UPDATE: The video above is a little confusing in timespace. Basically it is a few scenes cut from our dive. The main person on the left (thumbs up dude) is myself, my wife Lindz is to the left of me (right of camera). She is the the one that gets all the attention from the sharks (probably because she smells good). The Ga Aquarium has a camera man that will follow some of the dives. You can purchase the footage from them also (they are non-profit it goes towards their research) I bought the DVD and edited out just a short list of segments that had us in them (seen above). The DVD that you can buy contains a great edit of all the footage from the dive. The above is just a small sample that I cut out that included me and my wife.
The wife and I were lucky enough this weekend to be able to snorkel through the whale shark tank at the Georgia Aquarium. It was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable experiences I will ever have from the very beginning to the end.
The day actually almost didn't happen for us though (which would have been about the biggest bummer I can possibly think of). We were supposed to be at the group meet up at 4:00 and we had to be right on time. We left our house around 2:30 (in Alpharetta area) and started down 400. When we got to the tollbooth (and not anywhere did it strike me about it within the last 2 weeks) I remembered that there was construction on 85 south through the city. So we thought, well I am sure it is down below 20 or something and we will make it getting off at the aquarium exit for sure. As we drove down 400 we started to see a lot of people getting off at the exits and I thought, well this can't be good and by the time we got to Sidney Marcus there was literally a line of people GOING OPPOSITE OF TRAFFIC in the emergency lanes trying to get off. I made a split second decision to know those people that were doing it had to know something I didn't so we got off 400 and drove over to the Lindberg Marta station and took Marta down to Peachtree Station. As Marta paralleled 400 and we saw the parking lot that was 85 me and Lindz both smiled fairly large as we both knew that if we had stayed on 400->85 we would have lived on 85 for the next 2 years out of the back of our car. Regardless, since we had not planned on the 15-20 min walk from the Marta station to the Aquarium we did a mad Home Alone like dash through downtown to make sure we would make it on time. We got there at 4:06 and learned that other people who were supposed to be there also were stuck in traffic. It seems like a pretty strict schedule (you don't want to put people in the water when everything is hungry I assume) so we ended up having only 4 of the 6 people show up. Fortunately though this left 2 slots open and two of the people going with us got to bring their Dad.
The aquarium runs 2 dives a day, or really one scuba dive and one scuba assisted snorkel (sas?) dive a day. Each group contains 6 slots and is accompanied by 3 divers, a back diver, front diver (divemaster) and 6 other divers who surround the group with 8ft long spearguns (just kidding about the speargun divers). When you arrive at the aquarium you meet up with the greeter and another aquarium worker who get the group together, and then you go upstairs through the "Do Not Enter" doors to the staff part of the aquarium. As soon as we went through those doors I started to REALLY get excited because I knew that we were going to be seeing some pretty cool stuff/tech. As soon as you walk into the back area of the aquarium you are taken to a classroom. I think one of the neatest things about the staff areas of the aquarium is that there are literally fish tanks everywhere. For someone like me (who as my wife calls me an 'aquarium hobbyist') it is quite awesome. Just within the walk from the staff-only doors to the classroom there were 3 salt water tanks. One was a fairly large (200gal?) reef tank that contained a normal array of reef fish, a Flame Angel and a couple of other fish. Inside the classroom was a 45gal with a HUGE assortment of really thriving anemone and clownfish using them as host, and then there is also another 45 gal with a small eel and what looked to be small stone fish inside them.
So after arriving into the classroom you are greeted by the host/greeter Ed Ryan. Ed was a really nice guy. I am about 99.999% positive he was in the Navy at some point in his life because he reminded me of about every Navy scoutleader or counseler I ever had at scout camp. He was EXTREMELY knowledgeable about 'public aquarium dives' (which is a term I totally just made up for public hosted dives in aquarium exhibits) having worked at the aquarium down at Disney for the past 8 years. He mentioned that down there they had put about 48 people in the water a day at the aquarium at Epcot, so he sounded like he knew his stuff and knew how to keep everyone safe at the same time. We met with the other divers in our group of 6 who included a girl maybe a few years younger than us who lived in midtown and did pharm sales, and the family I mentioned before that were also from Alpharetta, a father and his just-turned-16 son (this was his Bday present) and his sister who was probably about 14 or so who seemed a bit nervous. The father's name was Bob and seemed like a nice guy. After introductions there is a fairly extensive walk through about getting geared up. I had assumed that wet suit would be in play, but I assumed we would be using regular snorkels. I was completely wrong and I am 100x happier that we didn't. I have scuba dived some and snorkeled a bunch, but never have I snorkeled with a regulator. It was REALLY a nice experience. The BC keeps you afloat so you literally can just glide and the tank/regulator give you the ability to really see around you sooo much more than a snorkel that you have to "haukblow"-clean everytime you dip your face under more than 90deg.
Ed described to us how to get all the gear situated, how to get the wet suits on with minimal water seepage, and how the dive team would help us out after getting in the water. We also watched a short video about how to suit up and how to enter the water via the little pier/bridge that is at the top of the tank. There was only one problem, the pier/bridge was up for maintenance so we were using the alternative which crosses over 'Alice Alley' and we would be instructed how by one of the divers. I will talk about that more in a sec.
So after the video I looked around and saw that everyones faces had just come to the realization that we were about to get in what is probably the world's largest fish tank and and get to see some incredible animals right up close. I don't know if anyone realized just how close though. One thing that we learned about in the video and from Ed was when the whale sharks were approaching we were to use the 'superman' position. (No, not that one) the version that the aquarium uses whereas you pretty much lay yourself flat until the whalesharks pass you by. So Ed then introduced us to Patty Eberheart who then took us up to the top of the large tank. The top of the tank just looks pretty much like a big indoor football field, with a field of water and a catwalk that spans it at about the 20 yard line on one side. Patty mentioned that they bring educational tours through this area and that they get to go across the catwalk which would be pretty cool. So then Patty showed us how to sanitize our shoes and we walked across the deck of the pool to the locker rooms and got suited up. The aquarium puts everything you will need; wet suit, booties, towels and everything in that locker marked with your name. You literally just need to bring your bathing suit. After getting suited up (and starting to get REALLY REALLY excited) you then get back on the deck and get to meet the dive crew you will be diving with. Our lead diver was David Adams (who was an extremely charismatic guy), Anne Lewin (Lewis?) who was having just as much fun as David and a cinematographer diver Jim McAlister (who has the coolest beard in all of Atlanta - I think the fish know this and this is why they don't mess with him and he can get such great shots). They gave us some more instruction about the superman position and also about certain hand signal communication we would need to know in the water. All three were very personable and honestly made you feel very comfortable on the dive. I kept glancing at the young girl on the trip and I think these three divers made her a little more at ease, which is worth it's weight in gold when you are about to get in a really large swimming pool with 4 bus sized whale sharks and countless other fish that if seen in the wild might cause alarm enough to call off a dive (hammerhead, black tip etc.).
So we proceeded to get suited up and in line to get in the water. As I mentioned before the normal water entry pier structure was under maintenance, so we were going in on the alternative route which was pretty much down 2 ladders into Alice Alley. They call that certain edge of the aquarium Alice Alley because Alice (one of the larger female whalesharks) likes to cruise through here on her rounds. For those that don't know the Whale sharks are pretty much in a constant figure 8 motion around the aquarium (it was built to support this). I am going entirely off memory from the window placements I remember from being underwater and the order in which we saw them, but I think the below pic is pretty close. The pathway the sharks circle in (most of the time) is in black, and 'Alice Alley' is in yellow. Pretty much since the pier-esque entry ramp was closed we had to go down 2 ladders, the only thing is that we were pretty much playing a big game of Frogger so we didn't disturb the sharks swimming patterns. So 2 people would get in the water, wait for a whale shark to pass, then 2 more etc etc and we would swim out to group up about 20 feet off the wall until all 9 of us were in the water.
Once we got out to the gather point everyone made sure were were all feeling good about our gear and instructions and we were off. One of the things that the divemaster and the videos etc are VERY clear on is that you do not in any way actively touch, go after, or motion towards any of the fish and follow the rules or else your dive can be cut short. Me and Lindz were in probably the best roller coaster position of the dive. You are paired up and everyone uses the rules of 5. Stay 5 feet from any animal, 5 feet from the wall, and within 5 feet from your partner. David was right in front of us (yellow fins in the video). Anne was in back (red wetsuit) and Jim was pretty much all around us (with a big camera in his hands that looked like dumptruck headlights coming right at you). Me and Lindz were on front row, her on the inside me on the outside.
Once in the water and moving for about the first 5 mins I really kept my eye on Dave I was still getting a feeling for being in the water and also to make sure we followed his lead and didn't get off track. He stayed about 10 feet in front of us and continuously had his hands on his head (which I think meant, all is good - continuing to move forward). Once we got about 20 yards from where we began we started to see the whale sharks around us. I cannot begin to describe how surreal it was when the first whale shark passed us. Since you are on the surface (where the whale sharks tend to stay) and within their pattern they just glide right by you. At the beginning of the program it sounded like they would tend to stay away a little bit (this program just started on June 1st I believe) but as they have gotten more used to 6 or so people being in the water once a day they have started to get more inquisitive. Before we got in the water David was telling us about how they would sneak up on you all the sudden. Of course I thought oh he is just being funny, this is a 25+ long fish, they don't sneak up on anything, but in all honestly they really would just suddenly appear. If you don't belive me look at the video above at about :55 seconds in. That is the 16 year old diving with us who didn't realize the shark was so close to him. During the dive I would look up, David would be giving us the superman signal and then out of no where less than 5 feet from us this massive (AND I MEAN FREAKING MASSIVE) fish would glide right under you. It was absolutely one of the most surreal experiences of my life. You can feel the tug as they glide past you, but it is silent and the water is almost still. Honestly, just totally indescribable.
After the first pass by one of the sharks (I think Trixie) I started to really just be beside myself, it was so awesome. Then I looked up and saw the guitarfish swimming underneath us. I never at any point of the dive felt threatened at all, however since I had Lindsey with me I was always keeping myself alert to any fish within our area that could create a bad situation. There were two points at which I kept my eyes on two specific fish, 1 was the guitarfish (I think a Skate/Ray) that swam about 5 feet below us and then another was a hammerhead shark that kept wanting to get a good look at us towards the end of the dive. The guitarfish looks a lot bigger when it is swimming underneath you than it does through the aquarium windows. I shouldn't really say bigger, just longer. I had always assumed it was about 4 to 5 feet in length when it honestly looked more like 6-7'as it swam RIGHT underneath us. I don't think they are an aggressive fish, and he was probably just checking us all out, but it still was pretty wicked.
One of the other neat inhabitants of the tank were the peeps in the tunnel. I couldn't really see all that well in the windows, but I could see into the tunnel really well and it was pretty fun also to wave at the little kids in the tunnel who would get so tickled at you when you would wave back.
Pretty much continuously as you swim you have whale sharks gliding past you. You could tell when they would come up beside you that they were definitely trying to figure out what was going on with you. It was almost sometimes a little comical because they would get almost eye level with you and then turn away. There is one instance in the video above at about 2:40 in front of the home depot window when Alice (I think) came up right beside us and tagged Lindz. (she is the one right in front), there was another instance that actually happened later (but sooner in the vid above) that one of the males came right at me. I was laying flat, but honestly kept looking at David in a WTF do I do look on my face, because when you are staring at this massive creature going literally less that 1 foot below you and a 6 foot tall tail headed strait for your face you really don't know what to do. Fortunately the whale sharks are pretty adept at the whole swimming thing and although I barely notice it, they know they are going to get just deep enough not to hit you.
The entire experience was absolutely the most awesome thing in the world. Seriously. If you have the ability to do this, it is honestly worth 3x what they ask for it. I pretty much came out of the water speechless and thanked myself every min afterwards that I was on the website the day it was released that we got spots. I am 100% positive Lindz loved every minute also. One thing that I really thought was great about the whole experience was that the staff honestly wanted to share this experience with you. Every single person honestly loved what they did, and I think the only thing they might have loved just as much was being able to take people like me and Lindsey on experiences like that. I cannot say enough about the Swim with Gentle Giants Program (shit this is already probably the longest post I have had in years). If you can, do yourself the favor and sign up and take someone you love with you. I also would suggest NOT doing the dive program, but doing the swim program. Just for the sheer fact that the 4 whalesharks swim more on the surface than they do on the bottom. I honestly can say I think they are undercharging it. Not just because of the experience itself, but also because of the staff that cares sooooo passionately about it and they honestly want to share that with you. You could tell these guys loved it just as much as we did and they were probably doing it for the 1000th time.
Thank you David Adams, Anne Lewin (Lewis?), Jim McAlister, Ed Ryan, Patty Eberheart of the Georgia Aquarium for making this one hell of an experience.
Swim with Gentle Giants @ The Georgia Aquarium
