CONFIDENTIAL PROMOTION
TUCKED away in The Trafford Centre’s Barton Arcade you’ll find a small but perfectly formed Sea Life aquarium.
Our journey into this underwater world began with a welcome at the entrance by Tyler the Turtle, before we picked up our Sea Life passports, filled with extra facts and spaces for the stamps we’ll collect as we walk around.
A bunch of pretty jellyfish appeared, so we stopped to admire these colourful creatures up close, while in the giant tunnel walkway sharks swam above our heads.
We visited on a weekend, when there’s an extra Lego treasure hunt available, encouraging young visitors to look deep into the blue and find objects that irresponsible Lego divers have dropped. I do recommend getting involved with these activities as it adds another fun facet to the adventure.
Treasure hunt - The Scuba Divers’ mislaid oxygen tankFirst, we walked into a darkened room, featuring a giant moon, and were met by an enthusiastic member of staff armed with a microphone, ready to give a turtle talk.
I was bracing myself to have to tell my impatient three year old to ‘shhh’, but the projected images accompanying the story really brought the sea turtle’s journey to life, capturing my child’s attention and imagination.
Next, we moved into the main aquarium where the journey really begins, with nooks and crannies revealing tiny windows into the underwater world.
Crawling through a tunnel, we looked up to see a cylinder that allows visitors to stand up and immerse themselves in the world of the fishes, like an old school diver, minus the heavy helmet.
A bunch of pretty jellyfish appeared, so we stopped to admire these colourful creatures up close, while in the giant tunnel walkway sharks swam above our heads.
This was also our chance to spot the legendary Sea Turtle Ernie. The aquarium rescued Ernie straight from a dinner plate in Mexico, and he’s since found a safe home in Manchester. There’s so much to learn about him and how other kinds of turtles are born.
The sharks were the stars of the tunnel walkwayA small play area and a toilet came at the perfect time for a comfort break, before we ventured to the next room – which was all about crabs.
I’d love to tell you more about these but we made a snappy escape as the crabs were too creepy for the kids (Okay, too scary for me). My relief was short lived, however, as there was a rock pool outside filled with a whole manner of sea creatures that visitors are allowed to touch - crabs included – with Sea Life staff on hand to give you and your children a confidence boost and tell you all about the friendly guys on display.
Star fish, shrimps, crabs and sticky sea anemonesA quick wash of our hands and we arrived on a beach. It wasn’t quite up to Blue Flag standards so we helped to fix that by clearing the rubbish and the potential dangers floating in the sea. This is Sea Life’s Turtle Beach interactive game, which serves as a fun educational reminder to take any rubbish home next time you visit the sea side.
The obligatory exit through the gift shop gave us a chance to look at the photographs I don’t usually buy - but a snap of us being attacked by piranhas was a fun twist I couldn’t resist. It took us around an hour and a half to walk around Sea Life, but we could have spent longer, if we had lingered in the crab exhibit or read all the information provided about the sea creatures. Still, that just leaves us something to do on our next visit!
Kids go free right now at Sea Life. Get the deal
