Sleep with the fishes

Enjoy after-hours access and private tours at the Singapore Oceanarium through the Ocean Dreams glamping experience

- Amrita Kaur

If you cannot get enough of the underwater world with its fascinating denizens, this is for you.

Resorts World Sentosa is relaunching Ocean Dreams, an overnight glamping experience at the Singapore Oceanarium.

Running across four select weekends between November and December, it lets guests discover the wonders of the watery realm from glamping tents nestled in the heart of the oceanarium.

The Straits Times goes on a media preview of Ocean Dreams on Sept 25 and 26.

A PRIVATE WORLD AFTER HOURS

Things kick off promisingly with an after-hours tour of the oceanarium that makes me feel like a VIP.

It is around 5pm, but the usual crowds have left and there is a calm, hushed atmosphere. My guide, Ms Felicia Foo, leads us through the dim galleries, where tanks glow in the dark.

At the Drop of Water zone, a shimmering digital projection shows how tiny plankton in a droplet gave rise to today's marine life.

At the Sea Jellies zone, I stand in front of a massive tank where thousands of moon jellies drift along like floating lanterns.

In another tank, fried egg sea jellies pulse gently to a dreamy piped-in soundtrack.

Then it is back to the prehistoric era at Ancient Waters zone. Animatronics of giant creatures like Dunkleosteus loom beside tanks of "living fossils" such as the Australian lungfish and horseshoe crab.

I learn that the horseshoe crab is not really a crab at all. It is more closely related to spiders and scorpions, and has been around for 445 million years. And its blood is blue.

At the Singapore Coast section, I cautiously dip my hands into a shallow tank where tiny cleaner shrimp dart about.