Affiliate links in this post will be clearly marked with a *. Clicking one of these links means I earn a discount or receive payment.
Recently we decided to go to Southend for the day. As well as my husband, Daisy and myself visiting we also took my Father-In-Law with us. We went on a huge walk along Southend Pier, had fish & chips, visited the beach and we went to Sealife Adventure Southend too. It was a fantastic day and I want to share our Sealife Adventure Southend review with you.
Daisy loved that there were viewing blocks and platforms everywhere for smaller people to see too. This mad it more fun for all of us and meant I could rest my arms for a few seconds!
When we arrived at Sealife Adventure Southend we didn’t have any tickets already. You can buy in advance, online, and get yourself a bit of a discount. As I hold an NUS card, and my Father-in-law is 60+ we were able to save a little bit of money on our tickets.
It came to just over £33 instead of £39. Not a bad little saving really! Daisy got free entry for being under 90cm. I’m not entirely sure she is under 90cm but she was in a pram and I did query it but nobody seemed to think she was that tall!
As soon as we went through the entrance we could look down to the left and see the new Otters enclosure. This wasn’t there last time we visited and it looked lovely.
There were shaded areas and this lovely waterfall. Only one Otter was present when we visited but it was still fun to see it up close. Also, this enclosure is visible right near the exit too, when you walk past it at ground level.
Around Sealife Adventure Southend there were lots of these large sturdy viewing blocks for children. This meant that little ones can stand on the blocks, with parental supervision, and see the animals up close.
This was a lovely touch. Also, it provided a great opportunity to have a great from carrying Daisy all day.
Daisy was almost close enough to touch the water in a lot of enclosures. This was great fun for her.
We wouldn’t actually let her touch the water, or animals, as this isn’t permitted, but it was great fun to wave around near them anyway.
There were some amazing fish on display here. Some of the fish were from the sea, and there was lots of educational information around Sealife Adventure Southend too.
There were interactive areas where you could press buttons to answer questions and this was quite fun. Particularly if you got an answer wrong! I love being able to learn as well as see the lovely animals for the money paid.
There were multiple areas in Sealife Adventure Southend representing different animals and their habitats. For example there was a Rainforest Adventure area that had some seriously cool animals. There was a ray bay where you could see various types of fish and rays, including stingrays.
The HMS Sub tropical area was my favourite and I loved that there was an underwater tunnel to see multiple animals up close. This was one of the best parts for me – and Daisy loved it when Daddy appeared in a viewing bubble in the distance too!
When we went to visit the Ray Bay there were lots of animals there that loved the attention. They would swim over, right along the side, perhaps hoping that it was feeding time.
The stingrays looked particularly adorable, but perhaps that is part of their lure to get you to touch them!
Daisy loved the various portholes that we could look through to see the animals up close. This was great fun and again there were fantastic viewing blocks here too.
Facilities at Sealife Adventure Southend
There was a cafe at Sealife Adventure Southend, called the ‘Three Shells cafe’. They had the usual food such as jacket potatoes, salads, panini and full English breakfasts. We had a sandwich, panini and jacket potato between the 3 adults.
As Daisy has a lot of allergies (FPIES) we took some food for her and got her some toast as well. The food was nice quality, well prepared and came with a side salad. It wasn’t anything special, but it was nice enough and the price was typical for this sort of place.
I paid £6 for a jacket potato with butter and tuna mayonnaise. The potato on its own was £4, but the tuna mayonnaise added another £2 to the price.
They had a gift shop at Sealife Adventure Southend selling the usual items. Rubbers, soft toys, that sort of fare. We didn’t buy anything so can’t comment much on this.
They had male and female toilets and a separate baby changing area. The baby changing area was clean but a little bit on the cramped side if going in with a pram.
They had a breastfeeding area and there was a nice chair to relax on if you were breastfeeding. Also, there was a television on the wall to keep little ones, and parents, entertained. This is always a nice touch but the space was a tiny bit smaller than I would have liked.
The penguins were absolutely lovely. Being able to see them up close was great fun and this one wanted to play a game with us! Very cool.
Animals at Sealife Adventure Southend
There were a wide variety of animals to see such as Sharks, Crabs, Lobsters, Otters, Penguins, Stingrays, Turtles, Crocodiles, Frogs, Meerkats and Jellyfish. I’m not entirely sure why there are meerkats, as they don’t live in the sea, but they were fun to look at anyway! Their enclosure looked quite nice too.
Was Sealife Adventure Southend value for money?
Yes, for sure. Firstly there was a wide variety of animals and enclosures. Then there was an education room, a sea nursery and lots of other fun unexpected areas. I felt that there was sufficient information about each of the species as we went around.
There were signs on the wall explaining more about the animals, how rare they are and if they are endangered etc. This was all fun to read and there were the great interactive question boards too that were fun.
With our tickets costing from £10.20 – £12.95 I felt we got good value. Best of all Sealife Adventure Southend are part of the Tesco Clubcard boost scheme so you can get even better value that way.
If you are heading off to Southend for the day, and want to kill a couple of hours, then you can’t go wrong really. You probably won’t spend an entire day here, unless you watch the talks and animal feeding, but it is fun anyway. Best of all the beach is right outside.
If you want to have a break, and come back, you can thanks to the wristbands that you are provided with.
If you enjoyed this post I’d love it if you could pin it on Pinterest!
