We had a lovely visit to Blackpool Sea Life centre during half term. We was invited to go with PlayDoh, We had already planned a day in Blackpool, so this extra trip fell in perfectly with our plans.
We decided to have a quick drink, before going in to the attraction. You can see it here, but Olivia had a Unicorn Slushie, so much more exciting than tea! Oh the stuffed dog that Olivia brought for the adventure is Whisky and she had a great time too.
Blackpool Sea Life
You just have to do the “I was here” shot. Daddy T and Olivia obliged for this photo. It’s a great start to your adventure. We accessed one of Blackpool’s main attractions via the lift, which is great for parents with prams or disabled visitors like myself. Just one floor up in the lift and Olivia was really excited.
Rock Pools
We went to the Rock Pool area first. Olivia was fascinated that some of the sea life was having a rest in some area’s and you was asked not to touch them. We had a little discussion about how it would feel to be picked up by massive giants all day and we was glad that some of them had a rest time.
We couldn’t actually get near the rock pools where you could hold the starfish etc, but we could hear one of the attractions staff telling us some great facts.
Fact
Did you know that Starfish feed by emptying their stomachs through their mouth covering their food choice, such as mussels or clams and then pick off the digestible bits.
Atlantic Depths
In the Atlantic Depths area we found out about fish and sea creatures that are native to the shore lines of the North West. These include not only several types of fish but also Anemones, Starfish, Crabs, Place, Lobster and Octopus.
Stingray Adventures
Olivia loved looking into the tank through the glass domes that were placed around the top for a close view. She loved it when this ray swam past as it raced around the tank. We think it was showing off to all the visitors.
You can see how much she loved it in this photo.
This beautiful specimen gave a lovely display, it was showing off to attract a mate according to Katie one of the staff around this tank.
Fact
Did you know that Turbot fish start out life as normal fish shapes? As they grow one of their eyes migrates over to the other side and they become flat fish.
Kingdom of the Seahorse
These are my favourite sea life creatures. I’ll admit a little secret, I actually thought they were myths like unicorns until about 15 years ago when one was discover in the River Thames – I know sad, but it’s very true.
I love the way they like to swim in pairs with their tails joined. They just look so magical floating around. Olivia and Whisky loved these too.
I was disturbed by some of the fact about them though.
- Roughly another million seahorses are caught each year for the curio trade. They are hung out alive in the sun to dry and then made into ornaments and tourist souvenirs. So please do not buy them.
- Every year over 150 million seahorses are thought to be taken from the wild for use in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade.
- There is no scientific evidence to back up claims from The Traditional Medicine Trade that say seahorses have the power to cure all kind of ailments from asthma to insomnia to impotence.
In this area you can see both Clown Fish and Royal Blue Tang – think Nemo and Dory from the film Finding Nemo.
In this area Olivia spotted the Unicorn tang fish. She has a thing for Unicorns, so was really impressed with this fish.
Ocean Tunnel
In the Ocean Tunnel sharks, turtles, groupers and many more fish swim above your head and alongside you. Olivia loved having a close up look at this spectacular specimen.
Fact
When the team here at SEA LIFE Blackpool cleaned out the ocean tank a couple of years ago they found close to 40,000 shark teeth!! Sharks have adapted to growing teeth within one day after losing them while eating.
We took so many photographs during our visit that we have made up a YouTube video of some of them that you can watch.
This would be a perfect place to visit during half term or any time of the year. We went a couple of years ago when there was a spectacular star fish display. You can read about that here.
At the very end of our visit, we met Professor Finn. He had a task for us as we was going around. Olivia had to spot the coloured shark teeth he had placed around the aquarium. If you found them all correctly you won a tub of PlayDoh.
There was PlayDoh to create a creature from your visit. Olivia made a Great Green Shark. She really wanted to put white teeth in it but sadly the kids before hand had mixed all the coloured dough together, so he ended up with light green teeth that hadn’t been cleaned all week. Ewww, but we love her imagination.
Tickets
I would suggest that you purchase tickets on line before you go as you save quite a bit of money.
Adult: £14.00
Child: £11.50
Snorkel with sharks and a turtle: From £50pp
Feed the sharks: From £27.50pp
Keeper for the day: From £150.
Opening Times
Blackpool Sea Life is open all year round – (apart from Christmas Day)
from 10am -4pm Monday to Friday
and
from 10am -5pm on a Saturday and Sunday.
We can’t wait to go back again.
Nanna Jane
GIVEAWAY
We now have a lovely giveaway for you to win. We have been given family ticket (valid for 2 adults and 2 children per ticket) to giveaway, for any of these venues, between these dates. Ticket will only be valid for the places and dates shown below.
If you would like a chance to win, just enter the Rafflecopter giveaway form below.
We really do appreciate & personally read every single comment that you leave us. It means a lot to us that you take the time to interact with us, so please continue to do so.
The mandatory question must be answered in the “Leave a comment here” box at the bottom of this page to make any further entries valid. No answer means no win! Please try to use 8 words or more in your comment.
Ends Midnight Sunday 24th March 2019
If you’re not sure about Rafflecopter, go to our How to Use Rafflecopter page for more information.
Don’t forget to check out our other giveaways.
Mandatory question is “ What sea creature would you like to see up close and why?”
The sting rays…they are mesmerising!
Seahorses, because sometimes I forget if they are mythical creatures!
I’d love to see the sharks
Piranhas
I love the rays. It looks like they are smiling
I’d like to see Sharks up close.
A sea horse because they’ve always fascinated me
Sharks as they’re so intriguing
Jellyfish, they are so interesting and peaceful to watch
Jellyfish. I love to watch them move about! I find it quite theraputic!