Beside the sea-side

Following my flight simulator experience at Bournemouth airport, we headed down into Bournemouth itself to have a look around.

Having travelled 2 hours to get to the airport, it seemed a good idea to take a look around the town rather than just head straight home. I’ve been to Bournemouth twice before, once when flying out to Guernsey (on the very splendid Dan Air), we were forced to divert back to Bournemouth airport because of fog. We ended up staying in the Royal Bath Hotel (which was rather nice) and setting off again (and arriving) at Guernsey the next day. The other occasion was attending a Microsoft developer conference. Neither of these occasions gave me much chance to look around.

By the time we arrived at the sea front it was well into lunchtime and we were both ready for something to eat. Having walked through the gardens into town and had a quick look around, we decided on the Weatherspoon’s pub. It was pretty busy and we had to fight off the pensioners who kept trying to push in front to order their food and drink but we eventually got served. Beer was good but the food was a little indifferent.

After lunch we headed back to the sea front, with only a brief stop to look in a couple of shops. Herself had decreed that we would visit the Oceanarium – and so we did. We arrived at dead on 2 o clock and were told the sharks were being fed, so we rushed through the first several rooms to find the main pool. Indeed there were sharks and they were being fed. The obligatory commentary was provided by one of the staff and a fair crowd of people stood around whilst the sharks generally swam around and around the pool and didn’t seem very interested in the food. The turtles, however, were very interested (albeit in different food).

Having calmed ourselves after that excitement, we headed back to the start and wandered through the first few rooms. I wasn’t really expecting it to be too brilliant – probably a few mangy goldfish in a little tank – but it was, in fact, very good indeed. There were a variety of tanks, some of considerable size, and domes which either allowed you to put your head “inside the tank” or let the fish swim “outside the tank” making for a really good view either way. When trying to find the Piranhas we were rather shocked to find them swimming above our heads. We were also pleased to be able to spot several fish we’d seen on our various diving travels – and I even managed to identify a fish from our holiday that had been troubling me.

There was a very interesting skeleton of a turtle on display – did you know they can actually feel through their shells? – and some lovely baby sharks and rays. The interactive dive cage was, I feel, rather more targeted at children, since it didn’t seem to allow you to get very deep into any subject, but it had lots of interesting facts.

The tunnel beneath the main pool was great – the sharks and rays swam right over your heads and I got a very intimate view of a turtle too! It reminded me of the similar tunnel at the Sydney Aquarium (which is very good indeed).

Unfortunately time got the better of us and we had to rush through the last couple of sections to go and put another parking ticket on the car. But we did spend over an hour and felt we could have stayed much longer – definitely a worthwhile visit, especially if you can go when it’s not too busy.

Having recharged our parking ticket, we strolled down the pier and back. Not much going on, but it was nice to have a look around. We, of course, had to have an ice cream as well – even though the selection was somewhat limited. Finally, I got to have a quick go on some video games in the arcade: Airline Pilots – which was rubbish (and I should know), Tokyo Drift, which also wasn’t great and was over too quickly, and Mario Kart which I did rather well at (can’t imagine why). Then it was back to Oxfordshire for us.

A most agreeable day.