Aquarium

[BanditDJB]

I'm about to try to volunteer for an aquarium in my city but I would like to know if any of you have done this? How was your experience diving in an aquarium and did you like it? What requirements did you have to meet to do it and was there a certification for it? I'm going to do it but I would like to hear some of your experiences.

Its been a while since I posted a thread its good to see some familiar call signs still here. Hello everyone!

 

[krbailey]

I'm in the process of applying for the volunteer program at the PPG Zoo and Aquarium in Pittsburgh, PA. Here is a link that describes their requirements.
Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

I've always enjoyed the aquarium and I think this is a good opportunity to give back to the organization.

 

[jrsob]

I dive for the SC aquarium in Charleston. Actually my wife and I both do, we like to call it the people zoo. Anyway To dive here you would need at the least Adv. cert, Dan Insurance, its also required that you get CPR and Dan O2 when you start. They ask that you give at least 2 days month, comes out to every other week, and can stay all day. The 2 best perks are the air is free and even if the weather outside is bad we still dive. If you have the time it’s worth a try...
Ron

South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor ~ Volunteer Program
South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor ~ Volunteer Position Descriptions

 

[Allen Herron]

I have been having a great time at the Adventure Aquarium, the aquarium formerly know as the New Jersey tate Aqurium in Camden, NJ. Requirements are pretty minimal. 25 logged dives, 5 in the last year. A written SCUBA test, a good pool test and a personal interview. Also a required medical exam, CPR and first aid.
Here, in the northeast it is really great to dive every other week(we have 14 dive teams) so when summer comes, or better yet, we go to the Carribean, our bouyancy skills our right on! We are always being thanked for what we do, but in realiity, we would pay to be allowed to do it!

 

[dsstandiford]

I dive for the SC aquarium in Charleston. Actually my wife and I both do, we like to call it the people zoo. Anyway To dive here you would need at the least Adv. cert, Dan Insurance, its also required that you get CPR and Dan O2 when you start. They ask that you give at least 2 days month, comes out to every other week, and can stay all day. The 2 best perks are the air is free and even if the weather outside is bad we still dive. If you have the time it’s worth a try...
Ron

South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor ~ Volunteer Program
South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor ~ Volunteer Position Descriptions

Living in Savannah it's about a 2 hour drive up north. I'd love to get in on this but with gas the way it is I'm not sure I can afford to make it a routine.

 

[aquaman_06]

I am a diver at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PBG Aquarium. Sadly I live about 2 hours from the facility and with gas at 4.09 per gallon where I live - needless to say I dont get up there much. Though, when I started I went up about every other weekend. Honestly diving in aquariums is a blast and the interaction you get with the public - etc is great. PBG is really good about allowing you to try out new gear, cameras, etc while diving in their aquariums.

PBG had us do a day long training seminar, requires a commercial diving physical and a checkout dive. The training seminar we did was very good and covered a variety of topics from open water and rescue diver courses.

In addition to diving at PBG my girl friend and I did Epcot's Dive Quest in Disney's 6 million gallon tank at Epcot. That was really cool and the tank was so large it was practically like diving a small reef. They have some nice sized black tipped reef sharks and sand tiger sharks in there.

Altogether though aquarium diving is fun and hopefully you'll make some friends while you are at it.

 

[mike_s]

I'm about to try to volunteer for an aquarium in my city but I would like to know if any of you have done this? How was your experience diving in an aquarium and did you like it? What requirements did you have to meet to do it and was there a certification for it? I'm going to do it but I would like to hear some of your experiences.

:

I talked to the Tenn aquarium about volunteer diving several years ago......

from talking to the person, it sounded like you spent more time mopping up the floors and doing other non diving cleaning than it did you spending actually diving.... I decided against it.

A couple years later I checked into it again for several of us that were interested. They only said, let me send you some forms and you have to attend "these meetings". Info will be in the forms. When we got the forms, they wanted all kinds of info on you to perform a background check and credit check, agreement to contact your employer, ... etc. you had to sign agreement to all this (invasion of your privacy). None of us was interested after that and threw the forms in the trash. I just felt like more like they wanted slave labor to clean stuff more than they wanted people who wanted to volunteer to help. We weren't interested in driving a couple hours to be treated that way... (just my opinion. I know someone else who did it and was ok with it though for comparison purposes.)

 

[BanditDJB]

Thank you guys for your experiences!!! I am really pumped about making just a few more open water dives to meet the requirments for the aquarium and I'm sure it will be fun. Thanks to all of you!

 

[twashowich]

I am a diver at the Georgia Aquarium... When I joined you had to be Rescue Diver or higher....CPR trained...pass a physical of their doctors ans pay for it and pass their swim and dive tests (an OSHA test for commercial divers)


But it has been GREAT..where else can you dive and swim in the LARGEST Aquarium in the world with 4 whale sharks and the rest of the 80,000 species of fish in the morning...then dive with Beluga whales in the afternoon..

Best thing I have done..

Todd

 

[ClayJar]

I've often mused about volunteering at the Audubon Institute's Aquarium of the Americas in NOLA, but I just don't see how I can do it. Their requirements for volunteer divers are:

• Be a certified SCUBA diver through any of the major certification agencies (PADI, NAUI, SSI etc). We’re sorry, but the Aquarium cannot provide initial certification.
• Have a minimum of 25 logged open water dives
• Be over the age of 17.
• Have a valid dive physical and must be approved by a physician for diving.
• Complete 30 hours on the floor as a volunteer Naturalist Guide.
• Be CPR certified (we provide classes on a regular basis).
• Become a certified scientific diver through AAUS (we provide this certification on a regular basis).
• Be available for one shift per week for a year. Weekday availability is preferred, but weekends are a possibility as well.

The 30 hours of non-diving volunteer work would be a pain -- the screaming field trips that were abundant last time I went to do a day's photography were such that I actually found a dark corner in which to decompress for a while before returning to the fray. :biggrin:

As for certifications, that seems rather trivial. You just have to be a diver and CPR certified to begin with, as they'll work you through your AAUS scientific diver cert (which I seem to recall has significantly more swimming than PADI's reqs, but it's morning, and I may misremember).

The part that just won't work for me is a shift a week for a year, preferably weekdays. Even if only half the shifts are weekdays, that'd be something like 26 days I'd have to take off work, and I don't get that much time off. (Even if the shifts are only partial days, with travel time, I'd have to take the whole day off work.) Perhaps if I were closer, or if their requirements were less onerous, I could volunteer. (I'd *love* even to be a window washer.) As it stands, there just isn't a way.