Nick, my legal crony, whom I visited in Hull, was hesitant to go to the Deep. Whether this be due to the fact he had convinced himself it cost £1000.00 to get in, or that he viewed the activity as childish, I shall never know. However, I am glad that St Nick came to his senses as I was quite keen to go and do a childish activity in otherwise adult Hull. The Deep was founded in 2002 as part of the Millennium Project and is the only one to make a profit, a fact St Nick tells me at every available opportunity. I was deeply, ho ho, impressed with the whole place.
Stamp showing the tip of the Deep
Open since 2002, The Deep operates as an education and conservation charity and in recent years has become an international player in marine conservation. Forging partnerships with key governing bodies, conservation organisations and other reputable zoos and aquariums we are working to make an impact in the protection of our oceans. The Deep
Making new friends
The first impressive part of the Deep was the building itself. I’ll include a photograph below to keep you in suspense but it is a work of architectural genius. On entering, you either climb what feels like 15 flights of stairs or take a lift up to the top floor, and work your way down. The above was one of the first friends we made.
The Deep is home to the UK’s only green swordfish, which I captured in motion above. We asked one of the stewards, (or would you call them fish handlers?) how they stopped the sharks in this large tank form eating the other fish. They told us that they went to extreme lengths to keep each fish species fed on their favourite foods so as to keep them satisfied. However, as with the circle of life, we were told that when some of the older fish get weaker and separate from the group, the sharks tend to pick them off as an extra snack. How moribund!
Blue poison dart frogs
There was a non watery section in the middle of the Deep which included these beautiful poison dart frogs. They were so named because the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest would coat their spears and darts in the oil secreted from the frogs’ backs, which is rather poisonous. A great sustainable hunting tool.
The spectacular finale of the tour of the Deep included a tunnel under the main aquarium and several viewing spots up and down the main aquarium also. This was particularly wonderful and where we saw the above turtle swimming at us slowly, almost nefariously, possibly trying to out swim the shark.
In all, this was somewhat childish an experience in that it propelled one back to their own childhood when parents, bereft of ideas but able to dispense income, took one to aquariums. Indeed there were myriad children plaguing the place, though we did go on a weekend. This is well worth a visit and two hours of anyone’s time and may be the best thing I have done in Hull sober.
The Deep