MARINELAND, Fla. -- Her eyes are cloudy now, a blueish-gray haze blocking out some of the sunlight that glints off the water in her habitat. She doesn’t always move as nimbly as the dozen other dolphins sharing her space, either.

But that’s OK, because Nellie has something they don’t.

She has seniority — 59 years of it, more than double the normal age of an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. And those eyes, before a hint of cataracts snuck in and stole the sharpness of her vision, have witnessed many of the triumphs, declines and rebirths of Marineland, one of Florida’s early theme parks.

“She’s somewhat the matriarch,” said Kurt Allen, vice president and general manager of Marineland, as he watches Nellie gracefully glide under an archway in the pool where she suns herself. “She is literally rewriting history every day.” The same can be said for Marineland.

Now owned by the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s first marine animal park opened 74 years ago, offering visitors previously unheard-of access to dolphins, whales and other creatures that roam the seas.

For decades, the pioneering aquatic retreat thrived, attracting as many as 400,000 visitors a year.

But the Marineland of today is a very different scene. Operated by the aquarium as a separate nonprofit organization, it is located in a trio of nondescript off-white buildings battered by surf spray near the same spot where the original structures once stood, nestled between Fla. A1A and a postcard-ready section of the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles south of St. Augustine.

Georgia Aquarium has poured about $3 million into the facility so far this year, mostly for operational improvements such as pool heaters and new signage. But the park struggles to meet even a fraction of its former attendance figures. An estimated 50,000 people visited Marineland in 2011, and 60,000-70,000 are expected this year.

Carey Rountree, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Georgia Aquarium, attributes low attendance figures to public perception. He says many Marineland fans of years past think that when the venue closed for repairs in 2004, it never re-opened.

“That’s been our biggest challenge, to tell people we are open,” says Rountree. The eventual goal is to hit a six-figure attendance number again.

Despite the financial and attendance woes that have hindered Marineland, the Georgia Aquarium has a twofold stake in the facility. The coastal Florida location provides access for marine research and specimen collection — three of the four manta rays at the aquarium were gathered off the Marineland coast. And collaboration between the facilities allows the aquarium to answer critics who say the Atlanta aquatic emporium is too focused on entertainment.

According to Rountree, acquiring Marineland fit the philosophy on which the Georgia Aquarium was founded. “Bernie Marcus (aquarium founder and CEO) wanted it to be a combination of entertainment, conservation, research and education. In order to do that, you had to pay the bills, and entertainment was a way to do that. Once we were able to pay the bills, we’ve been able to increase the education and conservation efforts.” Last month at Marineland, the “Behind the Seas” exhibit opened, featuring additional dolphin viewing areas and a collection of artifacts from the oceanarium’s past.