Exploring Octopus Hideout

This week seems to have flown by.  Our final day of half term is tomorrow and the girls have lots of ideas planned in.  This morning saw us have a very early start, at 5,45am to be precise, in order to head over the Pennines to Manchester.  The girls did not know where we were going, as I wanted to both surprise them and give them a reward for behaving so well over half term.

The girls began to get excited as we came up to the junction on the M62, instantly recognising where we were and recalling the last visit we had.  Needless to say when we stopped the car I had some very excited children who could not wait to get inside and explore.

Although this was not our first visit to the SeaLife Centre in Manchester, the girls were just as excited to return and wasted no time in exploring.

In the tank

We had been invited to visit the new Octopus hideout attraction at SeaLife Manchester, and every window we peered into the girls were on the look out for an Octopus.  

Checking for an Octopus

We made our way around SeaLife Manchester peering into all the nooks, and checking all the hiding places.

bright colours

My youngest suddenly got very excited by what she could see in the large tank, and my eldest came rushing over.  

what can she see?

It was Ernie swimming past!

Ernie swimming past

We also managed to find Nemo, but still no Octopus

Nemo in a tunnel

The bright colours in the tanks drew the girls in and they began pointing things they could see and asking questions about the other sea life.

colourful tank

Some of the creatures were simply intriguing 

sea creature

But all of them seemed very happy

happy sting ray

The girls then got very excited as we entered Octopus hideout.  First was trying to spot the Nautilus.  They were hiding at the top of the tank.

Nautilus

We then tried to spot the baby Cuttlefish hiding in the sand

Hiding cuttlefish

The teeny tiny Atlantic Long Arm Octopus, a small sea creature with arms longer than its 90 millimetre body, had decided to play hide and seek.  Unfortunately for us it was rather good at the game.


It was finally time to meet the star attraction of Octopus hideout, Hank.  Hank is one of the biggest octopus species in the world, the Giant Pacific Octopus.  They can weigh up to 50 kilograms and can grow to a huge five metres in length.  Hank seemed to be playing a little shy, but Dan told us he had been out playing earlier and gave us lots of useful information about him.

Hank, Octopus SeaLife Manchester

The girls had a wonderful time exploring SeaLife Manchester, and of course learning about how amazing and intelligent octopus are.  Thing 3 even enjoyed themselves, and we cannot wait to take them to visit again

bump and fish

Thank you SeaLife Manchester for inviting us to Octopus hideout, we had a wonderful day.

This day I love Exploring Octopus Hideout. 

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12 comments

  1. Ah looks like a fab day out, I'm yet to take Archie to a sealife centre but will have to pop it on our list now he's old enough as he will absolutely love it! Thanks for linking up to #MarvMondays. Kaye xo

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  2. What a wonderful half term treat and gorgeous photos

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  3. Looks great. AMAZING photos :) #TriedTested

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  4. It sounds like you had such a wonderful day out....Great photos x

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  5. I'd seen that quite a few people had been to SeaLife this week - it looks fab #AnimalTales

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  6. Looks like you had a fab day and great pics! #bestandworst xx

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  7. Looks a great day out even though the octopi were hiding. We went to Oceanarium in Bournemouth last year on a rainy day of our holiday and loved it too #TriedTested

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  8. What a fab day out, my son would sealife centre, we took him to a bit aquarium last year and he loved it! Lovely pictures, thanks for linking up #bestandworst

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  9. Looks like a great place to visit. Its been ages since we visited a sealife centre, we must go again.
    Thanks for sharing with #LetKidsBeKids

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  10. This looks like tons of fun! I remember taking my eldest daughter when she was younger to the Chicago aquarium, I was just as much in awe as she was. :)
    Thanks for sharing with us at #MMBH!
    XOXO

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  11. I do love a good sea life centre and it amazes me how much life there is under the oceans that we normally never get to see ... or in the case of Hank you still never get to see! Many thanks for adding a shy octopus to #AnimalTales :)

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  12. I love wandering round aquariums, i could spend all day, everyday inside one

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