Diving at Epcot... You're Part of the Exhibit
Aug 27 '00
My husband and I had the pleasure of diving in The Living Seas at Epcot yesterday. What a wonderful, unique diving experience.
This is Disney's best kept secret. Each day, a small group of certified divers is allowed to dive with the sharks, fish, stingrays, and sea turtle inside the Living Seas exhibit.
If you're a certified diver you should contact Disney to make a reservation. If you're a visitor to the Living Seas exhibit or the Coral Reef restaurant, you should visit between 5-7 p.m. for a chance to see the divers.
We arrived at 4:15 and met up with the other four divers and our divemaster. We were taken into the Living Seas exhibit through the "cast only" entrance. This was an experience in itself - seeing Disney behind the scenes.
They have several huge filters out back that filter 35,000 gallons of water per minute! The city of Orlando only filters 30,000 per minute.
We have a thorough briefing, were given our wetsuits and got dressed. Then we got to parade through the center of the exhibit, passing curious tourists. We climbed a flight of stairs and found ourselves at the top of a giant aquarium - almost 6 millions gallons of seawater!
There were two dolphins on one side, separately from our diving area by iron bars. We were cautioned to stay away for the fence, so as not to excite the dolphins and make them swim at the bars.
We were also cautioned not to touch any of the fish and not to antagonize the sharks! No need to worry about that! There were two large reef sharks about 6-7 feet long. They told us if we wanted a closer look at them we could settle quietly on the bottom and they would come investigate us. (Funny, I never did see anyone resting quietly on the bottom.)
There were also several smaller sharks, several small stingrays and eagle rays. There was one very large sea turtle. They told us he weighed about 800 pounds and should be given the right of way.
As we made our ascent into the water, we saw curious tourists all around us. We followed our divemaster for the first part of the dive - the guided portion. We swam up to the windows and had a lot of fun waving at the children; they smiled and waved at us. At one point I was so fascinated with the kids and playing with them through the window I almost didn't notice the sea turtle rapidly approaching. As soon as I saw him I immediately got out of the way - he just kept on going - he wasn't even interested in me.
We swam by restaurant and had our pictures taken several times by the restaurant patrons. I rubbed my tummy and pretended to be eating and drinking - that was a big hit with the children. It was so cool to see everyone smiling at waving. We were truly part of the Disney show!
We took turns going into the diving bell, where we removed our mask and regulators and mugged for the camera. Did I mention an underwater photographer was filming us? (You can buy the video for $35 in the gift shop- it will be a great vacation souvenir.)
It was a really great diving experience, not only the tremendous collection of Caribbean marine life, but the curious and friendly visitors who made it my most interactive dive ever.
If you're interested in diving in the Living Seas, you should know the following:
1. You are allowed to bring only your dive mask and your bathing suit. Nothing else is allowed - no cameras. All gear, including shorty 3-mil wetsuit and booties are provided.
2. Call ahead of time to schedule. There are two dives per day. 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. A maximum of 6-8 divers at a time is allowed.
3. Bring your certification card - they will make a copy of it. If yours doesn't have a picture on it, you will also need to bring a photo id.
4. Be prepared to sign a standard dive waiver form.
5. Cost of the dive is $140. Disney does not keep this money - it is donated to the Disney Wildlife Conservation fund.
6. You will receive a certificate and logbook page (you can bring your logbook and the divemaster will stamp it.)
7. They have a great facility - showers with shampoo and soap, lockers, hair dryers.
8. You can watch the video after the dive and have a chance to buy it at the gift shop for $35. It has a great intro and then leads into pictures from your actual dive.
9. Have your family come early to the Living Seas so they can watch you. The photographer will try to include them in the video as well. Because of thunderstorms some of the families of the other divers got there too late to see them diving. Have you family go there early. It's too much fun for them to miss!
This dive is a great time and I highly recommend it. Everyone was very nice and treated us like royalty. My thanks to Disney for making this possible and for donating all proceeds to protect sea life.
To make reservations for this dive, call (407) 939-8687.
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diverpam
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Member: Pam
Location: Collierville, TN
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~~~~So many oceans...so little time!~~~~
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