Extreme Shark Dive

shark dive

Well that’s another tick on the list.

On Monday I went on a shark dive at Manly. Advertised as an “extreme shark dive”, its an introductory scuba dive in their tank with about half a dozen grey nurse sharks. Not quite as dangerous as it sounds but still a great experience. There were three of us on this dive, a student and a teenager who’d received the dive as a birthday gift. After watching an intro video (whoever edited it thought the theme from Jaws was a great soundtrack) we were kitted out in a wetsuit. Being middle of winter I was glad for that, kept a bit of the chill out!

Once we had tanks on we went to their “practice pool”, went through the basic hand signals and procedures such as what to do if the mask fills with water, we lose our breather etc. After that it was in to the main tank. We were weighted down – the idea being we would be walking underwater rather than swimming. I seemed to not have enough weight, felt myself floating a few times which was a bit annoying.

The dive wasn’t quite as extreme as it sounds, for the most part the sharks and rays ignored us. Occasionally they’d come close and we’d get some great photos but mostly they kept to themselves. By this stage Deanne and the kids were at the aquarium and got a few photos of me from inside the walkway. Towards the end my mask had fogged up and it was harder to see where I was going and the sharks, all too soon the dive was over and we made our way back to the practice tank. Out of the wetsuits and a hot shower before getting changed. Got a few photos of the event and met up with Deanne and the kids.

Overall it wasn’t as “extreme” as an open sea dive, its a very controlled environment and quite safe. Still it was an opportunity to try scuba diving and kept up close with some sharks and other sea life. Another tick for the bucket list.

 

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