MAXINE GORDON takes her family on a journey to the bottom of the sea.

DONKEYS, fish 'n' chips, ice cream, sand and sea. These are just some of the reasons that I love going to Scarborough.

But after a visit to the Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary, I'll have to add to my list otters, seals, penguins and jellyfish.

These were just some of the ocean creatures we met on a rare sunny Sunday this summer.

The centre opens at 10am and it's worth getting there early to beat the queues and the jams on the A64.

We weren't so organised, and endured a long, hot, stop-start journey and a ten-deep queue at the centre, which is on the edge of the North Bay.

Before we got in to see the fishes and their friends and foes, we posed for a happy snaps-style photo against an ocean backdrop, which was ready to buy on our exit.

Once inside, there were tanks of brightly-coloured fish, each one eliciting a whoop of delight from my two-year-old daughter, Eva.

Then we moved on to the Jellyfish exhibit - new for 2004 - and straight into a scene from an Alien movie. It was pitch black bar for large cylinders filled with water and flooded with ultra-violet light which allowed you to watch the almost-transparent jellyfish move eerily but with all the grace of a ballet dancer.

It was captivating - as were some of the facts on display. For example, did you know that a Box Jellyfish can kill a human in less than four minutes and that the biggest jellyfish can grow to eight feet across and has tentacles half the length of a football pitch? Or that they are made of 95 per cent water and some have their own flashlights?

Next we walked into a large room dominated by a central all-glass tank filled with large to medium-sized fish. My favourites were the rays with their flat bodies and long, rat-like tales.

The glass sides of the tank afforded children a chance to see the fish at eye level and we had to bribe Eva away from the display with the promise of lunch.

The caf has a range of hot and cold food and snacks at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, the baked potatoes we ordered arrived were hard and were still undercooked when brought back to us for a second time. Never mind, we were given a full refund.

Next we headed outside to see the otters, seals and penguins. A crowd had gathered around the otter house to hear one of the centre's staff give a talk on the creatures.

We bought ice-cream and then visited the penguin colony. Another staff member told us the birds didn't like to swim at the moment because they were moulting.

The seals didn't have the same problem and we enjoyed watching them bob up and down and slither around their swimming area at the northerly edge of the centre.

Then it was time to catch some other kind of sea life - fish 'n' chips from a stall on the promenade.

Fact file:

Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary

Scalby Mills, North Bay, Scarborough Tel: 01723 376125

Open: From 10am every day except Christmas Day.

Price: £7.50 adult, £6.50 OAP/students, £5 children aged three to 14. Family tickets from £19.50-£33. Group and school bookings available.

Getting there: A64 York to Scarborough and follow the brown tourist signs for North Bay Leisure Parks or Sea Life. From Scarborough Railway Station you can take a taxi or jump on the 3A bus which terminates at Sea Life.

Parking: Pay and display at the Sea Life centre.

Competition:

WE have one family ticket to the Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary at Scarborough for readers to win. Just answer this question: What creature features in the new exhibit for 2004?

Send your answer on a postcard with your name, address and daytime telephone number to: Sea Life competition, Maxine Gordon, Features, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN. Deadline: September 21, 2004. Usual rules apply.

Updated: 08:49 Saturday, September 11, 2004