Sea Creatures Stared At Us & We Stared Back At Them

The Summer Solstice has been celebrated since way back when people first started paying attention to what the sun was up to out there. But in this little patch in the Marshlands, we celebrate it as the day MikeyFox & I tied the knot in our tails (and what better day to have your wedding than the longest day of the year?). This year we celebrated 8 years of being merrily tangled with a trip across the Humber to Hull's The Deep.

The Deep is the worlds only submarium, which is an underground aquarium. There is something a little disconcerting about seeing an aquarium from the bottom looking up.

A brief glimpse of the Blue Spotted Stingray, who was a bit of a show-off when I was taking photos.

But it's not all about the big fish. The Deep is a conservation & education charity, and take part in research programs & campaigns for conservation. When we visited there was also a non-piscine exhibit called 'Living Rivers', a look into the Rio Grande, Amazon & Mekong rivers, and the environmental impact of mining & deforestation in these beautiful environments. The exhibit features the Emerald Tree Boa above, as well as the glorious axolotl. I love axolotl, which isn't that surprising, considering they're Mexican. How can you not love their tiny little digits and their coral-like gill stalks. And they can regenerate. They are the Matt Smith of the amphibian world.

Conservation work even extends to genetically identical polyps. Yes, cold water coral reefs, that means you. The coral reef displays are breathtaking, and make the average home aquarium look naff.

We decamped to the lovely Green Ginger vegetarian cafe. If you're ever in Hull, pop in for a cup of tea & some delicious veggie delights. MikeyFox recommends the bean pie.

We also exchanged 8 gifts. They were mostly little daft things, but I was surprised with this

It's a ukulele! It's green! It is named Plink, and the tomatoes are regularly serenaded with badly performed 70's heavy metal covers.

Until next time, I'll leave you with Jeffrey Lewis, and the inspiration for the title of this blog...