Holiday in Wales, day 4, Thursday7 May, ( part 1)
Thursday was a free day for us to wander
around Rhyl as we pleased. No rush, no deadlines, no coach times to keep too
and Dagmar had the day off to recoup ready to drive us all home the following
day. For the first time we ate breakfast without keeping one eye on the time. Surprise,
surprise, the rain had finally stopped falling, the sun came out and the sky
was blue (ish).Our plan was to visit the SeaQuarium which was conveniently
opposite the hotel directly after breakfast.
After the SeaQuarium we planned on heading
back to the hotel room for a quick lunch, rest and feet up on the bed time.
Then off out again to see what we could find in the town itself. Finally, a
short stroll along the beach before heading back to the hotel for the final
time to pack.
So
this is the first part of the day, our visit to the SeaQuarium. At this point I
have to say the SeaQuarium itself was a bit disappointing, I’ve been to a lot
better and this one was relatively expensive. If I wanted to sound very
negative I would say it wasn’t very big, it was rather run down and in places
in need of a paint job plus it was expensive. But remembering ‘positive
attitude’ we paid our entrance fee, which was made a fraction less expensive
with a senior discount, (oh how I love being old sometimes), and entered with
the attitude we would find some interesting things to take photos of even if it
wasn’t the best aquarium we had ever
seen.
Just inside the entrance was the terrapin
and turtle pond. They were mostly red eared terrapins but there was also a
grumpy looking snapping turtle, he looked like he would have your finger off
given half a chance. These red eared terrapins were all rescued, well not
exactly rescued from the wild but donated by owners who didn’t want them any
more. Terrapins were very popular little pets not that long ago but people
didn’t realise how big they would grow, how aggressive they could get, how much
space they would need or even how smelly their tank would become. The ones here
were the size of a good dinner plate and I could see how much cleaning it would
take if these were in a tank in your house. This is why they ended up here
laying on top of each other warming themselves under the over-tank lighting. I
think the reason they kept climbing on each other was to be higher and closer
to the heat source. They shared a pond with a collection of ornamental Kio
Carp, which again I thought quite odd because ordinarily terrapins would eat
any fish they come into contact with, or at least take huge chunk out of their
sides.
I think the secret to the apparent pond harmony was to keep the
terrapins extremely well fed and make sure all fish were far too big to fit
into the terrapin’s beaks.
The one solitary snapping turtle looked very grumpy
and kept himself to himself, he didn’t partake in the terrapin mountain under
the over-tank lighting.
After the terrapins and the solitary
snapping turtle, we wandered on to look at the tanks full of fish. I was very
taken with the lion fish, technical name Pterois, but also known as zebrafish,
firefish, turkeyfish or butterfly-cod.
It’s hard to believe something so beautiful
can be so deadly. In humans, Pterois venom can cause extreme pain, nausea,
vomiting, fever, breathing difficulties, convulsions, dizziness, redness on the
affected area, headache, numbness, pins and needles, heartburn, diarrhea, and
sweating. On rare occasions, such stings can cause temporary paralysis of the
limbs, heart failure, and even death. Thankfully fatalities are usually
confined to the young and vulnerable. Oh Yuk, so glad it was safely behind
glass. It’s beautiful to look at but not so nice to stand on.
After the lion fish onward to the star
fish, I’ve seen loads of star fish before on the beach or swimming in the
shallow pools left at low tide but
They
seemed to like getting their photo taken before swimming off to do what ever it
is fishies do all day.
Finally, we had a small display of tiny
jelly fish and sea urchins. This display was back lit, with ever changing
colours. It looked very pretty but couldn’t I help wondering what they thought
of their psychedelic world. If I lived in a constantly changing florescent
multi-coloured environment I’d get a headache.
There was also a small walk through tunnel
with little sharks laying about over our heads, a little disconcerting to say
the least plus, the light wasn’t very good for photos so I didn’t bother. After
the overhead resting sharks, we went out into the fresh air and had our first
glimpse of the sea lion pool.
I’m assuming, after the story we were told
about the origins of these sea lions, the above link is actually a link to
their particular species. I am always a bit (a lot) concerned about performing
sea mammals. I feel so sorry for them having such a small space to swim after
presumably swimming free in the ocean and I’m also concerned at how they are
made to perform, or even if they should be performing at all. Anyway, I approached one of the trainers and
asked lots of questions. Apparently (I was told) sea lions in South Africa
are considered vermin because of the damage they do to nets and fish stocks.
The mothers are slaughtered leaving the pups to die alone on the beach and the
sea lions we were seeing were some of the pups who had been rescued.
The one in
the photos whose name is Zoe, was 18 years old, much, much older than any sea
lion would be living wild plus she was born blind in one eye which, in the wild
would have meant her imminent demise. Because all of these had been in
captivity for so long they were not suitable for release into the wild and even
if they were, they faced the whole scale slaughter in their place of origin.
After being told their story I guess I felt a bit better about the whole performing
sea mammal thing, but to be honest, it still doesn’t sit right with me. I would
far prefer to see them swimming around doing their own thing in a far larger
body of water.
But, to be fair, not
every one thinks like me and at least this way their performances bring in much
needed cash which guarantees their home for a bit longer. And Zoe seemed happy
enough and she looked as if she had a close bond with her female trainer. Still
can’t bring myself to share lots of pictures of performing sea mammals though,
most of these were taken before the performance started.
In the other side of the pond were lovely
little rescued grey seals just like the ones we occasionally see following the
fishing boats or in the harbours around where we live. I was pleased to know
the seals and sea lions do get on well together. Once performances are over the
partition is removed and they all share all of the pool which gives them twice
as much space to play in.
And I think that will do for now. I have so
many fishy photos to share I think I’ll stop here and do the after- lunch
expedition as a separate blog.
