[Family Travel]Sleep with the Sharks: An Overnight Stay at the Aquarium

Teacher Xu

We finally got to enjoy the “Overnight at the Aquarium” experience during this year’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday! The tickets for this overnight stay were so popular that they sold out instantly when booking opened last October! Thanks to a quick-thinking friend who managed to grab tickets for the most famous Underwater Tunnel area for seven adults and seven kids — a total of 14 people! Unfortunately, three days before departure, our friend’s child came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease, so our group shrank to five adults and four kids. We then split up and headed to the Pingtung National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium from both Taipei and Taichung.

Recommended Reading:

Unfortunately, the continuous plum rain showed no signs of clearing. With some time to spare before the 4 PM meet-up, we decided to check out the Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 South Exhibition Hall in Houpihu.

The outdoor area has a large grass field and children’s play equipment, perfect for letting the little ones who had been cooped up in the car for hours run around and burn off energy!

Luckily, a 3D movie was about to start, so we quickly took our seats to enjoy it.

After the movie, it started pouring outside, so we continued exploring inside the exhibition hall. The first floor of the Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 South Exhibition Hall has aquariums, while the second floor features various exhibits on energy and power generation principles, as well as interactive facilities for kids to try out.

Even better, there’s the “Ocean View Café” that sells affordable “desalinated seawater ice pops”! The sweet popsicles are perfect for summer — I got goosebumps just eating one today! How about the two kids? They had a blast! The Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 South Exhibition Hall is truly a great spot — free entry, air-conditioned, and with ice pops!

At 4 PM sharp, we checked in at the counter on the right side of the “Aquarium” entrance, received name tags, and then entered. Overnight guests (referred to as “Overnight Families” from here on) first gathered in the lobby, were divided into groups, went downstairs to store luggage, and familiarized ourselves with the luggage area and restroom facilities. Our assigned luggage area had open, unlocked lockers, though there were also some lockable ones, but not many.

After settling our luggage, we returned to the lobby and participated in an exhibition hall tour based on our overnight area groupings.

Tonight, we’re staying in the “Underwater Tunnel area,” and Blue Whale Sister gave us a tour of the “Coral Kingdom.” I have to say, a good guide can really take you to heaven!

In addition to introducing the types, habits, and habitats of corals, she also explained in detail the characteristics of tropical fish, sharks, pufferfish, beluga whales, and all the other fish species in the museum! Both adults and kids were completely engrossed!

Recommended Reading:

The guided tour ended around 5:50 PM, and we were led to the second-floor restaurant for dinner, which only lasted forty minutes. The kids were wolfing down their food just so they could get back to watching the fish. There were quite a few of us, and the table was already set with a variety of dishes, and we could even ask for second helpings after finishing.

After dinner, we regrouped and were divided into teams again for another major highlight of the night — the “Backstage Tour”! The backstage area is the secret workplace of the aquarists, normally off-limits to the public, but overnight guests get a rare peek. This is the area above the Underwater Tunnel exhibit tanks.

The backstage area has many large and small tanks, each serving different purposes. For example! The one below is an acclimation tank where newly arrived fish, sick fish, or those under observation are kept.

A bunch of baby clownfish — so adorable!

The guide explained that fish go through different growth stages, and their feed must be tailored accordingly to ensure “palatability” so the fish can eat easily.

“Rotifers” and “brine shrimp” are so tiny they’re almost invisible to the naked eye!

The guide took out some tiny shrimp from the freezer, getting ready to let us feed the fish Up!

There are so many kinds of fish in there! Most of them are still babies!

The aquarists also conduct seawater salinity tests to find the optimal concentration for fish survival. When the seawater becomes too murky to extract, they produce clean seawater for the fish to live in.

Next, the guide took us to see this strange-looking thing. Gege said it felt like seaweed.

Turns out, this is a shark’s “egg case.” Sharks have existed longer than dinosaurs, and to survive, they’ve evolved three reproductive methods: viviparity, oviparity, and ovoviviparity. This “egg case” is laid by oviparous sharks — how amazing is that!

After the fun and fascinating backstage tour came the time for washing up + FUN creative DIY activities. We hurried to take showers first, then took our time with the DIY. The activity involved using colorful paper clay to create whatever items we liked. Naturally, the kids made all sorts of sea creatures Up!

For the final gathering, the guide was going to take us on a nighttime exploration of marine life! Earlier, during the first guided tour, Blue Whale Sister had already dropped a hint, asking the “Overnight Families” to remember how certain specific fish or corals looked under daylight lighting, so we could observe how they change during the night exploration.

That got us excited—we had never walked through the dark "Coral Kingdom" and "Undersea Tunnel" before. Little Bao huddled beside me, both thrilled and scared. Fortunately, the guide had a small flashlight and led us tank by tank to peek at the nighttime changes in marine life. Please forgive the fact that we couldn’t clearly capture the spectacular sights in the dark underwater world—for example, a type of coral called "sea pork" curls up to sleep at night, and some corals even glow!

Nocturnal creatures like "sea urchins" come out at night.

The "garden eel" below is also quite interesting. During the day, they stand upright in the sand as shown in the photo, but at night, they burrow back into the sand and disappear. The kids were in a panic when they couldn’t find the "garden eels" during the night exploration!

After the night exploration, the guide took us to the restaurant for a late-night snack. It’s said to be a famous snack from Pingtung called "green bean garlic." Outside, a bowl costs 35 NTD, but eating 10 bowls here at the aquarium definitely makes the ticket price worth it Up!

After the late-night snack, the "night campers" moved to the Undersea Tunnel. The staff explained the maximum capacity for each of the three areas and the location of the restrooms. The first section of the tunnel can accommodate 6–8 people, the second section near the escalator is on a slope and can fit around ten people if two sleep side by side, and the third section where we slept could hold nearly 20 people.

After choosing our spots, we started setting up our beds. We laid out the plastic bags containing the quilts and pillows on the floor, then placed a small quilt as a mattress, and finally added the pillows and quilts. I couldn’t sleep on the hard floor, so I folded the large quilt in half and slept in the middle like a sandwich. Just like that, amid constant snoring, I dozed off and woke up repeatedly.

Recommended reading:

In the early morning, light filtered through the skylight and the seawater. Though I hadn’t slept all night and was in agony, I still struggled to grab my phone and document the moment!

The kids, woken up around six, couldn’t help exclaiming: Wow, sharks!! Wow, rays!! The experience of sleeping alongside these fish was absolutely wonderful!

After freshening up and packing, we headed to the restaurant for breakfast. Originally, the next morning’s itinerary included a "intertidal zone" guided tour, but unfortunately, the heavy rain outside hadn’t stopped. All the "night campers" gathered in front of the Ocean Tank to enjoy an exclusive "feeding show."

After that, we were free to choose any area’s guided tour to join. The kids, of course, most wanted to see the adorable penguins Up!

By eleven o’clock, we first took the little ones out for food. We had originally wanted to check out the new "Whale Museum," but aside from the heavy rain, when we returned to the main building, we were shocked to find that practically everyone in Pingtung must have crowded into the aquarium!! So the group quickly left the aquarium and headed for the homestay.

Although this trip to Kenting didn’t allow the kids to play in the sand or water due to the rain, they only complained a little before quickly starting to discuss coming back for another "night camp at the aquarium." Gege wants to sleep with the beluga whales, and Didi wants to cuddle up with the little penguins.

As for me, even though showering was a bit inconvenient and I didn’t get any sleep at night, waking up to the sight of the sea and fish in the morning felt incredibly healing. The guides’ professional and detailed explanations gave me a fulfilling sense that the trip was absolutely worthwhile. A friend said she was worried her preschool-aged child wouldn’t understand or remember anything and that it would be a waste of money!

1. Children aged 3–6 only need to pay $1090 for a ticket.
2. Children over 3 are in a learning explosion phase, and multisensory experiential learning is the perfect nourishment for their young brains.
3. Children over 3 have more stable routines and can more easily adapt to the night camp environment, reducing emotional reactions and family conflicts caused by changes in schedule.

It’s been a whole week since we returned from the aquarium, yet my two kids are still begging to go "night camping at the aquarium" again—proof of how powerful the experience’s impact is!! I’m mentally prepared to sleep with earplugs, and you shouldn’t hesitate either—take your kids on an underwater world adventure now!

[Authorized reprint from Teacher Xu’s “Dad’s Parenting Diary” | Original article: “Night Camping at the Aquarium—An Unforgettable Marine Adventure for Both Adults and Kids”]