DiveDowntown.com - Denver Aquarium

[skyhawk133]

My wife and I had a couple extra days before our real vacation started, so we flew up to Denver to check out the DiveDowntown.com dive at the Denver Aquarium. A1 Scuba is the LDS that runs the dives at the Aquarium and they were great to work with. We did the "Dive with the Fish" (they also have "Dive with the Sharks"). It was $175/person which includes all gear rental (the only gear you can use of your own is mask due to contamination issues), a t-shirt, fish guide, and admission to the aquarium/free parking.

We got geared up and in to the water quickly. The aquarium for the "Dive with the fish" is the one with the walk through tube. It's not real large but there's plenty of room to swim around. We descended and I immediately noticed after a few breaths my 2nd stage was leaking water. I switched to my alternate and they swapped out my 2nd stage for a different one. Once we got back down it was a pretty cool experience.

After swimming around for a few minutes to see all the fish, I spent most of my time at the tube entertaining the kids. Seeing their eyes get as big as saucers and smile when you swam up to them was priceless. They'd put their hands up against yours on the glass and just grin from ear to ear.

There was a large sea turtle that enjoyed goosing us. A moray eel that swam by our heads a couple times. And a couple nurse sharks that were asleep in the back corner. The coolest fish was a very larger grouper that I swam with for a few minutes.

The cost is a bit much considering you already have to be certified to dive there. But overall the experience was worth it. The best part is definitely seeing the kids reactions to you. I think even experienced divers would enjoy this aspect of it. For us desert divers, it beats Blue Hole, but like I said, it is a bit pricey for what it is.

Pictures: Picasa Web Albums - Chris - Denver Aquari...

 

[amascuba]

Thanks for writing about your experience. Some buddies and I are heading up to Denver for the weekend. We're going to watch the new Star Trek in IMAX on Saturday and do the Aquarium on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Jasonmh]

Very cool, thanks for the review.

 

[DandyDon]

That would be cool with my own grandkids especially. Sounds like you had a good time. Great.

 

[syonker]

Hi Gang!

I would like to echo Skyhawk's review. As they say, the Denver Aquarium is the "Best Dive in Colorado". While it is a little pricey, it's a very fun dive. I did this in the spring of 2008, and at the time they had two dives, the "Sea of Cortez" (which they have renamed) and the "Shark Tank". At the time, they allowed us to have cameras with flashes/strobes, but my understanding is you can take a camera, but cannot use a strobe or flash now (unless you are doing this as an extension to A-1's photography course, which ends in the aquarium). As I recall, they cut me some sort of a break since I did two dives on the same day, but I don't know if that's still the case.

If you're coming from out of state, you might want to remember that this is an altitude-adjusted dive (5300ish feet), so plan accordingly (a good computer should help with this).

If you're not averse to dropping a little cash, it's well worth it. Here are a few photos from my experience...

This one was REALLY COOL!:cool2: I found out after the fact that the temperature on the tank was running 3 degrees high that day, so the sharks were behaving "differently". Basically, they normally just swim around in their normal circuit, but on this day, they were very curious about us, so they would coast up next to us (or directly above us) and stop. The divemaster was confused, and had to continually push them along with his "stick" (and sharks are heavy, so he had to work for it - I bet he was pretty tired at the end of the day ). Anyway, you can see that tooth hanging off of him out front, when he pushed him, it fell off and I caught it (I still have it).

They have a number of giant green Moray's in the tank. They are roughly 4-6 feet long, and the heads are about 6-8" in diameter with thick bodies all the way. You can get some really nice close-ups of them, and because they are somewhat "creepy looking", I like to call them "Frankenstein's Eel".

As far as I recall, when I was there, they said this grouper weighed in at over 300 pounds...that was over a year ago, so I'm guessing he's even bigger now. If they have a name for him, they didn't share it with me. At one time, I was swimming toward the glass to say hi to my wife, and she and the guy next to her were pointing to my left, so I turned my head and he was about 3" from my mask...startled the dickens out of me.

Warm regards and happy/safe diving to all,


-S

 

[amascuba]

My understanding, is that they limit the dives to 30 minutes. If that's the case, then altitude won't be a problem. At 5300 feet, you will have to sit at 80ft before you hit any sort of theoretical decompression limit. I've never been to the Denver Aquarium, but I don't think they are that deep.

 

[syonker]

Hi Amascuba,

If they limit dives to 30 minutes now that would be a new thing (which is possible since my information is dated over a year ago - perhaps Skyhawk could answer that with some more recent information). When we went in, it was at least an hour per tank (I mean fish tank - the tanks themselves would have held out a lot longer). Basically, it just means a slower ascent rate...and as I recall there wasn't a safety stop (which was only applicable in the shark thank); however, I did one anyway just to maintain the habit.

Regards,


-S

 

[ABQdiver]

Very cool Chris!! Glad you guys had fun.

You ought to dive Epcot The Living Seas in Disney World (Dive Quest) if you ever get a chance. Basically the same format, but it's a hoot! My daughter spent the entire free time of the dive blowing kisses to the bystanders against the glass.

 

[syonker]

That sounds AWESOME! I'll check it out when we finally make it there. I haven't been to Orlando since 1985. Now that my wife and I are the proud parents of a 2-month old son (as of today), we'll *have* to plan a trip within the next few years, huh? For the record, she has *never* been to anything "Disneyesque", so it will be a real treat for her.

Thanks for the suggest...


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[blue-tonic]

My finace and I are planning on doing this dive on July 4th. We'll be driving back down to TX but thought we would check out some of the cool dives in CO. The dives are advertised as 30-40 minutes.

Thank you for the pictures and stories. It confirms that we made the right choice with selecting the aquarium.