Shiprekd
Guest
Ok, so I've found my niche, diving eight to ten times a week with two dozen sand tigers. What more could a diver want? let's throw in a complete ecosystem that includes a nominal 500+ school of herring, some Seabass with more grey on them then Santa Clause, and a few trigger fish with poor attitudes and dental plans. With a little over 1,800 animals in the tank at any given time, a few chewy divers could slip in and go about their usual routine un-noticed, right?
We're all here for shark talk, and I'm getting to it but you need to understand just what this breed of diver deals with. Remember, this is a public aquarium with 90% of it's help coming from volunteers. We take a leap of faith off of a 4ft by 6 ft fiberglass platform into a tank with Sand tigers and Browns approximately 6 times a day. The "kids" as we refer them to, vary in length from 4ft to well over 10ft; by no means a small fillet in anyone's book.
The morning starts with general population and tank maintanance. The food is prepped by a group of people and brought top-side. The top feeders get fed first, then the middle and bottom feeders have a feast. The turtles (Loggerhead and Green) get their daily rations and finally, the sharks. Not all of them get fed, and not even daily for that matter. There is always more than few hungry sharks amongst the population. Once the feeding finishes, a trio of divers immediately drop in to begin cleanup of the uneaten scraps and the by-products of what a good feeding does to a fish. One diver drops in with a tube connected to a hi powered vaccuum not unlike a wet vac. Another dons the scrub brushes and scrapers, and the third drops in with nothing more than his/her natural radar. In other words, a safety diver with a keen eye to the toothy residents.
Now for those of you who have payed attention, feeding just ended, so our tank mates are still a bit "inquisitive". The safety diver has the best job of it all. We keep a watchful eye to our dive buddies whom are tidying up, all-the-while breaking away and checking on many of the more nocturnal or recluse type inhabitants. Our job is to keep a track of what is happening with the solitary individuals and focus our attention on them. With no one watching our backs, it can be unnerving when the tank is "active". We carry no weapons or defense props as we agreed when we took, well, volunteered for the job, that WE are the expendable ones; not the animals. Yup ladies and gents, If you're eaten, word has it that you, the snack`ee, is to blame if the culprit gets a tummy ache from all that neoprene!
The day wears on with two to four more scheduled dives. These dives though consist of putting on an educational show for the public. Two of us are usually inside the tank, while a theatre is filled with people. An educator is on the dry side and communicates with us via AGA mask and a PA system. A routine 30 minute show with cue cards, questions, and sometimes humorous antics by the safety diver enlightens the crowd. This makes for an interesting situation, The lager Sand Tigers tend to traverse the same area as where the show takes place. More times than not, they tend to take the limelight by squeezing between us and the massive acrylic glass. Literally so close that their pectorals will brush by our BCD's and completely obscure our view of anything ahead of us. Over the years many of close calls have been averted by judicial use of the reflection that the acrylic provides. The braver of us will make light of the tense situation by blowing raspberry bubbles ( you know, the flatulant types??) at ole number #32 as she meanders by. You can actually see the people hold their breaths as they close in on you. A simple act as if you're going to tickle the the shark as it passes usually brings some smiles and eases the concern, both yours and the crowd's.
Between dives, we tend to gear down a, get warm and go down and mingle with the public, many times still dripping wet from the show. You then become the center of attention as all little eyes and ears ask questions and listen intently on what you have to say. Alot of us will interact with someone from inside the tank, and then take a tooth we found and give it to a child.
Day's end leaves you with more memories, of the smiles you put on the children's faces, or the hug from the lil girl that you just gave a shark's tooth to. Sometimes, you're even asked for an autograph. It's not for the faint of heart, yet it's not the most dangerous thing you'll encounter in this life. Every dive is different, any given moment can burn a vivid image of something that only you can see. If I could place any one drawback to this type of diving, it would be the loss of the exhilaration or meaning to an encounter in the wild. To us, a shark is just another fish and our worries remain on that hi-strung triggerfish with a fetish for fingertips.
In the end (finally!!), we all have something in common, and that is a unique memory of our encounter, with one of nature's most untouched prehistoric animal.....
The Shark
We're all here for shark talk, and I'm getting to it but you need to understand just what this breed of diver deals with. Remember, this is a public aquarium with 90% of it's help coming from volunteers. We take a leap of faith off of a 4ft by 6 ft fiberglass platform into a tank with Sand tigers and Browns approximately 6 times a day. The "kids" as we refer them to, vary in length from 4ft to well over 10ft; by no means a small fillet in anyone's book.
The morning starts with general population and tank maintanance. The food is prepped by a group of people and brought top-side. The top feeders get fed first, then the middle and bottom feeders have a feast. The turtles (Loggerhead and Green) get their daily rations and finally, the sharks. Not all of them get fed, and not even daily for that matter. There is always more than few hungry sharks amongst the population. Once the feeding finishes, a trio of divers immediately drop in to begin cleanup of the uneaten scraps and the by-products of what a good feeding does to a fish. One diver drops in with a tube connected to a hi powered vaccuum not unlike a wet vac. Another dons the scrub brushes and scrapers, and the third drops in with nothing more than his/her natural radar. In other words, a safety diver with a keen eye to the toothy residents.
Now for those of you who have payed attention, feeding just ended, so our tank mates are still a bit "inquisitive". The safety diver has the best job of it all. We keep a watchful eye to our dive buddies whom are tidying up, all-the-while breaking away and checking on many of the more nocturnal or recluse type inhabitants. Our job is to keep a track of what is happening with the solitary individuals and focus our attention on them. With no one watching our backs, it can be unnerving when the tank is "active". We carry no weapons or defense props as we agreed when we took, well, volunteered for the job, that WE are the expendable ones; not the animals. Yup ladies and gents, If you're eaten, word has it that you, the snack`ee, is to blame if the culprit gets a tummy ache from all that neoprene!
The day wears on with two to four more scheduled dives. These dives though consist of putting on an educational show for the public. Two of us are usually inside the tank, while a theatre is filled with people. An educator is on the dry side and communicates with us via AGA mask and a PA system. A routine 30 minute show with cue cards, questions, and sometimes humorous antics by the safety diver enlightens the crowd. This makes for an interesting situation, The lager Sand Tigers tend to traverse the same area as where the show takes place. More times than not, they tend to take the limelight by squeezing between us and the massive acrylic glass. Literally so close that their pectorals will brush by our BCD's and completely obscure our view of anything ahead of us. Over the years many of close calls have been averted by judicial use of the reflection that the acrylic provides. The braver of us will make light of the tense situation by blowing raspberry bubbles ( you know, the flatulant types??) at ole number #32 as she meanders by. You can actually see the people hold their breaths as they close in on you. A simple act as if you're going to tickle the the shark as it passes usually brings some smiles and eases the concern, both yours and the crowd's.
Between dives, we tend to gear down a, get warm and go down and mingle with the public, many times still dripping wet from the show. You then become the center of attention as all little eyes and ears ask questions and listen intently on what you have to say. Alot of us will interact with someone from inside the tank, and then take a tooth we found and give it to a child.
Day's end leaves you with more memories, of the smiles you put on the children's faces, or the hug from the lil girl that you just gave a shark's tooth to. Sometimes, you're even asked for an autograph. It's not for the faint of heart, yet it's not the most dangerous thing you'll encounter in this life. Every dive is different, any given moment can burn a vivid image of something that only you can see. If I could place any one drawback to this type of diving, it would be the loss of the exhilaration or meaning to an encounter in the wild. To us, a shark is just another fish and our worries remain on that hi-strung triggerfish with a fetish for fingertips.
In the end (finally!!), we all have something in common, and that is a unique memory of our encounter, with one of nature's most untouched prehistoric animal.....
The Shark
