At 10am on Sunday morning the Cubs hopped on a bus that would take them all the way to Strangford Lough, where each of them would board the ferry to make the journey to Portaferry to visit the aquarium.
The bus journey included an impressive game of spot the tractor; the winning team managed to spot an outstanding 15 tractors! Upon reaching the lough, we were able to jump off the bus and walk straight on to the boat that would ferry us across the beautiful lough. Thankfully, despite it being the end of November, the sun was shining, which made the journey across the water a beautiful and novel experience for the Cubs.
Upon stepping off the ferry, we were able to walk straight into the RNLI, where the volunteers showed us around their boat and some of the equipment they use to train, such as the life-size dummies. The Cubs were also pleasantly surprised to find another tractor in the RNLI!
A short walk around the corner landed us in the aquarium. As soon as we walked through the door the guides were ready to show us some of the creatures that live in the touch pool, the Cubs were able to hold a few of those creatures including a sea urchin which they learnt was also called a ‘sea hedgehog’. Each six was also given a map on which they could collect stamps throughout the aquarium, so they began searching straight away.
We moved through the aquarium, stopping in each room to take in the beauty of the sea life and learn a little more about them. There were fish that we didn’t even know existed, like the bi-coloured goatfish, but also some we could recognise, including ‘Nemo’ and ‘Dory’. We also loved the tunnel where sharks, stingrays and other sea creatures swam over and beside us; it was such a beautiful sight.
Just before lunch, we were grateful to see the seals being fed and were able to ask a lot of questions about the seals and learn a bit more about why they live at the aquarium instead of in the wild, and we also learnt that when baby seals are found on the beach and need help, the aquarium takes them in to nurse them back to health and get them back into the wild.
We had a fabulous lunchtime, eating with the capybaras nearby and sneaking a peek at the penguins who were also close by. We all loved the penguins and cheered them on whilst they were jumping in and out of their pool. Once we passed by the penguins, we checked in on the otters before moving on to the reptiles, where we saw many different species of snakes and lizards.
Once we had made our way the whole way through the aquarium, we made the short walk back to the ferry and travelled back to the bus. On the way home, each of the Cubs were surprised with a penguin model that they were all ecstatic about. A great way to end a fun day out where they also learnt more about ocean life conservation.