BabyDuck
Contributor
d a aquamaster and i did the dive quest at disney's epcot tuesday. it was a blast!
we met the rest of the group at guest relations at epcot. there was me, larry, and a group of 4 - a guy who was an instructor, his gf, and her two older teenage daughters. yep, just 6 of us. there was a behind-the-scenes tour of the filtration system, feeding areas, and the aquarium itself. after a little film of what to expect and signing waivers, we changed into swim suits and shorties. all equipment is provided - all you're allowed to bring of your own is computer and mask. too bad fins aren't included in that list, but we'll get to that.
the platform into the water is on top of one of the viewing areas into the aquarium. we put on fins (splits for larry - HAHAHAHAHA!! and those slingshot type for me, ick) and our scubapro bc's. i've never dove with a stab jacket before, so i was a bit worried. we all agreed that rule six was suspended for the duration. our weighting was guessed by the dm's, and mine was a bit light, but there were drop weights on the down line, so with a couple extra pounds all was good. we went down the line.
there was a videographer taking shots of everyone as we did a 10min or so tour with the guide. they had told us to be all animated for the video, but that's just against my diving religion of being quiet & i couldn't do much, but i was definitely more lively than larry. you could see the people on the other side, both in the restaurant and the exhibit areas. they would wave & take pictures, and we'd wave back & do flips & barrel rolls.
let me just say for the record that those slingshot fins suck. i could make them frog, but not with power because they'd 'sling' just when i needed them to stay stiff, and they had no backup gear *at all*. sigh. but other than that, the gear wasn't in the way. my first stab jacket dive was a success!
the sharks and fish were pretty cool. the big pleasure to me was the turtle - i've seen sharks and fish, but not ended up close to a turtle before.
after 40 minutes, we got out. we left the gear to the dm's and took a shower. we got those drawstring backpacks and 3x shirts (because they have some big shirts left over from when they gave shirts) and saw our video. yep, i bought one. i'd have bought a divequest pin, too, but there aren't any.
a very nice time. we had a lot of fun.
we met the rest of the group at guest relations at epcot. there was me, larry, and a group of 4 - a guy who was an instructor, his gf, and her two older teenage daughters. yep, just 6 of us. there was a behind-the-scenes tour of the filtration system, feeding areas, and the aquarium itself. after a little film of what to expect and signing waivers, we changed into swim suits and shorties. all equipment is provided - all you're allowed to bring of your own is computer and mask. too bad fins aren't included in that list, but we'll get to that.
the platform into the water is on top of one of the viewing areas into the aquarium. we put on fins (splits for larry - HAHAHAHAHA!! and those slingshot type for me, ick) and our scubapro bc's. i've never dove with a stab jacket before, so i was a bit worried. we all agreed that rule six was suspended for the duration. our weighting was guessed by the dm's, and mine was a bit light, but there were drop weights on the down line, so with a couple extra pounds all was good. we went down the line.
there was a videographer taking shots of everyone as we did a 10min or so tour with the guide. they had told us to be all animated for the video, but that's just against my diving religion of being quiet & i couldn't do much, but i was definitely more lively than larry. you could see the people on the other side, both in the restaurant and the exhibit areas. they would wave & take pictures, and we'd wave back & do flips & barrel rolls.
let me just say for the record that those slingshot fins suck. i could make them frog, but not with power because they'd 'sling' just when i needed them to stay stiff, and they had no backup gear *at all*. sigh. but other than that, the gear wasn't in the way. my first stab jacket dive was a success!
the sharks and fish were pretty cool. the big pleasure to me was the turtle - i've seen sharks and fish, but not ended up close to a turtle before.
after 40 minutes, we got out. we left the gear to the dm's and took a shower. we got those drawstring backpacks and 3x shirts (because they have some big shirts left over from when they gave shirts) and saw our video. yep, i bought one. i'd have bought a divequest pin, too, but there aren't any.
a very nice time. we had a lot of fun.