Dauphin Island Sea Lab

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab offers a variety of programs for children during the summer. From single-day programs to overnight camps and academic courses, these programs give campers a deeper look at our ocean and coastal resources. Our highly qualified educators will guide campers and students through all activities, and residential students are well-supervised by our exceptional counselors.

---Summer Day Camps---

Oceans Alive!
For ages 5-8
June 4 or July 1, 2024
8:30-11:30
Cost: $45 per student
The Gulf of Mexico offers a wealth of material for developing minds and curious senses in "Ocean's Alive," a half-day adventure for children ages 5 through 8 and their parents/grandparents. Combining arts and crafts with a beach walk adventure, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab educators usher children and adults into a deeper appreciation of the marvelous Alabama coast. Lessons in marine biology, ecology, and zoology are introduced in hands-on activities that are so fun that your children will discover that learning can be a blast.

BIO Blitz
For ages 8-10
June 13 or July 26, 2024
Cost: $60 per student
This day-long camp for ages 8-10 turns campers into Barrier Island Observers. Campers will set out on an expedition across many of the diverse habitats of Dauphin Island, including the beach, salt marsh, and maritime forest. They will document their findings, along with their journey, through various creative media. While exploring barrier island ecology, students should be prepared to get wet, sandy, and muddy.

Ocean Bytes
For ages: 9-11
June 7 or July 26, 2024
Cost: $75
In this single-day camp, we explore the world of ocean technology through hands-on e(nvironmental)-STEM activities! Campers will get their feet wet using some of the tools scientists use to study the oceans, including underwater robots, drones, and GPS along our beaches. Back inside, campers will be challenged to design and build circuits in a creative make-and-take activity focusing on deep-sea animals. (*Activities are not water-focused, but some areas we visit may be wet or muddy.)

Survivor: Dauphin Island
For ages 10-13
June 3, June 14, or July 2, 2024
Cost: $60 per student (parent attendance permitted but not required)
Join us for a 'reel' adventure and put your survival skills to the test. Campers, ages 10-13 years old, will learn about Alabama's fishes, which ones are edible, how to toss a cast net, how to bait a crab trap, how to drag a seine, and how to bring in the catch of the day while pier fishing. Campers will also get up close and personal with their catches as they learn about each species brought ashore. You never know exactly what you’ll reel in! There will be swim time, an afternoon snack, and frequent water breaks.

---OVERNIGHT CAMPS---

Barrier Island Explorer
Rising Grades: 5th-6th
June 16-19 or July 21-24, 2024
Cost: $400
This three-night camp is designed for raising 5th to 6th-grade students (ages 10-12). Campers will experience many of the wonders of the Gulf Coast region in a fun and unique sleep-away setting. Go trawling aboard the Sea Lab’s research vessel, the Alabama Discovery, get wet at the beaches and marshes of Dauphin Island, learn first-hand what’s in the water, build and fly your very own kite and do some fun group activities, all with members of our regular staff of marine educators.

Marine DeTECHtives
For rising 7th-8th grade
June 9-12, 2024
Cost: $450
Calling all technology sleuths! If you are interested in robotics and engineering, this camp is for you! Students rising 7th through 8th grade will uncover marine technology through hands-on activities, including building a simple robot, solder components on a circuit board, designing and building a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for a mini competition, and much more!! In this 4-day, 3-night camp, students will bring out their inner detective to discover 'what technology is.' The camp will feature hands-on group activities encouraging students to think like engineers. The stakes are high as they design, build, and test various technologies in preparation for an underwater robot challenge.

Gulf Island Journey
For rising 7th-9th grades
June 2-7, June 16-21, or July 7-12, 2024
Cost: $650
This week-long residential camp is geared toward rising 7th through 9th graders. Campers will have fun exploring areas of Dauphin Island, Mobile Bay, Mississippi Sound, and the northern Gulf of Mexico, learning about the animals, habitats, and issues confronting the Alabama coast and the world’s oceans. With the guidance of our experienced marine science educators, the campers will learn about our oceans through a variety of hands-on and in-the-field activities. Explore Mobile Bay aboard the R/V Alabama Discovery, seine for fish, dissect a shark, see plankton up close, visit Sand Island, and enjoy the island’s famous snow cones! Campers return year after year for this unique experience.

Bay Voyager
Rising Grades: 9th-12th
June 9-14 or July 14-19, 2024
Cost: $700
This week-long residential program for rising 9th through 12th-grade students is designed to be an active, outdoors, hands-on program. Students will participate in a variety of activities as they learn about Alabama’s marine environment, animals, and plants.

Coastal Fisheries Camp
For rising 9th-12th grades
May 26-31, 2024
Cost: $920
The School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, The Fisheries Learning Center, and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab have partnered to offer Coastal Fisheries Camp. This camp will be held on the Dauphin Island Sea Lab campus at Dauphin Island, Alabama. The Coastal Fisheries Camp is a fun and intense 5-day academic camp that introduces high school students to the marine environment. Students will stay in the dorms on the DISL campus and participate in a variety of academic activities. Students will have the opportunity to observe and work with plankton nets, seine nets, water sampling bottles, refractometers and water quality test kits, and other equipment. They will also collect and identify marine species from various habitats and participate in lab and field discussions, all under the guidance of marine and aquatic educators from Auburn University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. A great deal of time will be spent in the field exploring and examining different marine communities. Field activities include the exploration of a salt marsh community, beach profiling, and trawling aboard the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's 65-foot research vessel, the R/V Alabama Discovery.

Residential Marine Science Class
Rising Grades: 9th-12th
June 23 through July 19, 2024
Cost: $2,750
The Residential Marine Science Class is an immersive 4-week academic class that introduces high school students to the field of marine science. The course gives students a better understanding and appreciation of the various disciplines in marine biology and oceanography.

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