tjmills
Contributor
Just wanted to take a minute to share my recent experience at the Denver Aquarium and give some of you an understanding of why I would consider diving as an unpaid volunteer pooper scooper. The fact that I live in severely land locked state and there is very little good diving around here unless I want to freeze my butt off was my initial motivating factor and the fact that I am glad we have a place like this in Denver and wanted to do my part to help keep it here as it almost went under a couple years ago. I did find out.....all of those reasons paled compared to what I have found out that I like the most.
My first dive was a week ago. Check out kind of thing in Open Blue which is the largest of the tanks and has various sharks swimming around with turtles, Cuda and a maze of tropical fish. Everything went ok and I learned to feed the fish, clean the glass, scrub the walls and to use the pooper sucker on the bottom of the Aquarium. We had to do the normal check out stuff like mask removal and BC Removal for the check out and then to be observed doing various tasks and our ease of being in the water with the fishes. Deal with the leopard sharks that swim through your legs like a dog when you just get home from work while trying to put on your fins. Everything went fine despite the equipment problems I was having like the BC didn't fit me well and I honestly haven't worn a weight belt in so long that I forgot how to best place the weight on the new belt I purchased. We had to use the Aquariums BC/Regs for safety reasons but thats another argument all together. Although I am sure I could win the argument....
And then there were the kids. All of them staring in amazement at the big guy with the bubbles coming from his head. Eyes as big as dinner plates. Not really sure if they should back up from the window and run to Mom or run out the exit with or without Mom. I kind of related it to a kid watching TV and that dazed stare when something scary comes on the tube. That is......Right up until you waved at them. Then the whole thing became real and that person in the water was actually looking back at them and saying Hi. You could almost hear their excitement as they started flocking to the glass and waving like mad. I laughed so hard that I almost lost my reg more than a couple times.
Last night I signed up for the diner dive show. No work, just waving. Just me in the water in the main dining area. (DA is owned by Landrys). A little unnerving as I have found out in my life that I am not a really big exhibitionist in most situations (there are exceptions). I am certainly not a shy person either but jumping into the aquarium with a full restaurant was a little thought provoking. As I climbed down the ladder and pushed on the ill fitting fins and tried to find a way for my BC to at least be somewhat comfortable, fumbling with the new weightbelt all the while being mobbed by a thousand fish....I finally got underwater and saw a couple kids at the glass. Smashed up so they could see really good. I went down, got my bearings, pushed through the fish and 2 kids were replaced by 6 kids. All waving and looking in amazement. The first tank is small and takes a little getting acclimated. At first it was a little awkward but the kids helped and finally got me going but I was still a little unsure of what to do. You only spend about 10 minutes on that side and have to get out and jump in the big side.
The big side was packed with full tables and lots of people. The 6 kids were replaced by what seemed like a dozen although I am sure less. People eating dinner as I swam up to the windows and the kids jumping up and down like mad. What fun. I then forgot all about the equipment and started waving back at them and blowing bubble rings, swimming upside down, giving them a high five and once again laughing so hard that I had to hold the reg in my mouth. Watching their faces as the Sand Tiger swam by my head with its snarly teeth sticking out in every direction. I could almost tell everytime it came close by the look on their faces. I moved around the restaurant waving at even more kids as the others followed and waving at people eating their dinners even back from the windows. I swam over to the bar area (Awesome bar to hang out in Denver at and I am surprised its not more popular) and again 5 kids standing in the window waving like mad with eyes as big as dinner plates again blowing more bubble rings and laughing my head off. I even swam over to the boat in the bottom and picked up my #1 hero....Sponge Bob and proceeded to make him dance over to the window for the kids. I taught the kids the sign for shark and pointed at him as though he was a man eating great white of 40 feet. I laughed and laughed and laughed at the faces in the crowd but none of them were better than the kids.
Upon exiting the water my first words were....Man, that was fun to Jeff who was the Aquarist who was helping me from above. Being that he used to dive at Disney World as the Diving Mickey...he knew exactly what I meant. Man, I actually think that I may have a little ham in me. .
So I did this for all the right reasons. They needed help, I needed to dive and I want to do my part to help keep the Aquarium in the area. What I found out is.....I would do it anytime just for the look on the kids faces.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get started over there. I have found this to be an extremely rewarding experience and I look forward to learning and experiencing more.
I have attached a few pictures that were taken from the dining area. THIS is what makes this all worth it.
My first dive was a week ago. Check out kind of thing in Open Blue which is the largest of the tanks and has various sharks swimming around with turtles, Cuda and a maze of tropical fish. Everything went ok and I learned to feed the fish, clean the glass, scrub the walls and to use the pooper sucker on the bottom of the Aquarium. We had to do the normal check out stuff like mask removal and BC Removal for the check out and then to be observed doing various tasks and our ease of being in the water with the fishes. Deal with the leopard sharks that swim through your legs like a dog when you just get home from work while trying to put on your fins. Everything went fine despite the equipment problems I was having like the BC didn't fit me well and I honestly haven't worn a weight belt in so long that I forgot how to best place the weight on the new belt I purchased. We had to use the Aquariums BC/Regs for safety reasons but thats another argument all together. Although I am sure I could win the argument....
And then there were the kids. All of them staring in amazement at the big guy with the bubbles coming from his head. Eyes as big as dinner plates. Not really sure if they should back up from the window and run to Mom or run out the exit with or without Mom. I kind of related it to a kid watching TV and that dazed stare when something scary comes on the tube. That is......Right up until you waved at them. Then the whole thing became real and that person in the water was actually looking back at them and saying Hi. You could almost hear their excitement as they started flocking to the glass and waving like mad. I laughed so hard that I almost lost my reg more than a couple times.
Last night I signed up for the diner dive show. No work, just waving. Just me in the water in the main dining area. (DA is owned by Landrys). A little unnerving as I have found out in my life that I am not a really big exhibitionist in most situations (there are exceptions). I am certainly not a shy person either but jumping into the aquarium with a full restaurant was a little thought provoking. As I climbed down the ladder and pushed on the ill fitting fins and tried to find a way for my BC to at least be somewhat comfortable, fumbling with the new weightbelt all the while being mobbed by a thousand fish....I finally got underwater and saw a couple kids at the glass. Smashed up so they could see really good. I went down, got my bearings, pushed through the fish and 2 kids were replaced by 6 kids. All waving and looking in amazement. The first tank is small and takes a little getting acclimated. At first it was a little awkward but the kids helped and finally got me going but I was still a little unsure of what to do. You only spend about 10 minutes on that side and have to get out and jump in the big side.
The big side was packed with full tables and lots of people. The 6 kids were replaced by what seemed like a dozen although I am sure less. People eating dinner as I swam up to the windows and the kids jumping up and down like mad. What fun. I then forgot all about the equipment and started waving back at them and blowing bubble rings, swimming upside down, giving them a high five and once again laughing so hard that I had to hold the reg in my mouth. Watching their faces as the Sand Tiger swam by my head with its snarly teeth sticking out in every direction. I could almost tell everytime it came close by the look on their faces. I moved around the restaurant waving at even more kids as the others followed and waving at people eating their dinners even back from the windows. I swam over to the bar area (Awesome bar to hang out in Denver at and I am surprised its not more popular) and again 5 kids standing in the window waving like mad with eyes as big as dinner plates again blowing more bubble rings and laughing my head off. I even swam over to the boat in the bottom and picked up my #1 hero....Sponge Bob and proceeded to make him dance over to the window for the kids. I taught the kids the sign for shark and pointed at him as though he was a man eating great white of 40 feet. I laughed and laughed and laughed at the faces in the crowd but none of them were better than the kids.
Upon exiting the water my first words were....Man, that was fun to Jeff who was the Aquarist who was helping me from above. Being that he used to dive at Disney World as the Diving Mickey...he knew exactly what I meant. Man, I actually think that I may have a little ham in me.
. So I did this for all the right reasons. They needed help, I needed to dive and I want to do my part to help keep the Aquarium in the area. What I found out is.....I would do it anytime just for the look on the kids faces.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get started over there. I have found this to be an extremely rewarding experience and I look forward to learning and experiencing more.
I have attached a few pictures that were taken from the dining area. THIS is what makes this all worth it.
