Face Your Fears at Scarborough Sea Life Sanctuary

During the half term from 26th October to 1st November as well as all the usual fishy fun you would find at the Sea Life Centres you can also get hands on with some other creepy crawlies & creatures at no extra cost. Last week we were lucky enough to be added to the press guest list at the Scarborough Sea Life Centre & invited along to their special "Face Your Fears" event. I knew this would be right up Amelias street so accepted the challenge.

The following Wednesday came around & the weather outside was miserable. The perfect day to have some indoor fun at Scarborough Sea Life! We collected our press pack from the front desk which included badges, vouchers & the NEW dive adventure quiz trail for Amelia to complete. Before you begin you are invited to have a family photo with some rather tongue in cheek superimposed backgrounds. Well where else are you going to get snapped with a humongous tarantula.

The first sea creatures to greet us were a big tank of Anemones & we instantly felt like we were in the movie Finding Nemo. Moving through the aquarium we saw so many different varieties of fish from cute Nemo type Clown Fish to more spooky looking ones, but all seemed curious & came to say hello. With over 50 displays of marine life you are really spoilt for choice.

You had the shy ones that liked to blend into the background & not be noticed.

And then some like the Jelly Fish which were downright show offs & wanted to be the centre of attention. 

 When out of the aquarium we were just in time for the NEW attraction of walking with the penguins. James quietly lead us through the Penguins enclosure & was on hand for any questions we had about the Penguins. Although they are from Peru & the weather here at the moment is particularly cold for them, they were happy to waddle over & meet us & then later dive down under the cold water to come & wave hello to us through the window as we watched them swimming under water.

We managed to catch the tail end(pardon the pun) of the Otter feeding session & paid a visit to Virgil the Seal who we had heard had been brought in with an injured mouth the day before. He looked quite poorly & was coughing a lot bless him, but we know that with the love & care of the staff at Scarborough Sea Life which is Yorkshires only Seal hospital, he'll go on to make a full recovery. It also surprised us to learn that it costs £2000 for only 6 weeks of rehab for each Seal that is saved by the centre meaning every visit & penny spent by us the general public at the Sea Life Centres really does help to save these beautiful creatures.

We were excited to see the Seals being fed & learn all about them but unfortunately by this stage the weather really was quite bad & despite the double canopied roof we only lasted 5 minutes of the talk before we were drenched through & made a run for it to the next indoor activity.

Amelia loved getting hands on with a starfish in the interactive rockpool area, but our favourite part had to be walking through the ocean tunnel & being surrounded by a multitude of different fish & Amelias favourite, Turtles. 

It was lovely seeing Amelia squeal with delight at this sensory overload & Mr Dyble & I rather liked it too. 

All this this fun had made Amelia hungry so we popped upstairs for a bite to eat & a little sit down. It was very busy & there was a 20 minute wait for food but Amelia was happy playing in the soft play area while Mr Dyble & I enjoyed the maple & pecan slice & latte deal & very nice it was too for only £3. Amelia had the kids meal deal of chicken nuggets & chips, fruit & a drink for £4. I was very happy to see that the nuggets were made of proper chicken breast. Although we had a voucher for discounted food & drink we still thought that the food was very reasonably priced. The huge baguettes looked lush. If only they did them in wholemeal I'd of been all over them. 

Next up we were in perfect time to go & learn about the Sharks & Stingrays & get a chance to hand feed them. Again we had vouchers in our press pack for this but after listening to the talk we wouldn't have minded paying the £1 to feed them because this all goes into the fund to help raise awareness of Shark finning.

With every area visited we made our way to the special "Face Your Fears" room at the back of the gift shop so that Amelia could take the challenge of holding all the creepy crawlies & creatures on offer. Amelia handed in her ticket from collecting all of the stamps in her dive adventure quiz on her way around the centre & got to do the yukky dip & won a lolly. 

Then, after patiently waiting her turn Amelia began her "Face Your Fears" challenge. 

As you'll see by the pictures, she was in her element & relished the challenge.

 She had Lizards on her head, Snakes wrapped round her neck & even had a little kiss with the Snake as well.

Devon was on hand to help, answer questions & had a rather grumpy python wrapped around his neck called John, who seemed to keep a watchful eye on me!

Now although Amelia often collects spiders around the house for me & carefully puts them back outside I didn't think she would hold a Tarantula, but she did!! 

For those wondering, she said it was fluffy & soft & very very light. 

After one final kiss & cuddle with her favourite snake we knelt down next to her so that Devon could take a family snap for the album. Good job Devon! 

And that my friends was the end of our fab experience at the Scarborough Sea Life Centre. I can honestly say that i would highly recommend a visit here as there really is something for everyone.

Tips & Observations

If you don't mind hills you can park for FREE on Scalby Mills Road

To the right of the pay desk is a handy buggy park

Holidays are very busy so try & get there at 10am to beat the rush

Collect your ltd edition "Face Your Fears" pop badge. Only 2000!

Seek out meal deals & offers in the restaurant for the best value

Bring a brolly & warm clothes for the outdoor activities

Check online for special ticket offers

Currently Scarborough Sea Life are offering over 50% off entry when you book online

I would like to extend a massive thanks to the Scarborough Sea Life Facebook team for inviting us along this half term & to the staff members mentioned who went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We had a fabulous time & made some very special memories.