Sleep with the Sharks
When I called to book my reservation for sleep with the sharks, the woman said to me "Now are you bringing a boy scout troupe"? We were their first all adult group. You can have up to a group of 20-60 people stay over night in the aquarium. You sleep in the passages of the deep in one of the 3 connected tunnels: open sea, halibut flats or oroford reef. The cost for this adventure is $55 per person (prices have gone up to $60/pp) which includes a private overnight stay in the aquarium, tour of the aquarium, including behind the scenes with trainers, a scavenger hunt and lab activity. They provide dinner and a breakfast. Since we were an adult group and didn't need an earlier bedtime, we watched a living planet movie and had animal crackers, pretzels and lemonade. In addition, we were able to re-enter the aquarium the next day when it was open too.
Rogue Public Ale House
We began the day by meeting up at the Rogue Public Ale House. Well we sort of got there. I decided to locate the address on my map feature of my phone. We ended up at the distillery. Once I realized that we were in the wrong spot we searched for the Public House and ended back on track. Technology is helpful unless you have the correct information plugged in. We had a late lunch and then walked around with a stop in the candy store for some taffy.
Newport Aquarium
So the adventure began at 6 pm. We met the two staff who were our hosts for the evening. They showed us our sleeping area by pulling back a large curtain and there were the sharks swimming, bat rays and assorted fish. I was in awe of the large shark, named Miss Piggy. I was informed that the sharks were fed twice a week. There were two types of sharks, the leopard shark and the broadnose sevengill shark.
 |
| The tunnel |
We walked through Passages of the deep which has three tunnels the Open Sea (aka the shark tunnel), Halibut Flats and Oroford Reef. Then we headed over to have dinner which was three different types of pizza, cheese bread, caesar and spring mix salad.
Scavenger Hunt & Lab Activity
 |
| Pollups |
Post dinner we participated in a scavenger hunt that took us through 3 exhibits: Sandy Shores, Rocky Shores and Coastal Waters. We spent around 20 minutes in each exhibit with the exception of Coastal Waters, where we were able to play in the touch tide pool. That was one of the most enchanting experiences. I touched every starfish, sea anemone, sea cucumbers, abalone and a limpet. Some of the starfish and sea anemone were soft to the touch and some had stiff spines. The anemones would drape their tentacles as much as possible around my finger(s) feeling their way. I was surprised at how soft the sea cucumber was, it's prickly exterior is quite deceiving. Also, the abalone when touched had a reflexive action of moving its shell or shifting the flesh of the abalone that was exposed out of the shell. The limpet was a shell I was familiar with...but it was an entirely new experience for me as a living mollusk. On the outside of the shell was a black velvet outer layer. I describe it as velvet because it had this rich feel when I touched it. I could have spent an hour in the tide pool.
As adults there really wasn't much of a curfew so we watched a Blue Planet movie and then went back to Passages of the Deep and set up our sleeping areas. A few people opted not to sleep with the sharks.
Sleeping with the Sharks
 |
| It's the kid in me! |
 |
| This shark was directly above me |
 |
| Bat Ray |
I was giddy and couldn't sleep. The lights turned down and you actually can see the sharks better especially as they swam over their white underbelly would provide some illumination. The bat rays and sharks seemed to be more active at night. I could watch the sharks on both sides above and below me. I finally fell asleep. As we got up the next morning and packed up our sleeping bags. Someone mentioned they didn't know that they there was a bear at the aquarium. One of the guys in our group was snoring and the tunnels carried and made the sound echo. I fortunately didn't notice.
Olive & the birds of the Sea Aviary
 |
| Olive |
Post breakfast, we met Olive, a turkey vulture that was rescued with her brother, Ichabod. The trainer was trying to give Olive more exposure to people and would move slowly towards us and as Olive got nervous, she would retreat. Olive and her brother were taken from the nest and kept as pets. However, turkey vultures do not make good pets and were eventually turned over and brought to the aquarium. The hope is to someday have an interactive opportunity with the turkey vultures. One fact I learned is that turkey vultures latin name means "purifier". They clean up and prevent diseases from spreading.
The keeper of the Sea Bird Aviary talked with us about the different birds at the aquarium which include puffins, black oystercatchers, common murres and rhinocerous aucklets.
Otter Pops
 |
| So cute |
Next up were the otters. They were chomping on ice cubes with treats inside. Some were even hitting the ice against the plexiglass as they swam by. The guide informed us that they can be very destructive with their environment so the frozen treats help to occupy their time. They also said that they spend most of their time grooming themselves. Which they also were doing. They were so cute scrubbing their little faces and then it turned x-rated. When we got home I got a picture of the otter pops popsicles and Ken stating "this has a whole new meaning".
Lea
 |
| We are authorized! |
 |
| Lea |
 |
| Kisses |
Our last stop was to see Lea a sea lion, who was aiming to please to receive treats of squid and fish. She clapped, shook her head yes and no and waved at us. And the show was G rated.
After meeting Lea we were released.
On our way home we stopped by Devil's Punchbowl. We were able to see whales spraying water through their blow holes and the flip of their tails.
 |
| Devil's Punchbowl |
 |
| Freezing at the coast! |
No comments:
Post a Comment