Aquarium Diving

[thunsaker]

I was at Disneyworld in Florida last week. Just before I left for the airport, I found out that I could dive in Epcot's Aquarium for around $60. I will probably do that next year when I visit the resort again.

I did look into it yesterday and found out that it was $175 instead of the amount I quoted earlier. That's too expensive especially for only one dive for 40 minutes. I would probably pay if it were around $60, but $175 is outrageous.

 

[seaducer]

That's really cool, i will check it out. but the biggest thing and gurantee see are the whale sharks and i think Georgia aquarium is the only one in North America that has them.

You are correct, only Georgia has whale sharks in NA. I might be mistaken but I am not aware of any other aquarium, worldwide, who has them.

I did look into it yesterday and found out that it was $175 instead of the amount I quoted earlier. That's too expensive especially for only one dive for 40 minutes. I would probably pay if it were around $60, but $175 is outrageous.

Most aquarium dives are indeed expensive. On the one hand, guest dives are outside the daily activities of the staff, so special consideration is required. Aquariums are rediculously expensive to run, and some animals cost over 100,000 to buy and ship in from wherever they are. And lastly, some of the money in some aquariums will go to outreach and education programs, so you may think of it a partly a charity donation in addition to paying a dive charter.

 

[thunsaker]

They should specify what portion is going to charity and what is going for the actual dive so that you can get a tax writeoff for the amount going to charity. Depending on how much they allocate to charity, then I might pay to go diving in the aquarium.

 

[askdjasd]

You are correct, only Georgia has whale sharks in NA. I might be mistaken but I am not aware of any other aquarium, worldwide, who has them.

there is an aquarium in Japan that has a few too.

but i was checking on wikipedia, $290 to dive with the whale sharks, bit pricey and you have to stay at least 5' away from them.

 

[craracer]

According to the web site for the aquarium at the Mall of America, they only provide weights and weight belt. The rest is up to you.

 

[frogman159]

They should specify what portion is going to charity and what is going for the actual dive so that you can get a tax writeoff for the amount going to charity. Depending on how much they allocate to charity, then I might pay to go diving in the aquarium.

during the briefing at Disney, they do tell you that 100% of the charge goes to thier worldwide animal conservation and rehabilitation fund.

 

[cruiser]

Oh yeah, that I gotta see.

This really isn't an aquarium, but it is close to what you asked for:

N E M O 33

Nemo 33 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[NudeDiver]

According to the web site for the aquarium at the Mall of America, they only provide weights and weight belt. The rest is up to you.

So, this begs the question - which would you rather be? A mall diver or a cyber diver?

 

[stanw]

Does anyone know if anything like this exists in the S. California area?

Thanks.

 

[thunsaker]

Does anyone know if anything like this exists in the S. California area?

Thanks.

At the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, you can volunteer to clean their aquariums, but you have to do other volunteer grunt work for at least a year before they let you set foot in the aquarium and you probably have to do that every weekend, which is not worth my time since I would rather be diving. If you miss a weekend, you have to start all over=(.