I visited the Blue Planet Aquarium today with Mrs H, daughter number 2 and a young friend. It’s a great place to spend a couple of hours. The entry price is quite high, but if you find vouchers it can be made quite reasonable.
The main selling point of the place is a very large tank which is reckoned to house, amongst other things, Europe’s biggest collection of sharks. An important feature of the tank is this tunnel made of clear acrylic so that you can literally walk among the various sea animals.
I’m not sure whether it was an effect of the curved acrylic, the water, or a combination of the two, but I found walking through the tunnel quite disconcerting. Things shifted in my vision in unexpected ways and sometimes different perspectives were presented almost at once. Most disconcerting.
Not unlike some conversations on the internet.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Kim 08.21.10 at 11:18 pm
I suspect it was the sharks, not the tunnel, that brought blogging to mind.
Pam 08.21.10 at 11:20 pm
My family & I have visited Sydney Aquarium a number of times and they have the same format as Blue Planet Aquarium. I agree about the changed perspective - and that’s as close to a shark as I want to get! My husband is a member of our local surf club and volunteers as a radio operator on surf patrols in the summer and part of his job is looking out for our “marine friends” coming in too close.
Richard 08.21.10 at 11:22 pm
You might be right Kim!
Quite agree, Pam. I don’t mind being close to a shark, providing there’s 23cm of acrylic between us. The divers in the tank seemed quite happy though.
Micky 08.22.10 at 9:07 am
Interesting in the light of today’s lectionary gospel, when the woman bent double is suddenly able to see the world in a new way.