Gumbo Limbo sits on twenty acres of protected barrier island, the area between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

[citation needed] The center includes an indoor museum with exhibits, small aquariums, and a gift shop, plus more major outdoor facilities including several large aquariums featuring ecosystems for fish, turtles, and other sea life, a boardwalk trail through the adjacent woods, and a garden designed for observing butterflies.

The beaches of South Florida serve as a nesting habitat for the loggerhead, green, and leatherback sea turtles.

Gumbo Limbo works together with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to protect the area's sea turtles.

A majority of Gumbo Limbo's turtles with FP come from lagoons and bays close to densely populated areas.

The Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex is also home to a research facility for Florida Atlantic University's Department of Biological Sciences.

Research has focused on sea turtle behavior, shark sensory perception and effects of salt levels on seagrasses.