Zoo Rating: Blue Planet Aquarium

Blue Planet Aquarium

Ellesmere Port, United Kingdom

About the Zoo

Henk The Blue Planet Aquarium opened its doors in 1998. By then, it was the biggest aquarium in the United Kingdom. The main tnak holds 4 million liters of water and contains a 71 meter long underwater tunnel. The aquarium has more than 100 displays and has one of the biggest shark collections in Europe.

1. Species

The zoo houses one of Europe’s biggest shark collections, has a big diversity of fish and a small amount of other animals. It might not be the most spectacular collection, but the great variety of different fish and the shark collection still makes it a nice species collection.

Score: 7

2. Animal welfare

Most of the tanks are quite big, none of them being too small for the amount of animals in it.

Score: 7

3. Construction

Beautiful. Every area in the aquarium is themed very well and it makes the aquarium a lot more interesting.

Score: 8

4. Accommodations

The aquarium has just one restaurant, while it is quite big. This does mean that if you want to have a drink or a snack, you have to walk a bit.

Score: 6

5. Education

Nothing major, just the standard exhibit signs.

Score: 6

6. Interaction/

The aquarium gives you the opportunity to dive with sharks. This is a special tour though, for which you need to pay seperately. Other than that, the aquarium has a big underwater tunnel, that lets you come real close to the animals.

Score: 6.5

Total Score: 6.8

The Blue Planet Aquarium is one of the more different aquariums, also one where you’ll spend more than 1-1.5 hours. The whole subtropical atmosphere they created makes visitting it much more interesting. Altogether the aquarium definitly makes a nice day trip that you’ll enjoy for sure.

Gerben, 16/05/2014