When The Cube opened in 2015 it claimed the accolade of World's Largest Aquarium Window. Exciting stuff! It no longer holds that title but until today it did have a slightly more dubious honour: it didn't have a thread of its own or a single photo in the gallery. I visited last year to set this straight. The purpose of this thread, as you've probably already gathered, is not to review the entire aquarium but simply to pour scorn upon the flagship exhibit. Let's take a look: The monster tank contains amongst other things, bull sharks: and green turtles, but I'll show you that picture later. The biggest draw, both literally and metaphorically, is the whale sharks. There are two and you can enjoy a view of them through the tunnel that passes through a corner of the exhibit: Well, that looks pretty good, no? Let's see it from a different angle: OK, so the tunnel kind of ruins this sightline, but that's probably unavoidable (it's obviously not, but let's not dwell on that). How about a different view? Well, yes the giant acrylic window is dominant, but it's kind of interesting. However, I have to ask, why is there a Haagen Dazs in the tank? To answer that, let's finally have a look at the photo I have of the green turtle: Ah. You see, The Cube's marquee exhibit isn't situated at the end of the walking route, or perhaps in the main entrance foyer. No, one of the world's largest aquarium windows opens directly into the Seaside Mall, meaning that to see it you don't even need to pay to enter the Cube. And of course, if you do pay then once you're inside looking out at the turtle you do get some rather unsightly shops in the background. But that's probably just from certain positions. Obviously the view from the low-lying tunnel isn't effected: Well, that mall is really tall huh. There's not really any way around this, all those brightly lit shopfronts are really going to spoil almost any view from inside the aquarium. Look at this 'cool' shot of the two shark species: It's like I'm right there in the Indian Ocean. So all the internal views are compromised, but the actual panoramic view from outside the aquarium is going to make it all worth it. Forty metres of sweet, sweet, one metre thick acrylic. Let's go take a look: Oops, wrong slide! This is the 'submarine' that occasionally wanders around the top of the tank. I think the positive message here is that it literally doesn't make the view any worse. So, the big moment. This is it. The one we've all been waiting for. Dramatic music please! Um... Wait a minute..... [I don't really think I need to say anything here] It just beggars belief that you would build this aquarium, like this, and then on top of it all put that in front of it. It's a tragicomedy of an exhibit, a farce of monumental proportions, the Guinness World Record Holder for most ridiculous aquarium window. And just in case you were thinking that once you get up close, in front of the inflatable, it gets better, it really doesn't.
