Trip report: EPCOT The Seas

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Jcp2

15’ vis is a good day in the pond
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I know it’s not a “real” dive trip, but I was at EPCOT for a short vacation and went on the Aqua Tour (snorkeling) and Dive Quest (diving) activities in the aquarium on separate days, with Aqua Tour first. I thought it would be of interest for those who have family or friends who aren’t divers.
Both activities meet outside of the main Epcot entrance to the right behind a ticket office. The cast member guide comes out around 15 minutes prior to the start time of the event. He or she will take attendance, ask your shoe size, and estimate your shorty wetsuit size. The suits run one size small because they wash them frequently, so don’t be surprised if you end up one size larger than what you expected. If you are doing Dive Quest, they will ask for a c card, either physical or electronic. Open water is sufficient.
 
Once it’s time, the guide will take your group through the back and there is a walking tour of the facility. There’s a description of the tank volume and size, an overhead hoist 4 stories tall for animal transfers, a very large sand, UV, and ozone filter system, a food prep kitchen, feeding methods, and manatee rehab facility viewing before entering a classroom where there is a short orientation and signing of waivers. The most interesting thing for me was that each large animal had a very precise diet just for it, and each animal was trained to respond individually to a specific visual feeding cue. This was not just the dolphins, but included the rays and guitarfish. The sharks were fed by mechanical arm so not to associate divers with food.
 
Aqua Tour snorkeling equipment wasn’t snorkeling equipment as I knew it. You wear a life vest with cummerbund, with a small AL40 tank or smaller mounted on the back, and use a scuba regulator to breath. There is also a SPG to look at, with 500 being the magic number for us to remember. Shorty wetsuits are shown, with zipper in the back being the most important. There is a demo of how to put on open foot fins, and instructions to remove all jewelry or magic bands or anything that could fall off and be lost or eaten by the animals. You can use your own mask if you brought it.
Then your group is shown to the men’s and women’s locker rooms. There are lockers with keys with your name on it. Inside are your wetsuit, booties, and a towel for later. There are private changing stalls with attached showers. Once you are changed (zipper in the back) and your stuff locked up, you go back outside the locker rooms and meet your guide. He or she takes all the locker keys and locks them up inside another lockbox. You have to remember your key number.
The guide will gather the group, and then you’ll walk through the public viewing area into a central closed off spiral staircase and go up to the activity deck.
 
The aquarium is a large circle, with one quarter being the dolphin tank and training area. That is a separate activity. The snorkeling and diving takes place in the remaining 3/4 of the aquarium. The activity level is in the center hub of the circle. You’ll be asked to line up and sit in a certain order, matching the order of the equipment that has already been set up based on your size. There is another briefing, where you are advised to stay 10 feet away from the barrier between the main tank and dolphin tank so they won’t be distracted from their training. You are also reminded about the magic number 500. If any snorkeler reaches 500 during the activity, they can return to the staging area and their tank will be swapped for a full one, unless there is less than 5 minutes left. There are various floating docks and boats to watch out for. You are in the water for 40 minutes.
 
The group then files in order down some stair into waist deep water. You find your equipment setup, and then a cast member hand you your fins, helps put on your vest, hands you a mask that has been defogger, and there’s a group photo. Once it’s all comfortable, you take two steps forward and you’re off snorkeling.
 
Our group was the maximum size of 15, with several having never snorkeled before. There were three safety swimmers/divers with full scuba and attached pony that floated around watching us. My wife is not a strong swimmer but game to try this activity. For the first third, we held hands. She had to get comfortable with breathing off the regulator. For the middle third, she let go and we swam together. For the last third, I was following her.
The aquarium is about 20 feet deep. The sharks stayed near the bottom. The rays and guitarfish were at all levels, with some of them swimming right underneath us. The smaller fish would school at all levels and even around us, as though we were not there. The time passed really quickly, and we even had to yield to a guitarfish in the shallow area when we were getting back as it was in “our” spot.
 
Once at the side, a cast member help us removing all the equipment and gave us a towel to dry off. The group gathered together and we went over one of the catwalks to visit the dolphin area. It was interesting to learn that there was a game involving shapes, echo identification of those shapes, and then visual identification of the same shapes, that was played with the dolphins. Then we went to the locker rooms, got our locker keys (remember the number), and had a warm shower and changed. There is a container for wet towels and a separate one for wetsuits and booties. There are hair dryers and a swimsuit spinner. You got a photopass card for the group photo and a string backpack. If you had already entered Epcot, then your magic band or ticket was scanned to confirm, and you were walked back into the Seas. The others were walked back to the front of the park, where you could go into the park with the finger scan, or continue on your non park activities.
 
Dive Quest has a very similar tour, up to the orientation in the classroom. There you also sign the waiver, and your c card is returned to you. They check the exact spelling of your name as there will be a video made of your dive, available for purchase afterward. The briefing is magic number 500, wetsuit zipper in back, water temp 77 degrees, visibility > 200’, maximum depth 23’, surface chop of 1/2”, total dive time 40 minutes. The equipment is jacket BCD, Al80 or Al63, shorty 2.5 mm, booties, and open foot fins. You can bring own mask and computer/watch; there is a console with SPG and depth gauge.
 
After the orientation, it’s through the public area, up the spiral staircase, and to the activity area. A divemaster introduces herself. A more detailed dive briefing is given. A mooring ball with descent line is put in the center of the viewing area. There is a surface swim out to the ball, and when the group is ready, they descend and follow the divemaster around on a loop of the tank. The camera man follows taking footage. Then the group meets in the middle and divers swim up in pairs to the main viewing window, find family and friends, and mug together for the camera. Once that is done, the next pair goes. Then the divers are free to go in a loose buddy system. Loose means being able to see your buddy, but it really means being in sight of one of the safety divers, as the scuba setups provided by Epcot has no alternate air source; only the safety divers have one (octopus on pony). We had four (1 divemaster, 2 safety divers, 1 cameraman who becomes safety diver after camera is handed off for footage editing halfway through dive) for four total divers).
 
My dive was also very enjoyable. I had originally wanted to do this with my daughter, who got certified specifically for this dive, but she was at music camp for her school and my wife and I had a chance to vacation without kids. Next time.
Firstly, everybody watching the divers went a bit crazy whenever we swam by their windows, especially the kids. I found my wife’s spot several times and each time there were elementary aged kids mobbing her. The restaurant also has windows right after the fake coral swim through and people go crazy there as well. There are private conference rooms not normally seen by visitors that you can peek into as well.
Secondly, being near the bottom means being at the level of the sharks. There is a hammerhead, a bonnethead, and 3 sandbar sharks which were okay, as their teeth were in. There is a sand tiger with teeth very much out that I was theoretically also okay with until the moment when we were both heading for the same narrow opening at the same time. I flinched and let him have right of way.
Thirdly, the turtles are federally protected, so no touching or chasing. However, these turtles also aren’t timid. I was loosely following a buddy when one of them gave both of us a body check from above in our blind spots.
Fourthly, they have a pair of queen triggerfish that are very territorial. I must have been in the wrong/right spot when this head sized object buzzed my mask twice before I realized what it was. Again, all the other fish ignore divers, so I was able to be part of their school if they happened to be swimming slowly.
 
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https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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