SEA LIFE Weymouth Weymouth Sealife Sanctuary

JamesB

JamesB

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Planning on going here, has anyone been or would like any photos of anything in particular?
 
I've been 5 times, and think it's fantastic. Very different to many sea life centres, with three outdoor enclosures for common seals, short-clawed otters and humboldt penguins, and six indoor aquariums: AmaZone, Tropical Shark Nursery, Bay of Rays, Seahorse Breeding Centre, Venom (Look out for the sea snakes) and the Turtle Sanctuary (top class).
 
Marwell Dalek said:
I've been 5 times, and think it's fantastic. Very different to many sea life centres, with three outdoor enclosures for common seals, short-clawed otters and humboldt penguins, and six indoor aquariums: AmaZone, Tropical Shark Nursery, Bay of Rays, Seahorse Breeding Centre, Venom (Look out for the sea snakes) and the Turtle Sanctuary (top class).
Click to expand...

yes it sounds fantastic, in general i dont like sealife centres but this one is slightly different

i will visit in february halfterm, thanks!
 
I've been about 4 or 5 times over the years and leave disappointed everytime. I stopped going about 6 years ago. I didn't realise it had become a sanctuary.
 
Tigerlemurguy said:
thanks alot, why didnt you like it?
Click to expand...

I don't really know, it was great when it first opened in the mid eighties, but every visit after that it seemed to take quicker. The last time i went it felt like i forked out a lot of money to not see much. The visit was over rather quick and if i was to have made a day trip to visit it rather than actually having been there on holiday i would have been very disappointed. I don't remember there being any seals whenever i went. The best bit was being able to touch the rays, although i'm not sure this is allowed anymore. I wouldn't want my views to put you off, because i suppose we all see things different, but my visit to living coasts last year left me feeling ripped off for what turned out to be an half hour visit. Sealife centre is a bit longer, but i left feeling ripped off there too.
 
Back in the 90's there used to be a tropical house next door to the sealife centre, it had reptiles and birds. It also had a tropical rainstorm every fifteen minutes. Sadly it's gone now.
 
Weymouth Sealife is not a sanctuary. They rebranded themselves a couple of years ago to reflect/justify the fact that they now hold seals, turtles otters etc. They are the main holding centre for stock that has been caught in the wild before distribution to the other large sealife centres still owned by the same company (some of the smaller ones were sold off a decade ago). They are net consumers of pretty much every species they hold, with the very odd exception. The seal, penguin and otter thing was a company roll-out, several of the other centres got otter and penguins to join their existing seals, and they tried to introduce seals and otters to Brighton, but backed down due to local opposition (I know people have an issue with animal rights protesters, but anyone who has been to the brighton sealife centre will know that the the sunken entrance steps in the middle of brighton nightlife are not suitable or big enough for aquatic mammals).

This is not a serious aquarium.
 
thanks for that, am i right in understanding that the brighton aquarium is pretty small?

despite that i will still visit and see what i think of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top