Diving EPCOT Living Seas

[Debay777]

I want to go back with my wife certified so she can dive it. She is willing to get certified, but I think she is hesitant about it. most of the diving here in NC is on and off vis. and you never know how much in the way of fish you will see. Dive Quest would be something solid enough to get her hooked and wanting to dive more. AS long as I dont let her see the bill anyway........

 

[justagirl992]

It's a good thing the corals were fake. I ran into them several times.

 

[Debay777]

yeah, thats another benifit. lol. I know my BC is not spot on, I have my days where I am good, and others that Im riding a raging roller coaster. Now that Ive picked up some wet suits of my own, I will be able to consistantly weight myself properly. but with the fake coral, you dont have to worry about destroying the habitat or getting tied up in fire coral or being cut wide open with a handfull of sharks in the water.

 

[DiveBandit]

Does anyone know of any other Aquariums that allow divers to dive in the tanks?

I think the Georgia Aquarium is bigger than Epcot, could I dive there?

Florida Aquarium in Tampa does a shark tank dive http://www.flaquarium.org/html/l2/l2_explore_dive.html

 

[DiveBandit]

Is the coral in the EPCOT tank real?

And, if so, where did they get it from?

Short answer - No.

Explained - Fish eat the coral, and It would take decades, if not a century to naturally grow the coral that is on display in Epcots tank. The coral is either acrylic or cement. The coral in the Coral reef tank at the Tampa Florida Aquarium is cement. The flexable stuff is an acrylic rubber. I don't know about Disney, but at the Tampa Aquarium the fish feel the stuff is so real they lay eggs in it. ( I vol. as a diver there )

 

[scousegentleman]

Fantastic, thanks.

I will definitely try the Tampa Aquarium.

 

[CoyKoi]

The hubby and I will be down there next month with the grandkids. We plan to do DiveQuest. I know we can't take our own gear (except a mask), but I'm too thin-blooded to be comfortable in just a shortie. For those of you who have already done this dive, do you think we could slip our core warmers on under our shortys without the staff knowing it? Are there private changing rooms?

 

[RedWingDiver]

The hubby and I will be down there next month with the grandkids. We plan to do DiveQuest. I know we can't take our own gear (except a mask), but I'm too thin-blooded to be comfortable in just a shortie. For those of you who have already done this dive, do you think we could slip our core warmers on under our shortys without the staff knowing it? Are there private changing rooms?

Yes. In each locker room there are private shower stalls to change in. I can't imagine it would be a problem to do that.

 

[vr24]

DiveQuest seems quite unimpressive to me. I guess if you are a totally new diver, and don't live in south florida (or anywhere else good for that matter) it may be cool.

I HATE diving without my own gear, you can't use your own camera, they limit you to under an hour of dive time (i'd still have 1 1/2 hours left on my tank at that point), and it's $140 for a single, less than an hour dive. I'd rather spend that on 2 - 3 boat trips, 4 - 6 dives on amazing wrecks off florida's coast, lobstering, spearing, etc. If you are a complete noobie, it would be fun for sure... any seasoned diver will probably not be so impressed.

 

[micks]

Does anyone know of any other Aquariums that allow divers to dive in the tanks?

I think the Georgia Aquarium is bigger than Epcot, could I dive there?

Even if they allowed people to dive in their tanks, I don't think you'd enjoy diving in an overcrowded tank. It's a no surprise to me that one of their whale sharks just died last month.

On Jan 23rd, I missed my connecting flight in Atlanta to Belize (a blessing in disguise because I've always wanted to check out the Atlanta Aquarium LOL ), so the first thing we did was check out the aquarium ($30 dollar flat fee for one cab ride each way!)... I was totally taken aback, I imagined that the world's largest aquarium would provide for ample space for the fishes... I was totally WRONG. There were 3 whale sharks, many sharks, and I swear thousands and thousands of fishes swarming around in ONE tank. Made me sad... However there were some other exhibits that were pretty cool- man o wars, they had illuminated lights that brought out the best of their colors... garden eels (or was it snakes?)... a few "touching" pools where you could touch anemones and starfishes..