A trip to the ocean like few others

The $430,000 center designed by Bainbridge Island-based BIOS, an aquarium and exhibit designer whose other projects include the Seattle Aquarium and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, is likely the slickest 800 square feet in Port Angeles. It opened last month.

The centerpiece exhibit is a small wraparound theater that shows films produced by marine-sanctuary staff during underwater research trips. You hear the breathing sounds of researchers in cramped submersible vessels, their crackly radio conversations with the surface, the hum of propellers as they twist and dive, and their gasps when something good comes into view.

Bob Steelquist, the sanctuary's education and outreach coordinator, is careful to say this isn't virtual reality. "This is sharing a real experience, not creating a virtual experience," says Steelquist. "We want people to realize that this stuff isn't Tomorrowland — it's now. If I learned how to do it, any kid that comes in could, too."

All the multimedia displays are created right down the hall by marine-sanctuary staff, and that gives the very modern center a homegrown flavor.

With the Discovery Center, Port Angeles and the National Marine Sanctuary hope to start a new sort of marine tourism where the old charter-fishing business has been in long decline. "When people come to the Olympic Peninsula, they're prepared to visit a national park, but not a national marine sanctuary," Steelquist says. "We want to introduce them to visiting a marine environment."

In addition to the undersea theater, the center has interactive exhibits on recreation, conservation, science and culture. Each display has some hands-on pieces, like Native American stone net weights, as well as a 30-inch interactive video display powered by hidden laptop computers. Having laptops behind the scenes allows staff to easily swap in new material, as they figure out what works and what doesn't.

The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, covers 3,310 square miles off the Olympic Peninsula. It was founded in 1994 to protect the marine life of the area, particularly from offshore oil and gas development.

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