Hi heres a review of my day 3 weeks ago
Tuesday 3rd April:SW:Sharks Dive/Dolphin Nursery Tour/Makahiki Luau
We where all up after 7:30 today as we had a busy day planned, I should have said in day 14 report I told Danny yesterday what his surprise was for today as part of his birthday, he was pretty surprised and apprehensive when he was told it was the Sharks dive but when he found out that I was going down with him then he was okay and was looking forward to it, we caught the ITrolley to SW and we where at SW for a little after 9, we checked in for the sharks dive, dolphin nursery tour and the Luau dinner, our shark time is 10am, the dolphin time is 1:30pm and the dinner is 8:15pm, once checked in and sorted we head for Kraken, on the way to Kraken we see the flamingos out for a walk
There's already a queue for Kraken and JTA is down due to technical fault, we ride Kraken after a 15min wait and enjoy it as always, crowds wise you can see its going to be busy today, we head back to entrance for our shark appointment.
waiting for shark appointment
At about 9:50am we are introduced to Rick our guide for this tour, Rick advise DW that we will be in the cage about 10:50 and if she just tells the restaurant staff that she has family members doing the dive they will let her in to view as restaurant wont be open for diners yet at that time, he also advise her that we will be out about 11:50 at the polar bear gift shop near Mango Joes, so we say our goodbyes to DW & DD and we go our separate ways, I can tell you that DW and DD go and get pastries for their breakie while we are away, Rick guides myself and Danny to one of those electric buggies they drive to get around the park, Rick drives us to behind the scenes and to the education offices he works at, we are taken through to a small office and Rick takes the consent forms I had to sign, we are given a talk on the equipment we will be using, now I though that the helmet would be sealed but its not so if u move your head without moving your body you will get water in the helmet but if u stand up straight the water will recede(ok remember I can't swim, therefore a fear of water), we are told we can communicate via the helmets with each other and the staff operating cage, also told that at first your ears may pop with the pressure similar to an aeroplane, we are then told the cage was designed for ocean use therefore its pretty sturdy and really safe, the one part I never realised was that the cage is always submerged you must drop into cage from above into the water in the cage(ok I did mention fear of water, I can't swim), seriously I'm probably a bit white now and we haven't even got to the sharks yet, DS is sitting quite happily and even asks some questions, my throats to dry to speak.We are then told about the sharks we will see and how they react to the cage, we are told the sharks will come up to the cage to see what we are doing, we are advised to keep our hands in cage(yeah that's good advice, never thought of that), we are told that sharks have changed very little since the Jurassic period, wow I never even knew that sharks where around then but turns out they where, we get to touch a 25 million year old fossil tooth of a shark they believe is extinct they reckon it was at least 50 foot long, they feed the sharks twice a week so that don't help themselves to the tropical in the tank, with our education talk over and questions answered, one of Danny's questions was have the sharks been fed yet?. We are given a tour of the unit now there are lockers for our use, showers, soap, shampoo, conditioner, towels, hair dryer for after our dive to wash off the salt, one tip I'd give is take a plastic bag for your wet swim stuff after the dive, we are then given wetsuits, gloves and boots to wear, once changed and our gear stored Rick gives us both a chilled bottle of water for the drive over to the Shark tank, and glad he did as its roasting in our suits once outside, its a short 5 min journey to the tank wish it could be longer. Once there we are introduced to the photographer, plus the two staff member's who will be responsible for our safety while in the tank one operates the communications the other the tank (now for the life of me I cannot remember their names as I was more in auto pilot mode at this point, we are shown around the tank, which also terrifies me as there's no railing but Danny is right up there peering over, we get our photo taken before we get in the cage(its not free, we never got a free photo but it does only say a free shark book and Tee-Shirt)
After the photo it's time to don the helmet 70lbs and its bloody heavy, a float is attached to Danny's so it doesn't weigh as much, I volunteer to go in first I have the helmet placed on as I bend down, they do a communication check, I then step on the cage ladder and I'm told to let step off and float down which I do after a minute but it takes an effort as I'm terrified of the water, I float down and have a bit of a panic as water comes in my helmet but I straighten up and its okay as the water drains the helmet is a lot lighter in the water, it takes a while to get used to but I do settle down and enjoy the dive after 5 mins, the water isn't that cold either, there's quite a bit of static in the communication so you have to shout to be heard, Danny is loving it and the sharks do come right up to you, the cage moves halfway around the tank then stops for 5 minutes, then it carries on and on way back it stops in centre again for another 5 minutes, I keep swallowing some salt water as I forget a few times to move my body at same time as head but Danny sits down, crouches everything little git, whereas me I'm like a bloody robot, we can see people in the tunnel waving at us and pointing and we can see DW and DD taking photos from the restaurant, they had arrived late as we where already in for about 10 minutes before we saw them, turns out the lady they asked didn't understand DW's accent, we both had a great time and I'm pretty sure DS was pleased that I did that for him, although he did take the Mickey out of me for not dropping right away.
After we got out of the tank which was easier than getting in I can tell you, we said our thanks to the staff, and we are driven back to the education offices, we shower and change Rick gives us our Tee shirts and Shark guide books, he then walks us out to the Polar expedition shop we say our goodbyes and Rick wishes Danny a happy birthday for tomorrow, I do let Rick know about the dis and the fact that a few are intending to do this experience, he seemed impressed we shared our experiences.
i am doing it again this summer at camp, cant wait!!!
