Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town (2015-08-29)

A couple of weekends ago, Chantelle and I decided to treat the girls to an outing to the Two Oceans Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town (a treat because its a pretty expensive family outing thanks to the high priced tickets).

For a change, the weather was good and following the girls and my stop at a few markets in the morning, we returned home to scoop up an awaiting Chantelle and hit the N2 to Cape Town!

Little has obviously changed at the Two Oceans Aquarium over the years, so there isn’t really anything new for us as adults to take in (in fact, a couple of the exhibits are actually closed to the public at the moment, making those pricey tickets a tad more painful in the process), but for Jess it proved to be a surefire hit – her being finally old enough (our last visit was two years ago when she was three) to really enjoy the various exhibits.

She would excitedly listen to everything we told her (which mostly we read off the information boards above the displays), and then rattle it off to the nearest person that she could, skipping around from display to display!

(Amazingly, Finding Nemo still holds strong for the kids, as she very firmly proclaimed that her favourite fishes were without a doubt the clown fishes.)

As always then, the Aquarium was a solid outing, with both girls seemingly enjoying the experience.

IMG_20150829_140642 entrance at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_140715 walking to the entrance at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141053 entrance sculpture at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141103 curio shop at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141110 lotters looking at fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141155 chantelle lotter at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141251 chantelle and emily at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141324 jessica lotter looking at fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_141907 jessica and the clown fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_142216 moray eel at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_144359 skates at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_144442 anchor with fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_144658 jessica touch and feel at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_144944 touch and feel at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145004 chantelle lotter at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145149 penguin area at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145154 penguin area at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145223 penguin area at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145229 penguins at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145239 jessica looking for a frog at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145253 jessica looking for a frog at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145356 feeding penguins at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145447 feeding penguins at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145717 penguins at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_145757 watching fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_150115 big fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_150411 fish tank at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_150828 japanese big catch flags at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_150906 japanese big catch flags at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_151510 big fish at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_151737 chantelle and kids at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_151745 chantelle lotter at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_151810 craig lotter at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_144950 outdoor penguin area at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

Following our walkabout looking at all the fishes, we opted to tuck into some fishies and stopped for a late lunch at the adjacent Shoreline Cafe. Again, the restaurant experience proved nothing to really write home about, but the girls did particularly enjoy running round in the awesome kids play area.

With lunch done and the girls particularly sticky from the ice cream all over their faces, we took a stroll back towards the parking garage to catch The Scratch Patch before it closed, pausing to admire the small navy vessel moored next to the aquarium and chuckle at the big seal taking a break on the very clever seal decks that Waterfront now plays host to.

IMG_20150829_152628 shoreline cafe at the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_163017 naval vessel next to the waterfront two oceans aquarium

IMG_20150829_163021 harbour cruise boats at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163026 at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163246 seal at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163258 jessica lotter covered in ice cream at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163310 seal at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163423 seal deck at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163540 cranes at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163545 at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163632 dry dock at the waterfront in cape town

IMG_20150829_163648 aquarium vehicle at the waterfront in cape town

Luckily, we made the gemstone world with about a half an hour to go before closing time, enough time for the girls to excitedly scratch around and collect a host of colourful and beautiful gemstones that then needless to say, lay scattered across every walking surface in my house for the next couple of weeks! :)