Shark Encounter at SeaWorld is one
of the most fascinating attractions at the park. From the other
interesting creatures that make Shark Encounter their home to
the sharks themselves, it is an exhibit full of surprises. One
of these surprises comes in the form of an amazing shark
encounter experience called the Shark Deep Dive. Shark Deep
Dive puts two guests at a time into a large steel cage inside
the giant aquarium filled with sharks, rays, and other large
fish. The experience starts off with a reservation. Once the
reservation is made, guests must check in at the Guest Services
Center just past the entrance of the park on the date of the
reservation. Here you will pick up medical information and
release forms to fill out for the adventure. Guests then make
way to Wild Arctic where a member of park staff will greet the
divers, usually five minutes prior to the appointment.
Call
1-866-966-7508 to make your Reservation Today!
Pay only $158.69 (all ages)!
Once
everything is situated, it is off to the prep center
which houses a full locker room facility, and a “mud
room” where the guest wetsuits, boots, and gloves are
waiting. Here guests can use the restrooms, suit up,
and become debriefed on the equipment that will be
utilized on the dive. Equipment includes newly designed
helmets from Sea Trek, which weigh 75lbs out of
water and approximately 15lbs in water, which have a
communication system including a microphone and an
earpiece. These helmets resemble the diving bells of
the past that use free-flowing oxygen to keep an air
bubble inside which keeps the diver’s head completely
dry. Other equipment includes a wetsuit, boots, and
gloves. These items help keep divers comfortable in the
660,000 gallon shark tank which usually stays at around
72 degrees F. Once guests become acquainted with the
equipment used during the dive, what you can and cannot
do in the cage, and how many and what species of
creatures you will find in the tank, it’s off to a golf
cart and a “back lot” tour of sorts to the Shark
Encounter exhibit where the dive actually takes place.
On
the way to the Shark Deep Dive, guests will see the huge units
used to filter and cool the waters of Wild Arctic, the
filtration systems for Shamu Stadium, which filter 7 million
gallons of water in approximately four hours, and SeaWorld’s
amazing recycling center which helps in keeping the environment
a lot cleaner. Once guests arrive at the Shark Encounter
building, they make their way to the top of the giant shark
tank, where they are first introduced to the sharks from above
the water. Here you will also greet the spotter, who is usually
an expert in sharks and can provide a lot of valuable
information on the species within the tank. The spotter also
makes sure everything in the cage is safe during the encounter
underwater. Your spotter is connected to the divers via a
headset and can also answer questions while in the tank. Once
everything has been explained by the shark professional and
spotter, guests are led into a “med pool” where they first
become acclimated to the water in the tank. As you take a knee
at the entrance to the cage, which sits at a constant depth
secured by a buoy on either side of it, the Sea Trek helmet is
lowered to your shoulders via a pulley system. It is connected
to free flowing oxygen and you are ready to sink into the tank.
At this point, you and your co-diver are standing 10 feet
underwater, weighed down by the helmet. At this point, the cage
starts moving slowly across the back wall of the Shark Encounter
exhibit for a duration of 30 minutes.
In this tank, you will find
over 5 species of sharks including white and black tip sharks,
sandbar sharks, nurse sharks, and saw fish. A giant manta ray
makes its home here along with some other large bodied fish that
all live together with these sharks. You can sit, stand, and
move about the cage while communicating back and forth with the
other diver and the spotter above. As you move across the tank,
you see the people passing underneath in the acrylic tunnel
admiring the sharks from below and the people in Shark’s Bar and
Grill, SeaWorld’s sit and dine restaurant with a full liquor
bar. Here family of the divers can take pictures and capture
video of the encounter while you meet and greet with the sharks,
which are very curious to make your acquaintance. As a new
addition to their habitat, the sharks poke and prod the outside
of the cage to see what you are all about. They are mostly
within inches of touch, but it is highly recommended that you do
not place fingers outside of the cage, for sharks explore the
world with their mouths, at usually injuring consequences. The
entire experience is breathtaking, exhilarating, and eye
opening. You have never been this close to a shark in mid-yawn,
protruding its large toothy jaw out of its mouth as it does. As
the cage reaches its destination back to the gate, divers are
helped out of the cage and the helmet is removed.
The event of interacting with
the spotter, getting into the helmet and then into the cage is
documented by a professional photographer and the photos placed
on a free CD that can be picked up at any time at the Guest
Services Desk. Once guests are returned to the locker rooms,
they may strip out of the suits, wash up, and return back to
their original clothing where they then receive an informative
book on sharks and a T-shirt exclusive to the program. This is
probably one of the most breathtaking experiences located in the
park and should be tried at least once to appreciate the beauty
of the underwater world and the agility and grace of these
mostly feared creatures.
