Sleeping with the fishes has never been so much fun.
OK, we know, technically dolphins aren't fish, they're mammals. But the folks at Baltimore's National Aquarium won't mind if, in all the excitement about getting to spend the night with their dolphins, people get a little mixed up.
The Dolphin Sleepover program "offers an intimate connection to the dolphins," says Wendy Shepard, the aquarium's immersion tours manager. "With dolphins, it's pretty easy to keep people engaged."
The program, which was inaugurated just last week, offers visitors the chance to get close to the dolphins in ways unavailable to the casual aquarium visitor. True, they don't get to get in the water or actually touch the dolphins; they'll have to sign up for one of the aquarium's Dolphin Encounters for that. But they get to hang around the dolphin tanks while hardly anyone else is around, learn all about the creatures during sessions with trainers and wake up in the morning just a few feet (and a few inches of clear acrylic) away from their newfound friends.
"It's very peaceful, and you still have that charge of, 'Oh gosh, I'm right next to a dolphin,' " Shepard says. "In the morning, the dolphins are just waking up and they're ready to interact with people."
The program is set to run from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. on select weekend nights through August. For $94.95, guests get behind-the-scenes tours, hands-on instruction in the aquarium's conservation lab and a tour of the building after it's been shut down for the night. They'll also get some time on the catwalk above the dolphin tank normally reserved for trainers and aquarium staff, which puts them about six inches above the water line.
They'll also get fed dinner and breakfast (rising about 6:30 a.m., Shepard warns). Guests have to provide their own sleeping bags or air mattresses.
It's not unusual, Shepard says, to see visitors standing at one of the viewing area windows, laughing with delight as the dolphins seem to be imitating their human guests.
"Oh yeah, the dolphins imitate people," she says. "They can learn from us, and we can learn from them."
If you go
The Dolphin Sleepover program runs 6 p.m.-9 a.m. July 17, 24 and 31 and Aug. 7, 13, 14 and 21 at Baltimore's National Aquarium, 501 E. Pratt St. in the Inner Harbor. Tickets are $94.95, $84.95 for aquarium members. Information: 410-576-3800 or aqua.org.