Will all the sharks around (from the whale sharks to a hammerhead to
Wobegones)

Flew down to Atlanta on Saturday to dive in the Atlanta Aquarium.  

Flew down to Atlanta on Saturday to dive in the Atlanta Aquarium. The
Atlanta Aquarium is North America's largest. It has several salt
water tanks and one freshwater display, the largest tank being the
length of an American football field (Cdn fields are longer). 33 ft
at its deepest. Tank is stocked with a variety of sharks including 4
whale sharks - 2 male and 2 females. Later this month the Aquarium
will be allowing 6 divers a day and 6 snorkellers a day into the whale
shark tank for a half-hour escorted dive. Says it is the only
Aquarium in the world that lets you dive with whale sharks.

Real interesting dive. Probably not the sort of thing you would want
to do twice. Water about 74 degrees and the visibilty is terrific
(yet somehow my underwater shots have an amazing amount of splatter).
Fish unafraid and as a result stick around for pictures. The whale
sharks are curious and do come close to the divers, although at 20ft
in length, you don't have to be very close at all to fill the frame.

Will all the sharks around (from the whale sharks to a hammerhead to
Wobegones)I still found myself fascinated by the hundreds of
spectators who stood inside a clear plexiglass walk-through in the
middle of the aquarium waving, jumping up and down and taking
pictures of the 4 visiting divers.

The aquarium supplies all the gear, although you can bring your own
mask. I was not allowed my computer (just want to check to see when I
was clear to fly, but, at 33 ft for half-an-hour who gives a damn
anyway). Cameras are not allowed (I got special permission to bring a
new loaner in - shouldn't have, because I flooded one of two strobes
upon heating the water - ouch). Very regulated dive, but, like I said,
it is the sort of thing you do only once. The Aquarium will be
sending along videographers with each dive, so you can buy the movie
of your visit. The snorkellers hit the tank an hour after the divers.
They are given small bcs which are equiped with small tanks (about the
size of a bailout), along with a snorkel. Because of the buoyancy of
the full length suits and the buoyancy of the BC, getting deeper than
a couple of feet would be be real feat of strength.

The diving is not cheap. Even though the programme hasn't offically
opened, they are close to being sold out. Will post pictures from the
pool soon at my website,www.stephenweir.com. But, I said that about
my underwater Cuba pixs and I haven't got around to that yet either.

Email if you want more info on Atanta.

On Jun 4, 7:59 pm, sweir toronto canada <sweir5... at (no spam) rogers.com> wrote:
Flew down to Atlanta on Saturday to dive in the Atlanta Aquarium.

Grrr. I did a "behind the scenes" tour there that included watching
the whale sharks get fed from the top of the tank and of course I
thought it would make a great dive, but was assured that would never
happen because of the need to maintain a controlled environment. I
guess the use of their equipment satisfies that requirement.

To think of all the money I could have saved on my Galapagos trip had
we been able to simply fly to Atlanta instead.

On Jun 5, 8:54 pm, Star <lcl... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:

We have Wobbies too - they are a hoot, although due to their innate
habits, I stay arm's length.

Is there still fallout around the deaths of their whale sharks?

Why, were they radioactive?

On Jun 6, 8:30 am, Greg Mossman <moss... at (no spam) qnet.com> wrote:

On Jun 5, 8:54 pm, Star <lcl... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:

We have Wobbies too - they are a hoot, although due to their innate
habits, I stay arm's length.

Is there still fallout around the deaths of their whale sharks?

Why, were they radioactive?

Doubtful.  Just dead.

Flew down to Atlanta on Saturday to dive in the Atlanta Aquarium.  The

I'd rather see them in the wild, thanks. But, I guess some
of you guys don't have a lot of options for that.

I've got some photos that I took up on a couple of web pages at:http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~gingrich/hobby.html

If you're interested, the Rapid Bay photos include a Leafy Sea Dragon
and the Victorian photos include several photos of Weedy Sea Dragons.

-Don

On Jun 4, 7:59 pm, sweir toronto canada <sweir5... at (no spam) rogers.com
wrote:
Flew down to Atlanta on Saturday to dive in the Atlanta Aquarium.
The

And now another reason to visit, mating sea dragons:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_fe_st/odd_pregnant_sea_dragon_3

Greg Mossman wrote:
On Jun 4, 7:59 pm, sweir toronto canada <sweir5... at (no spam) rogers.com
wrote:

Greg Mossman wrote:
On Jun 4, 7:59 pm, sweir toronto canada <sweir5... at (no spam) rogers.com
wrote:

step... at (no spam) stephenweir.com> wrote

The Toronto Star published my 3-page featuring on swimming with the whale
sharks at the Aquarium in Atlanta.  The story and some of the
photos can be read/seen on my websitewww.stephenweir.com.

Pretty cool opportunity, and a pretty nice article on your experience.
Thanks for sharing.

As it happens, I was at the Georgia Aquarium last Friday.  Unfortunately, my
experience was not as enjoyable as yours.  The aquarium is nice, very nice,
but the operation leaves a lot to be desired.  My experience was
significantly affected by the fact that school age children were out for the
summer.  There were thousands of them, all pushing and shoving to ensure
that they are at the front.  I understand that's how children are, but I
can't help but wish that their parents had made at least a little effort to
teach them better manners.

Things started off badly.  When we got to the Aquarium, the lines to
purchase tickets were long, very long, over an hour long.  That would not

I was surprised at the restriction on pocket knives.  This is the deep

I was surprised at the restriction on pocket knives.