 Just one of the many sights! 
All The Fun Of The Sea In The Midlands!
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Recommendation added: 10/07/2006 14:36
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +704)dewberry has been thanked 3 times for this contribution
"A definite must see in Birmingham is the National Sea Life Centre. This is where children and adults living in the landlocked Midlands can see some of the creatures which live in the various seas touching the UK, and also from further afield.
From the outside the building doesn't really look big enough to house it all, but when you go inside you'll see that looks really can be deceiving. It's absolutely huge with a massive foyer where you pay your admission and stairs leading up towards the display tanks.
Once you've paid in you're free to wander around to your hearts content. There really is a bit of everything in here; from some of the smaller shark species to seahorses and turtles.
My seven year old particularly loves the clownfish and every time we visit she has to spend some time watching 'Nemo'. These cute little fish are part of the Totally Tropical display which also includes a selection of rays, sharks, barracudas and loads more. The best thing about the Tropical display is after looking in the various tanks you can walk through a glass tunnel where the beautiful (and sometimes downright scary) fish will swim on either side and above your head. If you're not as claustrophobic as me (I can't stand this tunnel for more than a few minutes) then loiter around until a flatfish swims above you – their little faces on the underside of their bodies are brilliant!
A new display is AmaZonia, here they've recreated the Amazon river and rainforests where you can study electric eels, piranhas, revolting looking poison dart frogs and the less deadly catfish and others. A wonderful display, you feel as though you're really walking along this huge river and it's quite disconcerting how close to some of the scarier fish you really are – even despite being separated by glass! The kids loved this section and raced from side to side to make sure they saw as much as possible as the fish streaked from one end of the display to the other.
The Tropical Ocean display is definitely my favourite part of the Sea Life Centre. I adore turtles and here are some of the biggest sea turtles in the country, I can spend an hour in this section just watching them lazily making their way around the tank. These are kept with some small sharks which aren't a threat to the turtles; in fact the Sea Life Centre houses specific species together when they 'live' together in the open waters. This works brilliantly, and I've only heard of a couple of instances where a certain fish has had to be removed because it was being picked on by another.
There's much more to see at the Sea Life Centre, so much in fact that I simply can't get it all down into one review. I'd definitely recommend asking at reception for the various feeding times as this is great fun to watch the fish torpedoing to the top of the water when they realise it's food time. In particular the seahorse feeding time is brilliant, the Sea Life Centre is involved in a seahorse breeding programme and if you manage to catch one of the four times daily slots then you'll see the fascinating little creatures in all their various stages of development.
At the moment the Sea Life Centre have slashed their admission prices with an adult ticket being reduced from £11.50 to just £6.50, and a child's ticket now costing just £4.50. There's no family ticket available now so for a family of four you can expect admission to cost £22. This sounds a lot, but there really is so much to do that it's well worth the money and you can easily spend a whole day here just observing the fish and other sea creatures.
When you've seen everything you can visit the fantastic gift shop which is located just before the exit. Here you can buy cuddly toys, books about sea life, dolphin shaped magnets, tea towels etc… In fact there's anything you can think of as long as it's decorated with fish! Prices are quite reasonable in the gift shop; as a brief example I bought two personalised dolphin badges, a soft Nemo, two holographic notebooks and a set of pencils and rubbers for the children and this totalled £14.76 when I reached the checkout. Not bad considering the same haul in Cadbury World would probably cost in excess of £20.
There are a couple of cafes where you can stop for a quick coffee or sit down for a full meal, these are very pricey though and it really does make sense to stash a few snacks in your bag and eat at one of the nearby Broad Street restaurants when you've finished your visit.
The Sea Life Centre is fully accessible to both people in wheelchairs and families with pushchairs. The aisles between the tanks are extremely wide and lifts are available to get you between the floors avoiding the rather steep stairs. It is a long walk around the centre though, so if you have mobility problems bear this in mind – my asthmatic mum finds the walking here too much for her even when using the lift instead of the steps.
The Sea Life centre opens each morning at 10am with last admission being 4pm, be prepared for queues if you arrive just after opening time as the admissions kiosks tend to get busy until around lunchtime when the it eases off.
There's no car park at the Sea Life Centre, although you can use the Brindley Place pay and display car park which is located roughly a two minute walk away. If you're coming by car, head into Birmingham City Centre and follow the numerous signs for the Sea Life Centre. It's easier for me to say this than to give you the directions as the Centre is brilliantly signposted and you really can't go wrong once you've spotted your first sign – then you just follow them like a trail.
If you're visiting by train you can get off at New Street Station or Snow Hill Station, with both of these options being a 15 minute or so walk through a pretty part of the City Centre again following the Sea Life Centre signs. You can get loads of buses along Broad Street from all over the City; probably the best one to get is the number 28 which you can either catch in town or from the South and East Birmingham areas. This bus will drop you at The Brasshouse (a posh Broad Street pub) and from here the Sea Life Centre is a two minute walk through the canal section.
The National Sea Life Centre
The Waters Edge
Brindley Place
Birmingham
B1 2HL
Tel: 0121 643 6777 or the 24 hour information line is 0121 633 4700"
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