I went on a camping trip to Weymouth with a few university mates last week. While they were dawdling around the site one day, I decided to head for the SeaLife Park by myself, and am very glad I did so.

~ - ~ Location and contact details ~ - ~
Lodmoor Country Park
Weymouth
Dorset
DT4 7SX

Tel: 01305 761070

The park is open 10am til 5pm, winter season times may vary.

~ - ~ Getting there ~ - ~
I got the bus to the SeaLife Park. There is a convenient bus stop right outside the door, so that's very handy if, like me, you didn't have a car with you. I got the number 4 'First' bus that runs every 20minutes (between the seafront and the Haven site I was staying on) but I believe there were a couple of other buses to and from the same stop. From what I've seen, the Weymouth bus service is very reliable.

From several miles outside of Weymouth, the SeaLife centre is clearly signposted (as are many other local attractions). For those who do drive in, there is also a car park right outside the entrance. When I was there the sign said
1 hour - £1
2 hours - £2
3 hours - £3
4 hours - £4
5 hours - £5 etc
I can't remember exactly how long the maximum time limit was, but I think it was up to about 15hours or so, more than enough for your average day at the beach!

Located in the same place as the SeaLife Park were a couple of other family attractions - mini golf (great fun!!), go-karts, a few restaurants - so you could probably spend an entire day there very easily. It is also only just across the road from the beach and the land train which can take you to the main seafront area.

~ - ~ Admission ~ - ~
As a student, I paid £11.50 to get in. This ticket would have allowed me to leave and re-enter the park throughout the day.
I believe other prices were:
Adult: £13.50
Child (4 - 14): £8.95
Family (2a + 2c): £40
Concessions: £11.50
Under 4's free

A trip to the Tourist Information office on the seafront can get you discounted tickets, and there are other vouchers available through other sources (I was given a 'one child free' voucher by Haven). Also, apparently I could have got 20% off had I booked through Haven.

When you buy tickets, you are also given the option of buying a guidebook for a few extra pounds. I chose not to, as most of the exhibits are surrounded by poster boards full of information and pictures anyway.

After you've handed the money over, you are given a map and a list of the feeding times for the day. I seemed to lose my map straight away as I just shoved it in my bag. But that didn't matter. On the floor of the park are yellow footprints that you can follow. They take you around the entire park in a good order and allow you to see everything. There were a couple of times when I left the footprints to go look in windows of buildings 'off the marked path' but it was easy enough to pick up from the same place, even without a map.

I read somewhere that there should have been a photographer here to take my photo as I entered the park. Well, either I missed him or it's only during the main summer (or maybe its an old thing) as I didn't see anyone as I walked to the start of the yellow footprints!

~ - ~ Exhibits ~ - ~
From photos and memory, exhibits were …

°°°Seahorses°°°
SeaLife claim that their seahorse area is a "pioneering captive breeding programme". They have a huge variety of seahorses, and a little bit of info on each breed. The seahorse building is quite dark, and this allows you to appreciate their natural habitat a little more. It also (somehow!) seems to make their differing colours more vibrant.

°°°Crabs°°°
There is a 'touch pool' where you can 'meet' various crabs, under the expert guidance of a SeaLife employee. I wasn't there at one of the allotted times so I could only look in the water and attempt to see something - I didn't find any!

°°°Penguins°°°
The day I was there was very hot, poor penguins! There were around a dozen penguins, lazing around in the sun when I walked past. It seemed quite a small enclosure for the penguins. They only had a small pool and an area of sand, inside the tall metal fencing (protection from foxes apparently)

°°°Turtles/Terrapins°°°
I think my next stop was the terrapins. SeaLife run a conservation/rescue program for turtles and terrapins that have been rescued from pet owners or stranded. There were several different varieties in this exhibit, from all over the world. It was very hot in this room, and also quite dark. I guess this is all part of the 'atmosphere' as there were bits of fake plant all over too! Some of the terrapins were in glass cages at eye height, and some were in big troughs where you had to look down into them.

°°°Sharks°°°
After viewing the terrapins, you walk along a fluorescent-lit tunnel and out into an even darker room. Here there is a curved glass window looking into the side of the 300,000-litre tank that was just unveiled this year. There were much bigger turtles in here - three or four (maybe more) green turtles that have been rescued by the SeaLife Park. Also in this tank were a lot of tropical fish, and a few varieties of shark. Unfortunately I arrived right at the end of the shark feeding session, so I couldn't tell you what kinds of shark they have.
When you keep walking round the corner, you enter the bigger viewing tunnel. You can see all the fish, sharks and turtles swimming around over your head and down the sides. It was very hot in here! And, as I arrived near to the end of a talk, very crowded. It wouldn't be good for claustrophobia!

°°°Seal sanctuary°°°
You get to see the seals from two different angles. First from the surface where you can see them floating around on the surface and occasionally playing together. If you follow the path around, you go to the underwater viewing area. Unfortunately when I was there the water in the tank was too dirty to see very far in. There was an apology for this on the wall, explaining that the hot spring/summer had meant more algae had grown and right now it was dying off. The dying algae were what made the water dirty. There are two mature seals and two 'playful pups'. The pups especially are very cute! One of the seals, if you move your hand back and forth across the glass viewing window, it will follow you! And I guarantee you'll get bored before it does!

°°°Otter sanctuary°°°
Again, at the otters I arrived near the end of a feeding time. There were lots of people all gathered around each viewing window and the open area at the front. So I just took a quick look and walked on through.

°°°Mysteries of the Deep°°°
The website say: "Meet some of the watery world's craziest creatures, from prehistoric horseshoe crabs and sharp-shooting mantis shrimp, to the amazing puffer fish - which can expand to over twice its size when threatened! Whether it's odd, incredible or downright deadly Weymouth Sea Life Park lifts the lid on some of the marine world's strangest secrets."
Well they certainly live up to expectation here! I saw creatures I never knew existed. Like the 4m wide crabs!!! (Enclosure complete with eerie red light just in case giant crabs aren't scary enough!) There were also jellyfish in here that glow in fluorescent light but the color they glow can change, neat! There were some really strange fish in this part. I can't remember what they were called and cant really describe them, but trust me, they were weird!

At some point in the day, I strayed off the footprints to look into the windows of a building where they were breeding jelly fish, so there were lots of little round things floating around in dark tanks. I also saw some penguin eggs through a different window. (At least I assume they were penguin, as they were the only creature I remember seeing that laid large eggs!)

°°°Find Nemo°°°
There is a tank dedicated especially to Finding Nemo characters hidden in the park (complete with a Nemo - Clownfish, Dori - Blue Tang, Deb and Flo, Jacques - the cleaner fish and a couple of others). I'm not gunna tell you where, so you'll just have to pay attention and find it for yourself!

°°°Kids quiz°°°
At various locations around the park there are questions for children (and maybe big kids like me too!) to answer. These are to encourage the kids to read the information on the walls and engage with what they are being told, as you need to have read the previous exhibit to answer the question in the next one, ie the Turtle question is in the Seal exhibit.

~ - ~ Other stuff to see/do ~ - ~

°°°Dino Dig°°°
An undercover sandpit where kids can 'dig' to discover 'dinosaur bones'. This would probably be good in the rain as a form of shelter for a little while. On the day I was there it was sunny and I saw no body play in it at all!

°°°Shop°°°
On the way out of the park there was a normal SeaLife shop, selling the usual stuff (soft toys, sweets, cds, pencils etc) at the usual prices.

°°°Toilets°°°
From what I saw there were two sets of toilets on site - some near restaurant area and some right at the entrance/exit. They were clean and tidy, and the chart claimed they were regularly checked.

°°°Restaurant°°°
There was a small place (I believe it was something along the lines of 'Barnacle Bills Burger Bar) selling a typical selection of burgers and hotdogs with chips and various fizzy drinks. They also had a selection of sandwiches and plenty of ice cream. The prices were reasonable, although I didn't actually eat there.
There was also a second, smaller, restaurant further round the park. I didn't look in there but assume it sold the same kind of things.

°°°'Smoothie hut'°°°
Next to the burger place was a small smoothie hut. The menu looked promising, with about 10 different kinds of yoghurt and fruit smoothie on offer …. Then again, they didn't actually have most varieties, and the lady behind the counter admitted to me that she wasn't usually in the smoothie hut and wasn't 100% competent at it. Okay, so it's the end of September, it isn't exactly a peak time so they could be forgiven for not having the full variety. The smoothie I ended up with (strawberry banana and apple I think) was very nice and reasonably prices.

There was a building, that I can't remember what it was called but it advertised 'family fun' that was full of those claw-grab arcade games. There was no one in there when I passed through.

Around here there is also a seating area (some covered, some outdoor) and a children's play area, in the form of a pirate ship. You can get a 'free ride on seal boat' here too. Turns out the boat is very small kids attraction that goes round and round in circles - so I gave that a miss!

~ - ~ Value for Money? ~ - ~
To me, the ticket price is a little high for what you get. I managed to spend almost 3 hours in the SeaLife Park. I'm not sure if this is more or less than a 'normal' person as I went round some parts slowly, twice, taking photos. You would spend more time if you listened to every single talk on offer. You might be pushing it to make a whole 10am-5pm day out of the one park. £40 for a family of four is, I guess, a pretty typical price for this kind of thing, and on that grounds, yes it makes for good value and a good few hours. But for one person, it really wasn't the best value.

~ - ~ Go Again? ~ - ~
If ever in Weymouth again, I would probably visit again, and will no doubt at some point in the future visit some other SeaLife Park. While being overpriced, it is entertaining and a good way to spend a holiday, for all age groups.

I'd give my time at Weymouth "Sealife Park and Marine Sanctuary" an overall score of 7 out of 10