I had a pretty awesome experience in the Pacific Marine Mammal Center on a late Wednesday afternoon, around rush hour. I say great because I was seen super quickly and my doctor and caretakers were extremely competent and reasonable.I came in for a head injury at work. I cut my eyebrow, bruised my face, pushed in my teeth, etc.

Thank goodness for this place. Learning about the different marine mammals found off the coast of California is great. And then learning about how these wonderful animals are cared for, rehabilitated and almost always released back into the wild is terrific. Watching the animals swim, eat and play is such a treat.

Very educational with great staff as always.Winter season usually means fewer animals, but still interesting.

The best kept secret in sylmar and the valley. This place is clean, smell is limited for a zoo and the animals seem like they are well taken care of.The number of animals are limited but wow the graf is exceptional. Extra friendly and lovely to be around.

Pacific marine centre is doing great rehab for seals and sea lions. This place is a must see if youre ever driving off the 133. One of animal advocates explained everything and how humans do so much harm, however, Im happy to give back. They accept donations really heartwarming coming yo this place. plus it was so beautiful neat spot. I got to see whale bones. I think it was a blue Whales bones.

Great experience. Keep up the good work

Great place! The sea lions and seals were making themselves known! We had a tour from a very knowledgeable volunteer. THANK YOU! It’s good to know there are some caring humans to help these lovely mammals! We can do our part too even if we are not on the front lines. See the picture attached.

We decided to journey from our home in Tarzana to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center and had a great time! The animals are adorable! Fully disclosure, it’s not huge... but it’s purpose is as an active rehabilitation place for injured marine mammals and the entertainment and education factor to the public is a bonus! AND it’s free!!!The docents are SUPER friendly, very knowledgeable and very eager to share their knowledge (not in a pushy way). There were only 13 animals when we went which apparently is far below the norm (but which is a good thing)! They’ve had as many as 167 (!!!) animals there at once and have since created a cap of 125. They recently released 33 elephant seals back in the wild! We saw 12 sea lions and a seal.You only need about 30-40 minutes here, but it’s totally worth the trip. They’re doing amazing work and we’re so thankful they exist!After you visit, consider visiting the nearby Laguna Beach area or Balboa Island!

Its so great that that have these places for seals, sea lions etc to be helped. Staff are very informative. Must see!!

If youve never been too this wonderful little spot (or its been a while) and youre anywhere near Laguna, go now! Theyre caring for loads of baby sea lions + elephant & harbor seals. You can see (and hear!) these adorable creatures and get great info from the awesome people who work there. Its fairly small so expect to spend 20-90min, depending on your attention span. You can show your support for our ocean/wildlife by getting something fun from the little gift shop... win/win -- its right next to the animal shelter in the canyon (if they pull at your heart strings, rescue a dog... win/win/win!!!).

If you have some time to spare or come to Laguna just to see this facility and its patients you wont regret it. Its a completely free place to come and visit but I highly recommend giving a donation (the giftshop takes credit card donations if you dont have cash handy) the volunteer will walk you around and teach you anything you want to know with enthusiasm and great knowledge. Its sad and amazing to see what is happening in our ocean !

Im sorry that I cant give this a five-star review :-(The work these people are doing is fantastic, and its all volunteer. The reason Im only giving it a 3 star is that I suspect a lot of people will be looking at reviews - so I have to tell you that this place is quite small, and if youre in the area, please do go by, see the animal friends, and support this great cause. But, if youre hours away and plan on making the journey out, just know that youll likely spend no more than a 1/2 hour seeing the animals and reading up on what they do here.

Very good volunteer organization that works hard to educate us humans on the importance of respecting the Earth. A very kind hearted tour of the rehabilitation center was given. Thank you for youre service to our Marine life.

Really nice place to go with kids and learn something new about animals and nature. The volunteers do a great job there. :)

A great little place that rescues and rehabilitates marine mammals. They run on donations. You can spend about 15 minutes here

Amazing place to visit and a great place to donate to a unique and worthy cause. The people are friendly and passionate about their work. Its a nice short stop on the way to the beach, family friendly, and free! There is also an animal shelter next door.

All volunteers. Took the time to answer all my kids questions, even in the rain. Super friendly and doing the tough work of rehabbing wild animals. Cute gift shop. Visit and donate if you are in the area!

Great place to take kids. Very educational. The staff are super friendly and will talk with you as you enjoy the seals. They have adorable baby seals as well as convalescing adult seals. Dont forget to leave a donation--they are a nonprofit that relies on donations--and the seals eat a lot of fish!!

Enjoyed this place. It is a nice free educational place to take the children before heading to Laguna beach. The staff is friendly but it is small. The staff was informative, friendly, and inspiring. I was surprised that most of them work on a volunteer basis! If you ever get the opportunity to donate directly to this cause please do!

Weve been wanting to stop by here for years and so glad we finally did. A volunteer showed us around and answered our questions. I actually like that this place is small. Its easy to drop in for 20 minutes and see some seals and sea lions then be on your way. It is free to enter, but we left a donation and bought a book to support the rescues. I now plan to drop in every time we head to Laguna.

Its free to the public, family friendly, and very educational!

Amazing place. Very knoweledgable people and friendly. Loved seeing all the mammals. Highly recommend

Met Jake today and he told us all about Seals, Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and Elephant Seals, while explaining the work they do to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintroduce these sweet animals. He also had a great description for Seals: Drunk Water Dogs! Very informative visit, excellent for kids and... FREE!

Cool sea life. Pretty flowers. Quick easy trip for the kids.

A great place to visit and see some of the local ocean life of Southern California. There volunteers there were super nice, helpful, and willing to answer questions. Its not a large space but still worth stopping at if youre nearby.

Very friendly staff and even though its a small place, theyre doing amazing work rehabilitating these beautiful animals

Love Visiting here to see the seals And sea lions rehabilitating so they can return to the ocean.

We stopped by on our way to the beach. It was a beautiful day! The staff were happy to answer any of our questions from the gift shop to the animal caretakers. I couldve spent a lot more time there if we werent in such a hurry to get to lunch!

Nice place to visit

Great education experience for our 4th grade class! Great field trip!

Great place to see seals learning to socialize and play. The people there, care for the sea life that have washed up on shore from hunger, illness or predators. Good for the family to observe marine life and the docents are extremely helpful. They take donations for animal feed and care by medical staff.

Great, convenient place to visit. Staff is very informative and friendly. Plenty of educational activities scheduled for kids.

Really cool place to. they have amazing and friendly animals

Thanks to Kiersten Donald and her fabulous knowledge and caring attitude of these adorable mammals; we had a wonderfully fun and educational experience!

Great place, free entry and staffed by very knowledgeable volunteers. We were there for about a half hour and learned some great seal and sea lion facts. Highly recommended if youre driving by

They do amazing work here and you can see these animals for free admission!

What a great place! Our docent was very knowledgeable and explained all about pinnipeds and the rescue and rehabilitation process. Definitely worth a visit, about 30-45 minutes. Free, but donations go straight to the fish bill to get everybody fat and happy.

A wonderful experience for the kiddos learning about conservation and to respect our ocean and our world. They do amazing work here and it shows. We got to see a bunch of sea lions and elephant seals, very cool.

Super friendly and informative staff. Kids had a great time. Wonderful work they are doing. Glad we stopped in to learn about it

The staff, all volunteers, are amazing and do a wonderful job. A big shout out to Steve who was very helpful and knowledgeable.Located off the street, easy to miss but definitely a place you you MUST visit!

Small exhibit, cool mission

We had a most wonderful time stopping here and learning about seals and sea lions- watching them play and be adorable. 10/10 amazing experience !!!

Great folks working on a great cause. The place is small not a lot to offer but its worth a visit the check out the seals and the sea lions. Stop by give them a visit give them some support the folks there are awesome.

It is a fun place to stop by for a few minutes if you are headed down Laguna canyon to the beach. You can see some of the amazing sea mammals that they have saved, up close and personal.

This is a miracle shop where they care for sick and injured animals. If there is a god these people work directly for him. You wont be sorry you visited and if you have a few extra dollars you could spend a long time trying to find a more useful place to donate it.

Definitely a must see! They do such a good job with these animals. Best part of our day!

An amazing place, with an incredible passion for wounded Sea mammals and Stephanie was the best tour guide with a great knowledge of what PMMC does to help as many wounded sea mammals recover and return to there home in the sea. I consider this visit one of the best things Ive ever done.

Love this place and what they do. Best to check their website to see how many animals they currently have. The staff is friendly and very knowledgeable. It is a small location, so dont expect to spend hours here; plan for maybe 30min max.

Although very small with the smallest gift shop Ive ever seen, this is worth a visit if you have any interest in seals and sea lions. Although you have to remain quiet when near the animals, you can get a pretty good view of the animals and watch them interact with each other. Parking can be kind of iffy due to the nature of the Canyon road. (There is a free parking lot, but it is pretty small and can fill up quickly.)

They do amazing work here!All on donations!Informative staff, Educational!

Great place for a quick stop along the way to the beach. Learn a bit Marine life rescue and watch California Seal pups play!

Always an enjoyable place to visit and see the rescued animals. Friendly and knowledgeable volunteer staff to greet you and tell you about the current rescues. A great mission that we are happy to support! Nice little gift shop, as well.

A great place to stop on the way in or out of Laguna Beach. You can educate yourself on Sea Animal conservation, while watching the antics of the Seals, Sea Lions and Elephant Seals.

Awesome mountain bike trails in the area

So happy they treat there animals well

Always interesting... The staff is informative... The mammals are awesome... Great for kids and adults.

It is really amazing what these people are doing but to be honest there is nothing there. You will spend 15 minutes at most to see everything. It is not really worth the time to go there when you can go to the beach to see seals. I respect these people for saving these animals but there is absolutely nothing for people to see or do there.

What great work these dedicated volunteers are doing! So glad we had the opportunity to see the center.

Love what they are doing for the wildlife. Very educational visit.

My grandsons liked viewing the seal feeding. The areas were very clean and the animals looked well cared for.

The mostly volunteer staff are happy to take visitors around and answer questions. You can watch the various convalescing pinipeds at their play, feeding, and napping through the chain fence at the ground level, or look down on them from the upper level for unobstructed views. The primary objective is the wellbeing of the animals, not the entertainment of visitors, which actually adds to the appeal of the place. Theres no admission fee, but there IS a tastefully stocked little giftshop with reasonable prices. All proceeds go to the support of the rescue center, to keep the patients supplied with fish and clean water.

Wonderful to see the animals and the great work theyre doing. Docent was very knowledgeable and interesting.

This is a great place to stop by with the kids. Its a brief peek at the seals that are being nursed to health before being released back to their natural habitat.

We really enjoyed seeing the seals and sea lions and talking with the friendly volunteers. They were very helpful and informative.

Place was awesome and the staff were very helpful

Wonderful place! They help marine mammals!

This place has seasons of activity following the breeding season so plan on coming in spring it know that there wont be many animals. Staff is so incredibly patient and knowledgeable and answered all our questions from adults and kids both. Its hard to see the animals because the ones to be released are kept back from the public and the ones being socialized dont photograph well because of the fencing. There are few exhibits because the place is small so we didnt spend much time there but it was still an enjoyable visit, mainly because the staff is awesome. The sign off the road is quite small, prepare to miss it.

They have an elephant seal, and pups.

Saving seals in a dusty canyon. This place is amazing and has a really cool legacy. Check it out!

This was a free adventure! Kids loved it, the adults loved it! Volunteers were so friendly!

Educational (grab a docent and request a tour) and fun at the same time! Each of the seals and sea lions in their care has a story worth hearing. Love and appreciate that their mission is to rehabilitate and return these animals back to the wild. Its free but how could you not donate!

This is a fun and educational experience! Highly recommend the visit.

Amazing place, really good work to care for sick and stranded sea lions (plus seals). Happily not many patients at the moment, but always worth a visit (and can always check to see whos there on the live webcam too). Thanks Stefanie P for the tour also.

Virginia was an extremely nice and knowledgable staff member. We enjoyed our quick time there. Gave a small donation to help feed those cute seals!!

Came here a while ago. It really inspired me to pursue a career with marine mammals. I got to see one of the volunteers working with a seal that unfortunately was not going to be able to be released. The people there are very knowledgeableable and love what they are doing. I hope to visit again soon

Great for kids to see animals up close

Cool people and place for recovery of aquatic animals

The staff was very informative, and they take very good care of the pinnipeds. The animals were very happy looking and well fed. They have a cute gift shop to help support the facility.

Doing their best to help save our Marine Animals

Perfect place to take young children. Volunteers were super nice and informative. Cute,fun, free.

Im giving this place a three because partly Im extremely happy these volunteers are here to help these sea animals out and get them back to the ocean but partly Im disappointed some seals and sea lions are sent to zoos and aquariums. I dont like that! Even if they say they dont think they will survive in the ocean they belong in the ocean where they plucked them out from.

My granddaughter loves coming here. We bring UNFLAVORED Pedialyte for the seals...and learn something new every time we come -- and its FREE

Wonderful people helping our friends from the sea. Check out their cool merchandise and support the cause. My plastic recycled t shirt is my fave!

Its a great quick stop that the kids love. FREE but buy some stuff animals to help them out.

It was small but I rather enjoyed myself. The volunteers here are very passionate and knowledgeable. Overall great experience.

The Staff is awesomely helpful and knowledgeable about the Seals. If your kids like Seals, Sea Lions. or Elephant Seals, it is worth a stop

Its impressive to see all of their volunteer efforts and how much they do to impact the marine life in SoCal..... the parking and the visit is free! Only sea lions were the inhabitants during our visit, but each had such different personalities

Nice educational center. Doing great work for the animals and the children how to treat our world.

Very knowledgeable and friendly greeter. The patients are well cared for.

What a wonderful place! They do such important work and save the lives of many animals. The center is free for visitors to tour. It was fun seeing recovered sea lions playing :) Docents provide great information and gift shop has great gifts. Must do if youre visiting the area!

An amazing place and fun to take the kids on a day out near Laguna. It is nice getting to see the animals that close and the work they do is great. The tour and info is really nice. There is also a nice animal shelter next door, if you want to browse for some dogs or cats(another kid favorite).

I went there for summer camp recently, and I liked it a lot. Great staff and activities.

Nice place to visit. We visited when we went through Laguna Beach. Very nice, passionate and knowledgeable volunteers. This non-profit organization is definitely a good place to check out and support. And they have a pretty nice gift shop with all proceeds going to supporting their efforts.

This nonprofit organization is amazing. What they do to rehabilitate all the animals they raise here is wonderful. It is so nice to see that the seats lions and seals are treated here with so much care and love. I would recommend visiting this place if you have never been. It is just heartwarming.

A great place to spend some time during weekend and support the work of this organization

Volunteers were fabulous in sharing the purpose of the center. We enjoyed the details shared for many of the rehabilitating seals. Though it was a small center, my 10 year old granddaughter enjoyed the visit and came to appreciate the seals and their well being.

Great place to learn about and see marine mammals!

The employees are very sweet and loving to the animals, true care is given here. They are knowledgeable about their field and eager to teach the public that comes here. This is an amazing place for animals that are treated as wild rehabilitating creatures not pets in a small pool dying of boredom. Not Sea World, this is a place with good intentions and more people should donate!

A bit small, but the staff had an answer for every question my 5year old had, which is a lot. The woman who talked with him didnt seem irritated in the least that she spent a good 15-20 min answering his questions about the sea lions there.Unfortunately it is so small that you see everything within about 5-10 min of walking in the gate.

Very cool place to stop by for a few minutes to see and learn about seals and sea lions. Great non-profit.