Deep Sea World Edinburgh
discover life beneath the waves without getting wet
Deep Sea World is a visitor attraction close to Edinburgh, fully enclosed and family friendly. So it SHOULD be a good day out on a wet and miserable Scottish Day.
Where is it?
Strictly speaking, Deep Sea World isn't actually in Edinburgh. It is in fact in a small village called South Queensferry which is located just over the Forth Road Bridge, but it is easy to get to and perhaps more importantly return from, if you are based in the capital.
Easy to get to?
The author of this article visited it on a typical wet Scottish Summer Saturday. The attraction itself is easy to find, it is well signposted from all the main roads nearby and there are special tour buses which run from Edinburgh (information from all the local Tourist Information Offices) or indeed by rail.
What is there?
Once arriving at the attraction the first problem is encountered: the car park is far too small for even a modest amount of visitors. What makes it doubly inconvenient is that the village is quite small with winding roads which clearly weren't designed to have both parked and moving cars at the same time. The first impressions weren't good, especially if you had planned on having a dry day out undercover as you will get wet before even entering the attraction, due to having to park some distance away and walk. The second impression wasn't particularly good either as, finally getting to the entrance, the queue to get in seemed to move very slowly and the children in the queue were getting restless.
Once inside the attraction is well laid out and easy to navigate. The main building plays host to a variety of marine life which is divided into sections such as "The Amazon, Rocky Shores, Krakatoa, etc" which showcases appropriate exhibits. In addition to the smaller exhibits, the two main attractions within the complex are the rock pool and the shark tunnel.
The rock pool was especially crowded with young children who are able to see and touch (under staff supervision) a variety of marine animals. The tip here is that the staff start on the pool on the right hand side. You can easily see what is happening if you stand in the centre at the middle pool from the start and will have a very good view of the more interesting exhibits as he/she moves from pool to pool.
The shark tunnel was also interesting in that it was feeding time (again the noticeboard at the entrance advises of times) and some of the staff were actually in the large tank that surrounds the tunnel feeding the fish and sharks. However, one downside of this was that people were standing looking and there was no room to pass and a severe bottleneck occurred. Perhaps it should have been better organised as the walkway within the tunnel is split into two parts. One an automated moving section, similar to a travelway, which was turned off. The other part being a fixed area which those who wanted to stand and watch, could have utilised. Better organisation perhaps.
The final attraction is the seal sanctuary. Which in all honesty, is very small with only two seals. Feeding time is quite interesting (there is a board at the entrance which advises of times) but quite short. Also if you do not get there early and have young children, they will have no chance of seeing the "show" as the poor layout is compounded by the 4 foot wire fence separating the viewing area from the seals.
The attraction itself has received mixed reviews and any search of the world wide web will confirm this.
Value for money?
Quite simply, no. The attraction is very pricey, especially if you have any children. The prices themselves (which are posted on their website) are high and when combined with travelling costs then it is difficult to justify this as a "day out". You will simply not be able to spend a lot of time in the attraction as many of the exhibits are very similar. Realistically a maximum of 2 hours could be spent there, although this may be a lot less depending on your interest in marine life.
