Well hopefully Syd’s account of his day out at the Aquarium will answer many of your questions.
“On Sunday 7th Feb, I spent a day at the Blue Planet Aquarium doing my PADI Shark Awareness Specialty. I was really excited at the prospect of getting up close to the sharks, little did I realise that I was going to have mixed emotions when I left the Blue Planet later that afternoon.
The day started with meeting the staff at the entrance at 09.30. Once signed in we got a tour of the Aquarium by our Instructor, Julie. Tour complete we headed for the classroom for a coffee followed by informative presentations. The PADI Shark Awareness Specialty teaches a wide array of theory on Sharks from breeding, habitats, shark anatomy, feeding habits, movement and much more. We broke for lunch at 1.00pm and our meals were included in the price of the day.
After lunch it was back to the classroom for more presentations, followed by a short DVD on how the illegal shark fin trade is having a negative impact on the population of sharks. The DVD showed fishermen (more like butchers) catch the sharks, cut off their fins and then just kick them back into the water to die. It was sickening to watch and made me wonder if we took one of the fishermen, cut his arms or legs off then cast him into the water, would the public outcry be the same?
After the DVD we made our way to kit up for the dive, excited but saddened by what we had just seen. The dive itself was awesome; we spent 30 minutes in close proximity to sand tiger sharks, lemon, guitar and nurse sharks along with other fish and moray eels swimming freely around us. Storm, the 3m Sand Tiger Shark was certainly not shy and we watched in wonder as it swam past us, keeping a watchful eye on our progress. It’s an experience I would recommend to anyone and the whole day made me more aware of just how precious these amazing creatures are and how we should do our best to protect them. If you’re thinking about having a go, stop thinking about it and do it!”
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