Brighton Sea Life Centre Review
Brighton Sea Life Centre
Reviewed by David Savage
Myself, a friend and her 9 year old daughter visited the Sea Life Centre in Brighton on a sunny Saturday morning the day before the official relaunch. Built in 1872 it has just undergone an extensive renovation and it the oldest operating aquarium in the world. Situated along Brighton sea front by the pier it is a short walk from the train station – probably the best way to visit as parking could be a problem. As part of the renovations two new attractions have also been added – Jellyfish Discovery and Behind the Scenes Tour. It also houses the UK’s first glass bottom boat!
When entering the centre you are asked if you would like tickets for the new Behind the Scenes Tour and the Glass Bottom Boat ride, these are available for a small extra charge per person but in my opinion are worth it (prices start from £1.50). Also the guide that can be purchased on entry is also worth having as it is filled with lots of information about what you will see inside and also gives you information on conservation and how you can do your bit to help (there is a charge of £3 for this).
Inside the centre it is very well laid out and easy to walk around with a small cafe/eating area as you go in and a smaller snack area further on. Each tank has information about what is in them clearly displayed. At the interactive rockpool there are friendly, helpful staff telling you about the creatures that live in them and they let you touch the starfish making it a much better educational experience especially for younger children that do not tend to read the information displayed. There are also talks and feeding times available (see http://www.visitsealife.com/Brighton/plan-your-visit/feeding-times.aspx for details and times).
As you walk around at your leisure you get to see brightly coloured exotic fish, crabs (including the big Coconut Crab which can break open coconuts with its claws), seahorses, rays, jellyfish, frogs, octopus, turtles (from the small to the enormous sea turtles, Lulu and Jersey) and the very popular sharks . There are over 150 creatures to look and learn about.
The Glass Bottom Boat is in the tank that houses large shoals of fish, the sharks and also Lulu and Jersey the very large sea turtles. Not only do you get to see the creatures from below while walking through the glass tunnel in the tank you can take the boat ride (from one end of the tank to the other and back again) and see the sea life from above through the glass bottom boat and be given information about what can see from the helpful staff on it. You have to buy your tickets on entry (prices start at £1.50 per person) and you are given a time that your boat ride starts so there is not a big queue waiting to take a ride.
New for 2012 is the amazing Jellyfish Discovery! Upon entering the darkened room you are greeted by the sight of the amazing ghostly looking creatures in various colours. They are amazing in their various shapes, colours and forms.
Also new for 2012 is my favourite, Behind the Scenes Tour! You need to purchase tickets upon entry for this but is worthwhile. Prices start at £1.50 per person. You are given a time that you tour starts so again you don’t have to get into a queue and wait which leaves you free to roam around enjoying the aquarium. The Behind the Scenes Tour is exactly what it says, it shows you everything involved from the care of over 1,500 sea creatures, feeding, breeding and research to the life support and filtrations systems involved. As this is brand new it was still having finishing touches and refinements made on the day of our visit but in no way spoiled the experience and once complete should be even better. Before the tour started I expected stuffy scientists explaining things in scientific terms making it all very boring but I was mistaken. The tour staff were friendly, fun and explained everything very well with some humour and also get you involved in things like testing the water to see if it was clean and if it was fresh or salt water. You get to ask your own questions as well and were not rushed through. We were shown the different types of food used for feeding from tiny brine shrimps, vegetables to the different fish the sharks eat. We also got to see the breeding room for creatures such as seahorses (Sea Life has one of the biggest seahorse breeding programs in the world). A fantastic experience.
Overall this was a great day out, the staff are all very friendly and helpful and the layout of the aquarium is very to navigate. There is plenty of information on display to help to know more about what you are looking and with the Behind the Scenes Tour it makes it a much better experience as you get to see and find out about what is involved in looking after and caring for all the sea creatures and is a nice touch. My only criticism would be that there needs to be more signs as we weren’t quite sure where to go for the Behind the Scenes tour, we knew it was by the café but there was nothing saying where to go, but as they are still adding the finishing touches I’m sure this will be rectified.
You can walk around at your leisure taking your time to learn about all the creatures housed in this centre, at no point do you feel you are being rushed through. There are plenty of staff on hand to answer any questions that you may have and everybody that we did speak to were polite, very friendly, helpful and informative.
Although the Behind the Scenes tour and Glass Bottom Boat are not included in the admission price I would recommend at least trying one of these as they do make the experience a whole lot better.
A good day out for the whole family whatever their ages.
Sea Life Brighton is open from 10am – 6pm (last admission 5pm).
On the Door Admission prices:
Child (3-14 Years) – £11.40
Adult (15+) – £16.20
Family (2 adults, 2 children) – £48.00
Opening times are prices are correct as of my visit in May so please check www.visitsealife.com for latest information.
You can book online for discounted prices (see www.visitsealife.com/Brighton/buy-tickets for details). You can also get a 20% discount when buying on the door if you have one of our What’s Good To Membership cards (20% discount valid until 30/06/12. Membership Card and voucher must be presented when buying tickets).