So you've gone to Blackpool and due to the rain and or strong winds both the top of the tower and the fun (ie high and fast) stuff at the Pleasure Beach are closed. So what else is there to do except glare angrily at the sea as it tries to soak you more than the rain is already doing (which given the wind speeds could actually just be the sea anyway, its coming at you horizontally and tastes suspiciously salty).
Well there are the tacky arcades and the numerous bars along the Golden Mile and Promenade but my choice would be the Sealife Centre, although you probably knew that already as thats what im reviewing!
OK the entry to the sealife centre looks like a giant statue of either Titan or Posiedon (choose your favourite seagod, I'm not going to force you either way), and well unless the wind is too strong you'll hear the sounds of 'Under the Sea' (a great help when the sea is actually trying to attack you by climbing over the seawall from where the beach used to be). When you turn to head in the entry is pretty small so if its busy you may be queing outside for a little while (although by now you'll already be drenched). Once you get inside you hand over your money to the ticket sellers in one of the two booths to either side of the entry. Our entry cost £50, for two adults, two students and an OAP. If i remember right the adult price is either £11.50 or £10.50 although the sign doesnt tell you how to get the lower price.
Once inside you head up the stairs (a lift is avaliable) to see double doors, head through these to enter the exhibits, straight in front of you is a wall of tanks. But first you will be greated by a member of the staff and asked if you want a photo taken beside the 'scary' shark which is biting the wharf behind you, we did this (or rather my sister told me i was joining the family), they take two pictures one of you smiling and on the second you are asked to look scared - Sorry but after having been face to face with several species of real shark I can't do scared of this fibreglass model. The photographer will give you a slip with your photo number on it so at the end of your tour you can choose to buy the photo if you wish.
Next is the touch pool, this area i thought was particularly disappointing as there were only a few crabs in the pool, when we were there one staff member appeared to be training another but rather than talking to us (the guests) about the contents of the pool and the glass fronted section at the back (which despite being open topped at in the touch pool area you arent meant to put your hands in to) was busy gossiping with the trainee. At one side is a large shell, the sign beside it tells us was shed by one of the sealife centres crustaceans. But as the staff were busy gossiping we quickly moved out of this area.
So now you are stood beside the wall of tanks you first saw on entry, the first exhibit is an octopus, on our visit it was at the front of the tank and quite active, being the only one of my family that knew anything about octopus' I was able to point out to them things that they hadn't known before like the location of its mouth and little facts like they have 3 hearts - well with that many legs you'd need them wouldnt you! If the outside of the tanks has alot of condensation on it a screenwiper is provided (clever i wouldnt have thought of that). But other times it may be less active and appear quite boring.
The next few tanks have examples of native species in them, including the types of fish you might eat from the Chip Shop (go on I dare you to eat them after watching them swimming around) but to be honest these tanks didn't hold much interest for me. So as you're moving along the tanks you see a long open topped tank infront of you, and if you're me go to see whats in it, but due to my family by now being generally disinterested in the displays I cant remember whats in this one.
So moving on to the next display I spent any time around, the native shark tank, in the tank are 2 types of dogfish (a type of catshark, confusing isn't it) the plain and starry, and several other small native sharks. At this display are regular talks, we hung around for one to start but after 10 minutes I found the guy giving the talk (the same one 'training' the new staff earlier) to be quite dull, he was giving you information but he had no enthusiasm and seemed to only be telling you what he'd been taught. Being fair I knew most of what he was saying anyway but my family said the same (I'd been explaining things to them before the talk started and they reckoned that I showed more enthusiasm and was more helpful than the man giving the talk). While watching the fish in here its slightly disconcerting to see their noses poking out of the water almost to the top lip of the tank (this is also open).
At one side of this display near the exit to the next area is a set of 'bubble' viewing ports in to another tank, while i was there the pufferfish was lying on top of one and it was fun watching it as the shape of the ports magnified the fish. Also in this were two small stingrays.
The next display is similar in size and shape to the previous one, though shallower, so the top of the tank is around chest height to me (an average height person) but contains rays, which also seem to be trying to escape their tank, but are probably trying to get a better look at you and smell if there might be any food around (they all have a strong sense of smell even in the air). Turning around there is a large viewing window in which you see.... the big sharks. But we're not at that display yet.
Moving back towards the previous display we come to the tank you previously looked at through the 'bubbles', and next to it is the door to my personal favourite area, the seahorses. First as you come through the door is a canvas 'poster' with some seahorse facts like the frankly fantastic one, which can be summed up as the males have the babies! Moving passed this poster you see the first tank on your right, the tanks in this display are all to the right, and I'm not gonig to waffle so think this could be the briefest section of my review (otherwise it would be the whole review and bore you all to sleep) there are 4 tanks (in use at the time) with different species of seahorse in them, including pacific seahorses, and yellow seahorses (which in this display are black and white so i suspect a labelling error, as they start off black or dark grey not distinctly black with white areas). OK moving on again.
The rainforest area, this has pirahna's and tropical frogs (but due to them being kept warm you cant really see them because of the condensation on the inside of the tanks). Moving swiftly through this area we come to the big shark tank.
The area is first seen as a large theatre style area with stone look seating at the back, and a large viewing window, which is dominated by the statue of [insert prefered seagod here]. I thought that the statue was a little too big and obscured the view of the sharks a bit too much for my liking, so moving in to the tunnel, looking up there are sharks swimming overhead, and to either side, Woooo, I like this, and I'm not even getting wet(ter). Moving further through the tunnel it opens out in to a temple shaped viewing room, still made of acrylic so you get the fantastic 360 view of the sharks. And then theres another short section of tunnel to the exit of this feature. From memory in this tank there were both black and white tip reef sharks, these were two of the smaller but more active ones, and i think sandtigers, which are bigger and slower (also at least 2 other species but I couldn't see any labelling so am unsure of what they were). Out of this display you're nearing the end of the tour.
The next display is the new jellyfish display, to be honest this didn't much capture my interest, but there are around 6 tanks with jellyfish, the area is lit with UV lighting, to make the jellys stand out, so if youre wearing white you will glow!
Finally you are at the end of the tour and in to the shop, it stocks the usual tourist stuff, cuddly toys, sealife centre branded stationary, keyrings, songebob square pants items and a small selection of books. But i though the book selection was disappointing, other aquaria that I've visited have had a much larger selection in a better laid out shop along with all the same types of souvenirs.
Finally after leaving the shop you'll reach the photobooth where you can look at or buy the photo you had taken at the start of the tour. By the time i got there the booth was closed so I don't know how much the pictures would cost, but my sister who insisted that we get the picture taken went ahead to buy it, it's not bad as pictures go, so I need to check with her what it cost. But i would guess that inline with the rest of the souvenirs it would be more expensive than you would normally pay for the type of item (but it's a tourist attraction it's to be expected). Currently theres a sale on in the shop on certain items, I bought a coffee table book of photos by Donald Tipton which would normally cost £19.95 for £9.90, so some of the sale things may be worth a closer look!
There is also a childrens playarea which we didn't look in to. Also if you think you might want to go back in to the centre you can ask at the shop till for a wrist band so you can come and go as much as you like on that day.
If like us you have a person requiring the lift to get back to ground floor you need to pass back through the displays (but there are shortcuts) but the main exit is down the stairs to the back of the building where you exit in to a shopping area. All in all I thought this was a good thing to do for a few hours on a cold wet blackpool day (that'll be most of them then). My main problems were a lack of labelling on alot of the tanks and I would have liked to have seen afew more staff around to ask questions about the fish and the exhibits in general. Although if you choose to buy the guide book when you go in this might explain more about the displays.
The sealife centre is on the golden mile, slightly south of central pier, so the transport links are typically Blackpool, tram, bus, pony and cart, shanks pony (walking), or as you're on Blackpool's seafront swimming (through the rain and seaspray).
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