With the recent purchase of my sea aquarium annual pass, I decided to enjoy the special rates given to pass holders for the sleepover at the Sea Aquarium. I signed up for Zech and myself. We checked in on a Friday evening at 6.30pm. Shortly after, we were ushered into a "secret" door where we left our luggages so that we could proceed with the guided tour.
There were 11 of us including 5 kids in the group. The guided tour was really good. The guide filled us with so much details and information about the different habitats. It was interactive and fun as along the way, the kids played games.
Fascinated with the nurse sharks, which are nocturnal.
Sharks often lay eggs but not all are fertilized. The guide showed us a shark egg below a stingray and another egg on the body of a zebra shark.
At the touch pool, Zech was not very keen. He had done this several times at different places so touching the starfish and sea cucumber are not exactly a novelty to him.
We had the entire place to ourselves. That was pretty cool!
We even visited the dolphins. It was pitch dark but what a surprise! The curious dolphins visited us! We could see a few of them swimming near the glass panel. The guide even told us how to differentiate the male from the female. The sea jellies and the octopus were very popular with the kids too.
The tour ended at 9.30pm. We were allocated a place to sleep at the open ocean habitat. Our spot was on the ground floor, right next to the glass panel of the open ocean. Sleeping bags and blankets were distributed.
We sat at the top facing the open ocean habitat and had our turkey ham sandwich and Milo for supper.
Lights were off at 10.30pm. We could still see the fishes, stingrays and manta rays swimming around. Zech was sleeping by 11pm.
The next morning, it was rise and shine at 7.30am. The guide took us back to the dolphins habitat again. Now we could see them clearly.
Not sure who were more excited. The dolphins seemed to be greeting the kids early in the morning. The guide could even show us the ears of the dolphin.
When we went back to pack up, the divers were there greeting us good morning. The kids love that.
We had our breakfast in a restaurant at Adventure Cove. The breakfast was pretty decent. Bento set with scrambled egg, tomato, hash brown, baked beans, sausages and apple juice.
After breakfast was another highlight of the sleepover - The back of the house tour. We had the chance to see how the aquarists fed the manta rays. No videos or photos were allowed here. It was really an eye opener to see how the manta rays were fed. The aquarist had to aim and direct the bowl of krill put out on the long pole into the huge mouth of the manta ray. Many other fishes were fighting for the food as well so the food had to go into only the manta rays.
Our sleepover ended right after the back of the house tour. It was about 10am. It was a unique experience for both of us. And I think I've learned a lot more from this sleepover than my 3 visits to Sea Aquarium. Without my annual pass, I may not have gone for this as the regular price for adults is quite expensive. To have a knowledgeable guide who can engage and interact with the kids, I feel this added on to the quality and made this trip more worthwhile.
