Interesting but expensive (National Sea Life Centre)

Member Name: Codfish

Product:	National Sea Life Centre
Date:	27/09/08 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Layout, feeding shows, location

Disadvantages: Expensive! Small

I went on a visit to Birmingham Sealife Centre last week for my birthday with some friends. I love fish and aquariums so was really looking forward to going. I'd previously been to the centres in Great Yarmouth and Scarborough but not for a number of years.

Firstly, the prices shown about on here are very out of date. It's actually now a massive £15.60 per adult to get in, although I had managed to get a couple of 2 for 1 vouchers for us which made it a little more reasonable.

First impressions of the place for me were that it was quite small compared to ones i'd been to before. It's a very compact building on about 3 floors. There are ramps all the way up but these are quite steep and there is not a lift from the bottom to the top at all.

As you go in you pay at the desk. You can book tickets online and get a fast track entry but when we went it was extremely quiet anyway so was not a problem. There is a cafeteria selling very reasonable sandwiches, paninis and the like. It was refreshing to go to a place like this and not feel we were being ripped off for a drink! There is also a small gift shop where you can buy something to remind you of your trip!

When you start the walk up the ramp into the aquarium, there are a few tanks of various sizes with different types of fish, lobster, coral and some rays as well. There is a shark tank which is fairly small and shallow but has a few different varieties of shark in there and some rays. There isn't a massive amount of room for them and to be honest I thought they would have made more of a feature of it. The shark feeding 'show' was dismal. It consisted of a man throwing in pieces of fish which the sharks weren't interested in and we were listening to a bloke talking to us all like we were 5 years old despite there being knowone under 20 in there!

After the sharks you move into an area with more aquariums with various fish an coral as well as another large tank with more big rays and fish in as well. There is also a little section for jelly fish which are quite interesting to watch.

You then move passed the sharks again on a ramp up to the otter sanctury. There are windows for you to look at the otters in their recreated natural habitat. It is a very big area full of logs and bark for them to play with and in. There are pools for them to swim in and shells and stones to play with as well. All of the otters are female. There is then an area outside in the picnic area, where there is an ice cream kiosk. The otters can come outside here and this is where they were fed. The otter feeding was marginally more interesting than the sharks. We were actually given some interesting information on how they live etc and they were fed in a more entertaining way.

After the otters, which are on the top floor, you enter the Amazon section. Here you see a tank full of paranas and various tanks of spiders, poisonous frogs and toads and then move into the turtle area. There are a few tanks with different varieties of small turtles to look at.

From this point you get a lift down to the ground floor where the tunnel is. The tunnel though small is a fantastic place to see. There are more sharks and some enormous turtles smimming around with a variety of large fish. You can view them through windows before walking through the tunnel where you are completely surrounded by water. You could spend hours watching the animals swimming around you. It's extremely relaxing!

To finish your visit you enter the mirror maze! Just make sure you don't rush through it or you will bump into the glass! The kids would love this bit i'm sure! You then exit through the shop and that's your visit over.

Though I enjoyed my visit I expected more. You would struggle to spend more than 2 or 3 hours there which is enough for most people, but for the price you pay to get in I think there should be more on offer. If you can get hold of the widely available 2 for 1 vouchers it's a bit better but I think full price paying adults would be disapointed. Kids will love this place but adults should maybe visit one of the bigger centres elseware in the country.

Summary: Worth a visit but only with a 2 for 1 voucher