Marras and More - a trip to the Maryport Aquarium

Yesterday we took a quick trip to Maryport Aquarium.

Maryport's not somewhere I've spent a lot of time before, I have recollections of travelling through it as a child and my memories were not flattering. We didn't spend a lot of time there yesterday (B had an appointment with Sky Sports later) but what I saw of the place was enough to encourage us to return.

It reminded me of Eyemouth a lot - somewhere I know a lot better even though it's 100+ miles away, cos I used to live nearby. The comparisons are obvious - both places are fishing towns with history of smuggling and tragedy, and are struggling to find their place in a world of dwindling fish stocks, quotas and cheaper imports.

The harbour at Maryport - dare we say marina - looks northwards to the south Solway coast of Scotland, and Criffel. In the town there are old 18thC buildings, narrow hilly Victorian streets and even a Roman fort and museum (one to return to, although there's not much left of the fort!)

So we arrived at the Aquarium and paid our entry (fiver each) and onward inside. We had arrived just in time for a talk about cod and coley by a local lad with a fantastic marra (west Cumbrian) accent.

Of course the place was full of kids - it's that sort of place. But thankfully there wasn't much emphasis on the twee and more on the education - which was equally valuable for adults.

Most of the exhibits are of local UK natives - not just fish but lots of anemones, shrimp, and crabs. We spent about an hour in the galleries, observing, photographing and videoing - but sadly because of the light-bending nature of the tanks we didn't get many decent pictures.

I especially loved the hermit crabs and octopus, spent ages watching them move around in the water. I also had a very meaningful psychic conversation with a coley in possession of enormous, clear eyes. In the flatfish tank there was a mad turbot spinning around which did nothing for its attempt at camouflage! And of course the seahorses and pipefish were hypnotic.

We saw the octopus being fed; Marra boy dropped a crab into the top of the tank and when it started waving its arms about, the octopus spotted it and pounced, injecting digestive juices to later suck it back up (like a spider does I suppose). Earlier I saw the same octopus doing that shooty squirty swimmy thing - scooooch right across the tank! Didn't get that on video but I got some of it walking about - I'll add this here as soon as I work out how to do it...

After all this we were hungry (!) so visited the cafe - very acceptable menu including not surprisingly various fish dishes. I ordered a baked potato and it came with masses of side salad which for a couple of quid was great value. The bacon bap was nice too (so I'm told).

So a quick shufty in the gift shop (targetted at the school trip hoards - fair enough perhaps) we headed back for the footie. We will return!

With apologies for the lack of focus on some of these: