Space Center is located 25 miles north of Galveston Island just east of I-45.

NASA Tram Tour: Provides guests with a behinds the scene tour of Johnson Space Center. The tour may includes visits to the historic mission control center, the space vehicle mockup facility, the current mission control center, the Saturn V Complex, and the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. Since all of the buildings visited during the tour are working buildings, they may close without notice.

Astronaut Gallery: Features the world's best collection of spacesuits. Also, included in this exhibit are portraits and photographs of every United States astronaut who has been in space.

The Living in Space Module: A live presentation on how astronauts live in the microgravity, space environment. Demonstrations with audience members are used to provide first hand representations of the complications that arise from doing ordinary task such as eating in space.

Space Center Theater: Enables the guests to experience what it is like to be an astronaut. This film shows the viewer what the astronaut goes through from the time they are accepted into a training program to their first mission.

Admission: Prepaid Group Rate - $ 9.50 per person (at least 15 persons are required for the group rate). Transportation not included.