The photo's I managed to take on my camera/iPhone are not the best quality but they captured some precious moments, to say the least. I also made friends with some of the fish so can't complain haha. As you can see below, there's such radiance within these photos and visiting the aquarium made me open my eyes to how beautiful our oceans once looked but how we can also see these creatures up close without going into the ocean.
Knowing that they are also well fed & safe makes my heart beat whole.
Penguins are in my eyes the most adorable animals ever. I believe that in my past life I was one as every now and then, walking turns into waddling. I managed to capture a mother penguin protecting/nesting her young while we visited their zone and it was the most beautiful thing ever. At first, we thought she was laying down, but we overheard someone saying she was laid on her eggs so even better, whether she was or not is a mystery itself! All the penguins were close by and even one cheeky chap stared at my camera for a brief second, when you see the photo you'll know! It was amazing to finally see them, despite a piece of glass dividing us.
We then went on to the Jellyfish and the underwater creatures which were also as captivating. I've never seen Jellyfish close, the first time I really saw one was in Finding Nemo and nearly cried when Dory got stung by one... other than that, seeing them up close was new for me but had me in awe when seeing them in their space. How beautiful are they?! Why are we hurting such beautiful animals with waste pollution in our oceans? This brings me to a very interesting point (see below).
Usually, I'm not one for seeing animals in aquariums or zoo's as I'm a bit sheltered at the idea that they should be in the wild, their natural habitat. Although, visiting the deep opened my eyes to a few things whilst being there. Yes, animals should be in the wild where they belong but the more you hear about how the species in the oceans and land are dropping massively, it's quite sad to know that mankind is damaging their homes as we speak.
It made me a bit emotional seeing a tank full of plastic bottles, milk cartons, wire, rope etc. and to know that and a lot more rubbish is putting these beautiful creatures in jeopardy is heartbreaking (see above). A photo speaks a thousand words as history once said, right? How does it make you feel to know there's 100x more pollution surrounding our oceans? For me, it makes me feel broken and devastated to know our planet is going to shit. Sucks, doesn't it?
If you don't believe how bad it is, a small percentage of the water we drink has a plastic within it. Think I'm lying? research it and you will see how we are not only damaging natures wonderful and beautiful creatures, we are damaging ourselves.
I've recently done a bit of digging and found some amazing charities that help our oceans get clean and protect the animals in it, here are a few that really captured my interest;
- The Ocean clean-up: https://www.theoceancleanup.com/
- Sea Shepard: https://www.seashepherd.org.uk
- WWF: https://www.wwf.org.uk/what-we-do/area-of-work/ocean-management
- Blue Marine Foundation: http://www.bluemarinefoundation.com
- Oceana: http://oceana.org
If you'd like to support any of these charities, then please do! After all, it's for a good cause and ensures that there are people out there making a difference!
On a more positive note... the animals I came super close with and the ones I did take photo's of warmed my heart and made me happy to be on the other side of their tank, more or less having a little bonding sesh, haha.
As you can see above, this little guy loved the attention and seemed happy enough. Although it's nice to see these lovely animals it's also intriguing to learn about them and their natural habitats in the wild too. I found that The Deep was very educational and is good for children to learn what they most likely won't learn in school.
Spending the day at The Deep was definitely memorable, although it made me feel a little uncomfortable with a big crowd, I managed to overcome that fear and went on to capture beautiful moments of animals I wouldn't have come close to see if it wasn't for this place.
Have you ever been to The Deep in Hull? If so, what was your favourite part?
Thanks for reading!
This is by no means sponsored, just my own opinions.
ALL PHOTOS BELONG TO ME UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE.
Want to use my photo's? email jaydeekelly94@gmail.com for permission rights.
