So very beautiful. - We visited the sanctuary off the cuff, and weren't disappointed. The puffin habitat was being refurbished, but we were informed this by the very friendly and helpful guy in the giftshop. Passing through to the aquarium, we got to see the baluga whales who were so abviously content and enjoy showing off for their public. (We were later informed that they love children and are even more flirtatious when they are around!) The rest of the aquarium was also very interesting, but play second fiddle to the whales.

Small shelter that deserves your support - Small self-guided tour that takes you past collected puffins, some aquariums and Belugas. Don't expect a big zoo! It certainly isn't. Especially the Belugas make the experience beautiful. There is nowhere clearly indicated when you find them inside, or when they are in their beautiful outdoor basin. They work with your gifts and income from the visits. Definitely worth supporting.

Don’t bother buying the behind the scenes tour - We booked the behind the scenes tour and, while our guides were absolutely delightful, there was nothing behind the scenes about our tour. We saw everything you could see with regular admission, plus the inside of a freezer. We got a bit more colour commentary on specific fish, etc. but didn’t get to see them working with the whales as expected. All we saw of the whales was through the same dingy viewing window as everyone else. I also don’t feel like we learned anything about the whales that we didn’t already know from visiting the website and/or reading the signs. Possibly the puffins would have improved the experience and given more behind the scenes access, but unfortunately the exhibit was closed for renovations. Bad timing on our part. Overall, I respect what they’re doing here, and don’t mind paying the regular admittance but I wouldn’t bother with the behind the scenes fee.

Lack of quality - High price for what is presented in it. We saw 3 shearwaters, 1 duck and the 2 belugas. Many texts and explanations around shearwaters and beluga - Interesting. The space reserved for animals (except beluga) is small in my opinion.

Skip this - Don't waste your money or time stopping here - entry totaled over U.S. $100 for 2 adults & 2 senior citizens (and 1 free child), which is the same total amount as the much superior volcano museum on the island (more broadly, we do appreciate that many things in Iceland are free entry for kids age 5 and under!) We knew from their website that that puffin portion is closed due to renovation but thought it still worth a stop to see the 2 belugas. While we are all for donating to animal sanctuaries, considering how little remains to be seen and with no interactions with staff to learn about local animals etc., by no means should they still be charging this much per person to enter (framed as a "donation" but we were not given an option as to the amount - it appears it is in fact a minimum fixed amount). We proceeded down a long hall so empty we thought we'd accidentally entered through the back since apart from kids drawings hung on the wall there was literally nothing to see. The atmosphere was of an empty hall in 'Severance'. Once we finally turned a corner there is a small viewing window of the tank where 2 belugas swim in what appears to be tiny quarters, but it's hard to tell since the viewing area is so small. Continuing on, there is a table with plain paper and markers for kids to draw (which we could do literally anywhere) then past that no more than a half dozen small exhibits of rocks and fish. Stopping at all things took up total of no more more than 15 minutes. There was no staff talking about any of the animals, no one past the front desk area taking your money and selling stuffed belugas in the $40 price range. Skip this stop and spend your time on the island going to see puffins in their natural habitat (worth it to self drive around southern trip, stop at puffin viewing area enclosed from sharp wind, and to the volcano edge with church gifted from Norway) and don't miss the impressive volcano museum which takes you through the lived experience of locals. If you have kids with you be sure to spend time at the delightful public playground in front of the harbor. Overall the island is great for a day trip and this sanctuary stop was the only disappointment.

Don't support sea life - So awful - the advertising refers to the whales in a sea enclosure and that they have been re homed from an aquarium in China. This is not the case as they have been simply moved to another tank and have been there without access to the open water for 4 years, smoke and mirrors from the scam that is sea life

Closed early without warning - We purchased tickets online for the following day. According to the website, the sanctuary was open 1000-1700. When we arrived at 1515, the sanctuary was closed. A sign on the door stated different operating hours from 1100-1600. One employee was still inside and opened the door for us, informing us that the sanctuary closed early that day for a staff meeting. We were not able to use our tickets and i had some very upset children on the ferry ride back who just wanted to see a puffin.

Not for children! - NO ACCUSATION TO THE CARERS BUT TO THE VISITORS! A prime example of why aquariums should be banned. Everyone knows what happens in Sea Life or Sea world. The aquarium is very small. Not even price-performance ratio right. The puffins live on a much too small area. The Belugas are doing much worse. Although there would be a real pool in the sea, despite all this, these poor animals have been sitting in a dirty pool that is far too small for years. You can tell how badly the animals are doing and that the aquarium uses them for presentation to make a lot of money! Please do not support this sad place

Disappointing - Disappointing granted the money goes to fund the hospital-this should not be ranked number 3. The puffin area holds seven puffins is at an elevated level so watching them is difficult. The area with the two orcas is small holds less than six people. The water is extremely cloudy making seeing them difficult to see. Would save my money and skip this for something better

Rather grim and sad - Visiting this sea life center was important since supporting their efforts and mission is important. However, having this as a professional exhibition and aquarium, one would expect that the different interactive and digital parts would work. Also that the highlights besides the two whales would be put more effort into, such as the Puffins and its rescue center. It was a 10 min walk through of the whole visitor center and hadn’t we supported a good cause we would have felt ripped off. I hope this becomes better in the future.