Blue Planet Aquarium Blog
Too many teeth!
October 2012
Mrs C spotted the Blue Planet Aquarium stand at the Birmingham NEC Dive Show and headed over to take a look. Soon she was beckoning me and Stuart, my son, over to join her.
'How would you like to dive in a tank full of sharks?' she asked archly.
'Well, it sounds exciting, if not a little bit dangerous. You trying to get rid of me and collect on the insurance?' I asked.
'But I can't dive!' Stuart replied, thinking he'd got out of it.
'Oh, there's nothing to worry about, honestly.' said the lady on the stand in a reassuring tone. 'And it doesn't matter if you can't dive, we'll teach you everything that you need to know.'
'I'll buy the tickets for you both for Christmas.' said Mrs C, always one for buying gifts for special occasions well in advance.
From the walkway.
With the tickets also came free entry for two people so Mrs C and Stuart's wife, Helen, could watch our dive from behind the safety of the thick plexi-glass walkways and observation areas.
So, the upshot was that Stuart and I had tickets which were a passport for getting into a confined area full of hungry sharks. Mrs C had a grin on her face for the rest of that week and was often to be heard whistling happily to herself!
Hmmm...
Friday 15th March 2013 AM
We arrived in Chester early on the Friday morning. We weren't due at Blue Planet until late afternoon so it was a good opportunity to have a look around this lovely historic town. Chester is a shopper's paradise and there was no hlding Mrs C back. She always complains if she has to walk anywhere but give her a town centre full of shops and she'll walk until she drops.
Visitor attractions include Chester Cathederal, the Grosvenor Museum, the City Walls, the Roman Amphitheatre and of course The Rows, a two-tier galery of shops.
From the walkway.
Be a good boy now!
Friday 15th March 2013 PM
Arrived at the Blue Planet Aquarium for our late afternoon alotted time. It's actually situated some distance from Chester at Ellesmere Port. As we explained to the receptionist why we were there and signed in, she had a little disconcerting secret smile on her face which did nothing to calm the butterflies.
Stuart and I were shown into a room with several other nervous people who had purchased tickets, and a lady proceeded to give a briefing on the dive, detailing what we might expect - don't worry, they've all been fed already - and the obligatory PADI Medical Disclaimer form was completed. They provided all the necessary diving equipment, and gave instruction on basic dive techniques for all of the non-divers. Then it was off to put on wet suits and other dive gear ready for the dive.
The Dive
Stuart and I were first up to enter the aquarium, that's me on the left and Stuart using his alternate, yellow regulator. Bless. We went in pairs but with 3 other staff members, one lady was the guide and the other two were the safety team, presumably if the worst came to the worst, they would allow themselves to be eaten before the sharks got to us :-)).
Well anyway, I hope that was the plan! Don't know how we managed to pick that short straw but on reflection it was probably best to be the first. I could imagine that the sharks might have grown more and more hungry as subsequent tasty morsels entered their living space and pantry over the next few hours.
From the Observation Window
Denizen of the deep!
The Dive (continued)
We had no fins on our feet and were heavily weighted, the idea was to descend to the bottom of the tank (a couple or three metres) and walk, trying to look as little like a fish (an therefore, food) as possible.
It wasn't long before our presence attracted the curiosity of the local inhabitants and it was uncanny how they would suddenly appear, smoothly and effortlessly gliding over your head, having approached from behind to check you out and, no doubt, suss out how easy you would be to take. On the soft floor of the tank it was possible to find old shark teeth which we were allowed to keep as souvenirs. Of the sharks we saw, there were Lemon Shark, Sand Tiger Shark, Nurse Shark, Guitar Shark that I can remember, along with other wildlife such as Stingray, Snapper and Trigger Fish.
At one point, Stuart who coped remarkably well considering he didn't dive, tapped me on the shoulder and pointed behind me. We were squatting with out backs against what I thought was a wall. When I turned I saw it was a big glass window and on the otherside, like in a cinema, were rows of seats and people sitting and watching. Did they have popcorn and large paper cups of fizzy orange drink? What were they waiting for?
All too soon, out 30 minutes of adrenaline filled wonder was at an end and we were instructed to start to make our way back out. It was an experience that was not like anything else I have had and well worth the money that my wife paid. I'm sure she wasn't too disappointed that I survived the ordeal. My only disappointment was that the tickets we had were for and elementry level due to Stuart being a non-diver and I wanted to share the experience with him. This meant that I was not permitted to take photographs during the dive, so the ones you see here on this page were taken by my daughter-in-law from the various walkways and observation areas.
It was certainly a day to remember.