O

n days when it’s too wet to hit the beach, it’s always good to have an indoor option up your sleeve. Like Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium, for example, where the guys are standing by their open-topped tanks ready to give you an insider’s look at the resident sea life (no umbrella required).

Travelling through the Shallow Waters, where Bagpipe the Octopus is getting handy with a crab, you’ll move onto the Atlantic reef to play ‘spot the stingray’ on the tank’s sandy floor.

Then it’s onto the pulsing jellyfish, bred here in their hundreds, before delving deep into the Atlantic, where there’s just a sheet of glass between you and resident two-metre-long sand tiger sharks – Enzo, Emily and Howie.

Still not close enough to the action? There’s always the 4D theatre. As for staying dry in there, though? We’re not making any guarantees...