This month I took the plunge and got up close and personal with one of the world’s most feared animals. What can I say… it was fintastic.
Some of you readers may remember earlier this year when I wrote about doing a scuba diving course. While I’ve had quite a few dives since then and seen some beautiful underwater wildlife, I felt there was something missing.
Sharks!
So when I heard about Shark Dive Xtreme at SEA LIFE Aquarium I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to get chummy with these magnificent creatures.
There are SEA LIFE Aquariums all around the world, with three located in Australia. I visited the Sydney aquarium but there is also one at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast and another in Melbourne. All of them offer Shark Dive Xtreme.
If you’ve never scuba dived before don’t let that stop you as you don’t need any experience to participate and the guides take care of everything for you. Having a bit of experience, I found myself very impatient with the tedious introductory briefings and safety run-throughs that went on for an hour or so before I could even get in the water.
Alongside my husband and my friend’s daughter Jaylah – who by the way was given the activity as her 14th birthday present which is the minimum age to participate – we were finally all geared up and ready to take the plunge.
I was first in the water and I was assisted down to the bottom which is about three metres deep and instructed to wait for the others. As I peered around, I could see a few different fish and a couple of sharks in the distance. I looked to see what the others were doing and then as I turned back around I nearly jumped out of my wetsuit in shock.
Less than a metre from me was a gigantic Grey Nurse shark. It didn’t even seem to be moving, just floating there looking straight at me.
Shock quickly turned to elation and by this time Jaylah was down next to me, I nearly knocked her over in my excitement of pointing it out. We both marvelled as it slowly inched it’s way past us.
Then our guides slowly moved us around the aquarium until we came to a stop on the ledge of the glass tunnel that runs through the entire aquarium. Grey Nurse, Wobbegongs and Port Jackson Sharks continuously looped past, either just over our heads or right in front or behind us.
While we were busy watching the sharks, tourists in the glass tunnel seemed more interested in watching us, with plenty of waving and pointing like we were some strange sea creatures they had never seen before.
After about half an hour in the water it was time to go, and while part of me would have loved to stay longer I was freezing my butt off due to a poor fitting wetsuit and so I was keen to hit the hot showers provided after we finished.
Overall, it was a thrilling experience. Not only did I see sharks of all sizes and shapes, but there were massive stingrays and all types of interesting fish and sea creatures. The visibility in the water meant I could see everything with a clarity that I had never experienced while diving in the ocean and that made it even more amazing.
Now stay tuned… next up is cage shark diving with Great Whites!
