St Andrews Aquarium, Fife Review
St Andrews Aquarium
Reviewed by Gemma Gough
You will find St Andrews Aquarium right on the coast in this historic town, bustling with tourists, students and golfers. We were fortunate enough to visit on a beautiful clear day and so were able to appreciate the wonderful view over the bay offered by the aquariums location.
We are a family of four, two adults and our children, aged 6 and 3 and the entry price for us was a family ticket costing £29, a saving of £5 on individual ticket prices. There are a few variations on the family ticket to accommodate bigger families which was refreshing to see. There are also concessions for OAPs, students and for those with special needs. We liked that the entry price was for a full day, so you could come in and out as many times as you liked during the day. As it happened, we never arrived until the afternoon so didn’t need to do this but it would be great if you were spending the full day in St Andrews. The lady at the desk told us the times of the demonstrations and directed us to the displays.
Our children are huge ‘Finding Nemo’ fans so were eager to do exactly that and rushed round all the displays until they found him. The clownfish and their friends were the last display before the exit so once they had seen ‘Nemo’ we started at the beginning again but spent a little longer looking at the exhibits. The aquarium is quite small and it doesn’t take very long to get round it all but the displays are varied and the information very interesting. There were all sorts of creatures to be seen, many different species of fish, reptiles, penguins and seals and really quite bizarrely for an aquarium, a colony of meerkats! Our six year old son was quick to ask what we were all thinking – ‘Why are there meerkats in an aquarium?’
We caught the end of the reptile handling session, expertly facilitated by Danny, who was very patiently allowing adults and children alike to hold a rather large and hairy spider! Shortly after that was the seal talk, again delivered by Danny. There are four resident seals at the aquarium and we heard all of their stories and the reasons why they could never be released into the wild. The seals were cheeky and lots of fun, delighting the large crowd who had gathered for the talk. We were shocked to learn that the Harbour seal could disappear from UK waters in as little as 20-50 years. The aquarium does a lot of work for conservation, education and research to try and prevent this from happening.
Next up was the meerkat talk which we were keen to see. Once again, it was Danny doing the talk. He explained that they had rescued three meerkats from a zoo after they had been exiled from their colony and that they would have been put down otherwise. Those three meerkats now have a thriving colony of their own and it was lovely to see them interacting with each other. Danny was quick to point out that although it isn’t illegal to keep meerkats at home, they actually make terrible pets. Although we thought the meerkats were perhaps a little out of place in the aquarium, they were one of our favourite bits and our daughter came home with a cuddly one from the gift shop!
We had a short visit to the Steprock Café and despite it being close to closing time there were a good selection of cakes and snacks available and the hot chocolate was delicious, just what we needed on a chilly day. The gift shop was well stocked with a wide variety of toys and gifts on offer and both of our children found something for under £5 which we were pleased about. They also enjoyed the penny press and badge machines in the foyer which provided another keepsake of their day.
Overall, we spent a lovely afternoon at St Andrews Aquarium and although it was a little smaller than we expected, the displays were many and varied and the talks were interesting, educational and very well delivered by Danny who was very patient with the children especially and was able to answer all the questions put to him. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Rating: 4.5/5
Tickets cost from £6 to £39.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.standrewsaquarium.co.uk.
St Andrews Aquarium. The Scores, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AS | 01334 474786
