Georgia Aquarium Dive

Swimming With Gentle Giants

When hurricane Harvey hit Houston, it stranded Branelle and I out of town for nearly a week. We were on a plane on final approach into Hobby Airport when the storm forced us to divert to Dallas for the night. It quickly became apparent that we weren't getting home anytime soon so we decided to fly to Atlanta to wait since it's the largest airport in the world and has the most options for flights back to Houston when they start going. We decided to make the best of our "extended trip" and looked for fun things to do around the ATL. One of Nel's co-workers had commented on one of our FB posts something about swimming with whale sharks. What!?! That sounded awesome to me so we investigated.

Here is the link to about a 6 minute video of my dive that was shot by the aquarium (Hanna to be specific). It's fun and they edited it with nice music, etc. I'm the only diver with blue shoulders on my wetsuit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_PguNseUgQ

I looked it up on their website and sure enough, they have a program that allows you to dive with whale sharks. I didn't have my dive certification card with me but I had my mom - who was back in Houston with our daughter - send me a picture of it. We headed to the aquarium in downtown Atlanta. I have to mention that the Georgia Aquarium is a lot more than just whale sharks. It's a great facility with lots of really fun shows. We especially enjoyed the dolphin show and the sea lion skit. The people working there could not have been nicer either. When I asked them about the whale shark dive, which I didn't have a reservation for, they were beyond helpful and took me to the right people to make it happen.

They have four whale sharks in a tank about the size of a football field. There are great places to view them even if you aren't going for a swim, especially the feeding times.

They allow eight people a day to dive in the tank. They also allow snorkelers but I didn't ask about that program. At a designated time you go to this waiting area to be taken back to the orientation room. They also check your credentials to make sure you are an experienced diver. They were able to use the certification number from my card to verify that I was qualified.

Next they take you to this room where they go over the dive rules for about 30 minutes. It's pretty straight forward. They mostly just go over the equipment briefly (which is all theirs by the way - and really good stuff) and give you instructions on how to interact with the residents of the tank. The most important rule is not to touch any of the critters - if they touch you that's okay (and they do) but you aren't allowed to reach out and touch any of the swimmers. They also talk about what the dive is going to be like. The guy doing our orientation was called James - he was very good and made it fun.

Next, you go suit up in the locker rooms. They have all your equipment laid out for you and ready to go. When you have your wetsuit on you head to the pool where your BC, mask, fins, etc are waiting along with what I would call your "dive concierge". They help you gear up if needed and then it's face first into the pool.

You head straight to the bottom and you'll spend the majority of your dive there, primarily because there are fish the size of a bus that like to just cruise around the top. There is a lead diver (ours was Lani) and there was another guy (Scott on our dive) that kind of just cruises around keeping an eye on everyone. He carried what I think was a piece of PVC pipe which I assume was to tap anyone getting too close to something they shouldn't - diver or fish. 

Whale sharks wouldn't hurt a fly, but they also probably aren't going to stop just because you're in their path. Even though they are slow moving, they do carry a little weight so it's best to just stay under them.

One of the cool things about the program is that they will take your family - in this case my wife - around and put them in the right locations to see you during your dive. They had two volunteers named Art and Gary that were basically tour guides for our non-diving family members. Branelle isn't a diver, but she was also pregnant so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Basically during our entire trip, due to her "affliction" she had to just watch me do all the fun stuff. At least this time they made it a little more fun for her as well.

This is kind of interesting. Our hands are both touching the glass here, but it's two feet thick!  It's an illusion when you're in the tank. It looks like I could just reach out and hold Nel's hand. When you're on the outside looking in you can see where the acrylic wall starts. In the tank, you can't see it at all so they tell you to hold your hands out when approaching so you won't scratch the rather fragile acrylic surface with your equipment.

It made the dive a lot of fun for me because you could interact with the visitors outside the tank, especially the kids. I hammed it up a bit. You can see everyone as clear as day on the other side of the glass so it's easy to pose for pictures (or ruin some by photo bombing them) and tell when people are smiling.

In addition to the four whale sharks (Alice - Trixie - Yushan - Taroko) the 6.3 million gallon tank (largest in the world) is home to thousands of other fish. There are four giant manta rays in there as well that really love to hover above the divers because they apparently like the bubbles.

The tank is about 30 feet deep, and roughly the size of a football field. When you're on the bottom it doesn't feel that open because there are obstructions everywhere that you swim around like rocks and the giant viewing tunnels. 

The whale sharks are awesome. You kind of forget about them from time to time because there is a lot more interaction with stingrays, sharks, grouper, and other bottom dwelling fish, but then you feel them swim buy or see a large shadow right over your head and quickly remember whose house this is. 

When the dive is over you head up and take a shower and dress in the locker rooms and then they bring your family to the top of the tank and then into the briefing room where you watch the video they shot of your dive. 

The Georgia Aquarium is fun for everyone, whether you dive or not. It's a great facility with top notch people as far as I can tell. If you're a diver, you should definitely give this a go. You don't need any equipment - it will be the easiest dive you ever take.