Our First Full Day,

we had an early start,

as we wanted to get to the beach early,

again the weather was nice to us,

a look at the hotel pool,

and naturally a pose,

from both of us,

one of the cruise ships had arrived back, this one from P & O,

we walked down the hill,

passing this rather nice hotel,

and decided to take the lower pathway down,

as we had seen this sign,

so a quick pose,

and we were on our way down,

until I stopped to show off my new hat, and my missing front tooth,

I must remember not to smile!

this was a nice touch,

small works of art,

had been added to the railings, showing what could be done by the seaside,

Diana liked this one,

peppermint rock and candy sticks,

fishing,

bird watching,

metal detecting,

football,

one of my favorites, fossil hunting,

and studying marine creatures,

the art works went on,

but we stopped here, opposite the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum,

admission times noted,

and we were on our way looking at more of the railings decorations, from sand lizards,

to rays,

not forgetting merclowns!

this eatery looked nice but as we passed it was closed,

who remembers the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini"? it is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach, in case you have forgotten it or have not heard it, here it is,

great fun,

we continued our walk down to the beach,

stopping on the way,

we almost had the beach to ourselves,

well I did say almost,

but it was a good as,

totally deserted,

so time to get some rays,

the sun perfect,

Diana all smiles,

I took the rays as well,

but I somehow did not carry the posing off as well as Diana,

meanwhile overhead,

someone was testing fate,

I will stick to the ground,

we decided on a drink and a snack,

so a Thai curry and rice it was then,

next stop the Oceanarium,

a look back at the eye as we queued, we were lucky, due to the virus there were time slots allocated, but as luck would have it, there was place for us, so we were straight in,

we were greeted with this lovely aquarium,

it really was nice, 

looking in,

and down on the display,

also looking down in the next display,

of terrapins,

next a huge iguana,

as we followed the route,

we found the penguin pool,

it seemed like it was time for them all to have a clean,

water off of a penguins back,

cleaning finished,

 

they all looked so well cared for,

in the next enclosure, a number of sleepy otters in the sun,

on to the aquariums,

and displays,

these photographs are from the deep water section,

a huge blue lobster, no prizes for guessing what we were both thinking, we need a bigger pot!

the displays we very well thought out and maintained,

with even unloved anemones given their own display, if you have ever been stung by one of the topical varieties, you will understand why they are unloved!

the Emperor penguin, (Aptenodytes forsteri), almost looks as tall as Diana, the last time we saw these in the flesh was when we were in Birdland, in Bourton on the Water, a delightful village in the Cotswolds,

a quick look outside,

giving us a view of what the fish see from the inside of their aquarium,

now these were really neat, over the years we have seen many jellyfish displays,

but none with so many and so well displayed as these,

next a real treat, as we were passing the viewing window for the penguin pool, it was feeding time,

and there they were, 

'flying' underwater, of course it is a bit of a myth about penguins not being able to fly,

as this clip above from the BBCs World Penguin Day shows,

into the tunnel,

which we both just loved,

it was fascinating,

watching sharks,

like this guitar shark, (Rhina ancylostoma),

like all rays and sharks it is known as a cartilaginous fish, meaning that it does not have a skeleton, its 'bones' are made of cartilage, so when they die the only remains you find are teeth, lots of teeth!

I had to have a photograph of me too!

we continued our walk,

this aquarium with so many common clowns, or 'Nemo' as they are called in the film,

a stunning sight,

a display of corals,

illuminated by specialized lighting,

to help them grow and glow from fluorescent pigments that act as sunblock, the sun's intense rays, which can sunburn swimmers and divers that flock to these reefs, can cause similar damage to coral and zooxanthellae,

another interesting display, 

this one housing a pine cone fish,

I do like these open topped displays,

you know I am going to say it, 'if only we had a house big enough!'

upstairs a tropical backdrop,

to the shark aquarium,

which we had walked through,

in the tunnel,

that also had a viewing window,

so you could see them swim past,

which was a real treat if like us you like all things fishy,

you could almost reach out and touch them,

in a word magical,

the final display was again one you could look into,

or view from above,

the display looking like a mangrove tree growing from a coral reef,

these are a few photographs that Diana took on our way around the aquarium, the catfish in the photographs is a black dora, (Oxydoras niger),

piranhas, lots of them,

another of the South American themed displays,

I should have mentioned on the walk round there was a tortoise display.

it seems strange taking photographs of us,

when we are both wearing masks, but there it is,

and we were out into the gift shop,

so many things to buy,

like these Nemo mugs,

or cuddly toys,

but here they were refrigerator magnets, just what we wanted as a souvenir! as this is a big post I am just posting the morning, the next post will be the afternoon and evening, but it will be a bit of time before I post it, as it is still Diana's week off and I do not want to sit in front of the lap top all of the time, so hopefully you will call back over the next few days to see more of our stay in sunny Bournemouth.