Diving with sharks

The most amazing thing that I have done in my life (besides the trip to Australia), is a shark dive in the aquarium (in Australia, of course..haha). The place is called Oceanworld Manly and it is in Manly Beach, which is on the north head of Sydney. To get there from the city, we took the Manly ferry from Circular Quay, which is the transportation hub in the middle of the city, right near the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The ride across takes about 30 minutes and it is an incredibly scenic ride. We were able to get some great shots of the bridge and opera house as we glided across the harbour. The north head is near the mouth of the harbour, so once the ferry gets near, the water gets a little rough, as the ferry turns into the port.

Oceanworld is a great little aquarium. We went out there twice: the first time we saw all of the little exhibits. The staff was very knowledgable. We got to actually pet a baby crocodile and see funnel web spiders up close. They informed people about the deadly snakes and spiders of Australia and how they were not aggressive and what to do if you come in contact with one. Afterwards, we walked around Manly Beach. What a great little town...tons of stores and great restaurants by the beach. It actually kind of reminded me of Santa Monica, but prettier and cleaner. It is actually situated between two beaches, one being in calmer water because it's part of the harbour and the other on the ocean side, where we saw a lot of surfers and kayakers. There's a beautiful path that wind around the rocky cliffs alongside the beach, ending up at Shelley Beach, which is like a little cove with walkways up to the top of the hills, for an amazing view of the ocean.

That night, which was actually Halloween, we did a Quarantine Station Ghost Tour, which was in Manly, too. I will blog about that some other time...

So, two days later, we came back and I did my shark dive. Jason and Shelley didn't do it with me, so I was a little nervous, but there were these two other "mates" that were doing it with me. I was the only one of us who had never dived before so I got a few extra lessons. We put on our wet suits, tanks and weight belts, then entered this little pool, which was actually connected to the big aquarium through a little portal in the corner, but the sharks couldn't get through it. There was only a few of these little black fish in the pool. 

We practiced motions and gestures in the pool and got all of our gear adjusted before they led us through the underwater portal into the huge aquarium. It was probably only about 15 to 20 feet deep. I can remember feeling a little shaky and the water was really cold. I could feel it even through the wetsuit. Of course, being up close to such massive creatures that could chew you up was quite a scary thought, even though these grey nurse sharks, however menacing looking they were, are not man-eating sharks. Once we all climbed through the portal and got our balances, all of those feelings disappeared and now we were in THEIR world.. and it was absolutely AMAZING! 

The aquarium had tunnels in it where the people could watch the fish underwater and see the people doing the shark dive. Jason and Shelley were watching from out there and taking pictures and videos. The instructor motioned to us to walk to the other side. It was a little difficult keeping my balance with the weight belt weighing me down, but watching these huge creatures swim right above me kept my attention. There were also big sea turtles and huge mantareys in the tank. The mantareys would practically swim right into you!

Once we got to our destination, which was to be perched on the glass at the top of the people tunnel, where people could look right up at you, we stood and watched the sharks go by. It was really starting to get cold and I was shaking, but still couldn't take my eyes off of the life swimming by. One shark came right in front of me and it was not scary in the least. They are such beautiful misunderstood creatures. We need to protect them. Swimming with them serves many purposes. I really believe that it helps people understand them more and not just think of them as "Jaws".

After 30 minutes, we were lead back to the portal and into the small pool. Right as I was pulling myself up to the portal, a HUGE mantarey practically blanketed himself on me. He was the size of a living room area rug...so amazing!

So we got into the pool, took off our wetsuits and gear, then had showers and changed back to our normal clothes. It was an experience of a lifetime, though I plan to do it again the next time we go! This time, I want to do the other shark dive that they have...watching them feed the sharks!