Although I have dived at the National Aquarium several times before I had never enjoyed a sleepover in their main display hall so I was really excited to finally get the divers together for this unique experience over Wellington Anniversary Weekend.
Divers made their way up on Saturday with some meeting on Saturday afternoon to get a head start on the dive experience. After a briefing the first divers entered the water to help the staff feed the fish, stingrays and sharks.
It turns out we should be most scared of the kawhai nipping our fingers as they seem to be always hungry and fast! The divers stayed in the tank for a couple of hours taking turns diving and chatting about their experiences underwater while awaiting their next dive.
The rest of the group arrived at 5:30 and we were finally moving in and setting ourselves up for the night with some incredible views of the tanks and the fishlife.
One of the aquarium staff, Scotty, was our guide for the night and with 15+ years experience at the aquarium he knew all of the animals and shared their stories as we toured the aquarium at night. We got to spend time with the little blue penguins, most of whom are there as they have been injured and couldn’t survive in the wild.
The sleepover experience is aimed for ages 5+ and we were all definitely on the plus side but that didn’t stop us from participating in the scavenger hunt and quiz – we even received certificates for being so awesome!
Sunday was spent diving and exploring any corner of the aquarium we may have missed the night before. All our divers enjoyed the unique experience and at 3m deep we all managed several dives in the main tank playing with the fishes and the public – the kids especially loved waving at the divers and we posed for a few photos over the weekend.
As for myself – I loved feeding the rays – they are quite pushy when it comes to getting dinner, and the sleepover was definitely worth the wait. Being able to wander through the aquarium in the peace and quiet enabled you to see more than you can during the day just don’t expect to see the kiwis – it’s their day time and they are tucked up in their burrows. Having said that when they wake up they are very active. I never knew that they ran and Paul had never, ever seen a kiwi til Sunday morning so he can now tick that box.
If you missed out this year I am thinking of making this an annual event so book in anniversary weekend for 2019 and bring the kids along too – they will enjoy it as much as we did.
Claire