I always look forward to going somewhere or doing something new each time we visit Florida. Our last holiday was no exception and in fact I was probably looking forward to it more than at any time. The reason; I had celebrated my 60th birthday only a couple of weeks before our holiday and part of my birthday present from my family was that they had paid for me to experience the Shark Deep Dive at SeaWorld, something I had wanted to do for some time .
On arrival at SeaWorld we headed for the Reservations desk, just inside the main entrance, to find out where we had to meet for the dive. After my daughter and I had completed our disclaimer forms we were told to meet our host at the bronze statue by the side of the shop at Wild Arctic about 10 minutes before our dive was scheduled. The Reservations clerk mentioned that if my wife wanted to take photos she would probably be able to go into the Shark Underwater Grill and he also mentioned that she should ask if the microphone was available which would enable her to speak to us while we were underwater. We double checked with the restaurant and were told that there would be no problem letting my wife in to watch us and get photographs.
At the appointed time Claire and I met Sabrina, our host and disappeared through a staff exit, leaving Linda to make her way to the restaurant. At this point I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Deep Dive bookings were only for two people at a time, so that our experience would be ours alone. We were then taken by golf cart to the first stop on our journey; the offices where we would be kitted up in wetsuits and boots. First though, Sabrina talked us through the variety of sharks and fish that we would be seeing including Sand sharks, White Tips, Black Tips, Nurse and Brown Shaks plus two swordfish (sawfish) and a large ray. Then she described the equipment we would be using with the aid of a scale model of the helmet that would enable us to both breath and communicate with the SeaWorld staff and my wife. After donning our wetsuits it was then back to the golf cart and off to the Shark Encounter via the ‘tradesman’s entrance’!
Please continue to read my report of SeaWorld’s Shark dive in the second section of our review
On arrival at SeaWorld we headed for the Reservations desk, just inside the main entrance, to find out where we had to meet for the dive. After my daughter and I had completed our disclaimer forms we were told to meet our host at the bronze statue by the side of the shop at Wild Arctic about 10 minutes before our dive was scheduled. The Reservations clerk mentioned that if my wife wanted to take photos she would probably be able to go into the Shark Underwater Grill and he also mentioned that she should ask if the microphone was available which would enable her to speak to us while we were underwater. We double checked with the restaurant and were told that there would be no problem letting my wife in to watch us and get photographs.
At the appointed time Claire and I met Sabrina, our host and disappeared through a staff exit, leaving Linda to make her way to the restaurant. At this point I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Deep Dive bookings were only for two people at a time, so that our experience would be ours alone. We were then taken by golf cart to the first stop on our journey; the offices where we would be kitted up in wetsuits and boots. First though, Sabrina talked us through the variety of sharks and fish that we would be seeing including Sand sharks, White Tips, Black Tips, Nurse and Brown Shaks plus two swordfish (sawfish) and a large ray. Then she described the equipment we would be using with the aid of a scale model of the helmet that would enable us to both breath and communicate with the SeaWorld staff and my wife. After donning our wetsuits it was then back to the golf cart and off to the Shark Encounter via the ‘tradesman’s entrance’!
Please continue to read my report of SeaWorld’s Shark dive in the second section of our review