We're back!
This tour was an absolute blast!
Here's a report:
Our tour guide, Marc, met us out by Guest Relations and escorted us backstage. He took our sizes for wetsuits, booties and t-shirts. This tour has a max of 12 people, and there were supposed to be only two other people with us, so it was already small to begin with, but they didnt show up! So it was a private tour for my fiance and me.
Marc showed us a bit about the behind-the-scenes workings of Living Seas, including the big filtration tanks out back. I think he said hes a marine biologist. He works for the state of Florida, and the Living Seas is just a one day a week gig.
He took us to a room where he introduced us to the equipment, talked to us a little about the program, and showed us a video about the sea life we were about to see. He told us that the purpose of the Aqua Seas tour was predominantly to introduce people to the scuba equipment so that they could see that it is not very complicated. Even though we had flotation in our vests and on our tanks so that we could not go below the surface, the breathing equipment was standard scuba equipment. The only difference was that we didnt have weights on our vests to help us sink.
Then Marc took us down to the locker rooms, where our wetsuits and booties were waiting for us. We changed, leaving our things in lockers. I had to take out my ponytail holder because it wasnt biodegradable, and they gave me a new one out on deck.
When we went out on deck, there were divers still in the tank feeding the fish, so we couldnt get in right away, which was perfectly fine with us, because it meant Marc was able to take a bit more time showing us around on deck. He showed us some sort of underwater robot, and then he showed us the dolphins! One was playing in the tank, and one was back in their bedroom. He showed us their bedroom area, and each of the dolphins came up out of the water to get a closer look at us.
To explain a little, the main tank of Living Seas is one huge circular tank. I never realized this before. I guess I thought there were a bunch of different tanks holding animals that may not be compatible with other animals. In reality, though, with the exception of a few exhibits (the manatees, the freshwater exhibit, etc.), the animals are all living together. One quarter of the tank is sectioned off with basically a huge fence, and the dolphins live in that quarter. Apparently, the dolphins are adolescent males and are playfully aggressive with the other sea animals.
Where we were swimming was the other three-quarters of the tank, which held sharks, many kinds of fish, rays, and a huge sea turtle. Marc introduced us to Marie, who was going to conduct the water portion of the tour, and it was time to go! Marie gave us another talk about our equipment, we got in it and stepped down onto this little grate thats about three feet under water, and Marc took our picture.
It wasnt hard at all to get used to the equipment. I just had to figure out that I needed to take deeper breaths than I was used to. The funniest thing was that as soon as I got into the water, I swam toward a group of fish. All of them but one swam away from me, and he was getting closer. I was thinking, Wow, what a tame fish! And then I realized he was upside down! And then I realized he was floating up to the surface! I went over Marie and told her I thought a fish had just died. After we were done, I asked her if she had found him, and she said she did, and she put him right side up, but he flopped back upside down. She said he kind of flopped back and forth a couple times and then swam away back down underneath the surface.
We were in the water for a half hour, which doesnt sound like very long, but it was plenty of time to see everything. Sometimes I swam around and sometimes I stayed still just to watch or hoping that one of the rays would come closer. There was one point at which one was about three feet under me. And then when I looked in front of me I realized the sea turtle was about the same distance in front of me! The sharks stayed mostly on the bottom, but my fiance said that they came a little closer to him once or twice.
You can see in all the windows, and you'll see plenty of park guests, including waving children.
When we were done with our dive, Marc took us back down to the locker rooms, so we could shower and get dressed, and then he took us back to the room where the movie had been shown. He gave us drinks, t-shirts, a couple pamphlets, and buttons, and we filled out questionnaires.
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This is one surprise I'm determined to NOT let him find out about beforehand! Thank you all so much again!
