Photographing any dark attraction with flash restrictions always take me out of my comfort zone and into the world of high ISO photography but it’s doubly unnerving in an aquarium where things are moving, the light varies from second to second, and you’re trying to take pictures through glass that’s either distorted or filthy with fingerprints or both.

The sea turtles were very photogenic and moved slowly enough and in a light enough tank to get some reasonably sharp shots.

A semi-outdoors area housed some penguins and Inca terns. The ventilation wasn’t quite enough to take away the smell of fish that accompanies any gathering of penguins but you learn to live with it as they’re quite humorous to observe, occasionally pushing one another into the water or sliding into it on purpose but with zero grace.

My favourite area were the tanks holding moon jellies. I find them utterly mesmerising and stunningly beautiful to simply watch and photograph.

We stayed at the Chocolate Boutique Hotel just to fancy this trip up a bit (we’ve stayed at the nearby Connaught Hotel on other occasions and been perfectly happy with it but sometimes you like to splash out). As you can guess from the name there was something of a chocolate theme going on and if you’re a fan of chocolate then it’s definitely worth considering should you find yourself in need of a Bournemouth break. The hotel was absolutely fine but I’d say that we’re the sort of couple who tend to prefer bigger establishments with more facilities than a smaller, boutique hotel typically provides in general.

Bournemouth’s most famous and popular attraction is its long, sandy beach and, as is tradition when we visit the Dorset town, we started off with a walk along part of its length starting on the clay cliffs that overlook the seafront.

Our direction of travel was towards the distant sight of Bournemouth Pier. The clay cliffs of Bournemouth are split by chines and the pier is mostly opposite one. West of the pier the cliffs are known as the West Cliffs and east of the pier, well, you can probably guess the name. We were on the West Cliffs at this time and made our way down to the promenade via the West Cliff Zig Zag path. The wind was no less fierce than it had been higher up and the seafront walk was partially covered in a layer of sand that was being swept along by gusts. You can see this in the photo of the beach huts below and in the video further down this post.

The next point of interest back from the beach was the 1908-built West Cliff Lift. If you’re looking at the pictures and thinking “That’s not a lift; that’s a funicular railway” then you’re right, it is. It’s certainly not the largest of its type we’ve seen when we’ve travelled around the world but it looks like it would be a fun and less-tiring way to reach the clifftop if you were in need of transportation in that direction. So far, we never have.

Before we reached the pier we passed the exterior of Happyland Amusements which is the sort of name for the sort of place at the sort of time we tend to visit that I love as it conjures up some kind of Orwellian or horror location best avoided. Just to be clear, though, we do like amusement arcades if we’re visiting seaside resorts. All part of the classic, cheesy experience.

Onto and along the pier then, and regular visitors to this site will possibly already know that we do like a pier (see: Piers). Bournemouth pier’s current form dates more-or-less back to the 1880s – one of many designed by Eugenius Birch – with some extensions and modernisations since then plus significant deconstruction during World War 2 (to prevent its use by German forces) then reconstruction afterwards.

This short video (temporarily removed) covers some of the walk along Bournemouth seafront and onto the pier where you should get a good feel for the wind conditions hitting that part of the coastline during our visit. At the end of the pier I struggled to hold my phone up to take footage at all. The surfers enjoyed what Mother Nature was hurling their way, though.

In 2014 a zip line was built on the pier. I’ve never felt the urge to have a go on a zip line and don’t imagine that’s a feeling that’s likely to change in the foreseeable future but I did like the design of the tower to ascend to the platform for this attraction. I suspect it’s the similarity to a wine bottle corkscrew that appeals.

It started to spit with rain at this point and the cloud cover suggested to us that it was about to get much worse so we headed back down the decking of the pier in search of shelter. That shelter turned out to be the Bournemouth Oceanarium and you can follow that link for pictures of its aquatic and reptilian inhabitants.

Apart from this seafront walk in chilly, blustery conditions and the wander through the aquarium we didn’t get up to much else for this short trip to Bournemouth. Pubs and a meal at an Italian restaurant typically make up any seaside resort trip for us and this was no exception. We like Bournemouth mostly for its proximity to Portsmouth and convenience for just getting away from work at short notice but you might prefer that it has one of the UK’s best beaches if you’re a fan of the sun and sea in the summer months or surfing when it’s a bit windier.