matt_unique
Guest
I'm as giddy as a school boy today (ha ha). I was
presented with the opportunity to dive in the G.O.T.
(Giant Open Water Tank) at the New England Aquarium.
I have visited the aquarium several times and always
thought about how cool it would be to dive inside this
tank with all the fish. I have seen divers inside and
always looked on with envy. Today it was going to be
me looking out and waving to the people peering in,
wondering what it's like.
The briefing was completed as we suited up. I of
course signed the necessary waivers. I was warned
that some of the fish will be "nippy" and to keep an
eye out for what was behind you and to watch where you
are going. Short of another aquarium, there is no
other place on earth with so many fish in such a small
area. We suited up and walked through the gate and
onto the swim platform. As usual there was a large
crowd of people looking on. Giant stride into the
tank, a few short words, and we descended.
Imagine a freeway of fish and turtles moving in the
same direction. There were two large tiger sharks, a
large nurse shark, and a GIANT turtle (Myrtle) among
the hundreds upon hundreds of animals. Myrtle is
without question the queen of the tank. Even the
tiger sharks move out of the way when she is on the
move. There was also a 6' long green moray eel.
Myrtle likes to have her shell scratched with sand or
shells. She sat there motionless as I scratched her
shell. Every now and then you would hear a large
thump while in the tank. This is Myrtle stomping her
powerful front flippers on a rock or moving large
rocks on the bottom of the tank. It was also very
cool to come face to face with a tiger shark. There
were many large animals in this tank. The small fish
were the most territorial and nippy. I had one small
fish bite me three times as I swam past. These are
small nips and not painful of course but a bit
surprising.
It was just surreal to be there. I waived to many
people waving in at me. I could imagine exactly what
they were thinking. My girlfriend was apparently running up
and down the spiral walkway around this tank trying to
get my attention to take a picture. I finally spotted
her as she came close to the window to take a picture
of me waving from inside the tank. I was determined
to have evidence of this experience! I told her to
make sure she got a picture!
The tank is exactly 23' deep and thousands and
thousands of gallons. They have an artificial reef
structure with several swim throughs. There is
actually a decent amount of current inside the tank
with the 4 or 5 high volume filter tubes. The entire
volume of water is cycled every 90 minutes. When you
swim over these outlets you get pushed right along and
out toward the wall.
There were too many species of fish to name in this
post. It was just an opportunity of a lifetime.
After 30 minutes it was time to surface. We stepped
out of the tank with a large crowd looking on and
asking questions. As we were tearing down gear my
friend asked me if I planned to log this as a "real
dive". Hell yes was my reply.
--Matt
presented with the opportunity to dive in the G.O.T.
(Giant Open Water Tank) at the New England Aquarium.
I have visited the aquarium several times and always
thought about how cool it would be to dive inside this
tank with all the fish. I have seen divers inside and
always looked on with envy. Today it was going to be
me looking out and waving to the people peering in,
wondering what it's like.
The briefing was completed as we suited up. I of
course signed the necessary waivers. I was warned
that some of the fish will be "nippy" and to keep an
eye out for what was behind you and to watch where you
are going. Short of another aquarium, there is no
other place on earth with so many fish in such a small
area. We suited up and walked through the gate and
onto the swim platform. As usual there was a large
crowd of people looking on. Giant stride into the
tank, a few short words, and we descended.
Imagine a freeway of fish and turtles moving in the
same direction. There were two large tiger sharks, a
large nurse shark, and a GIANT turtle (Myrtle) among
the hundreds upon hundreds of animals. Myrtle is
without question the queen of the tank. Even the
tiger sharks move out of the way when she is on the
move. There was also a 6' long green moray eel.
Myrtle likes to have her shell scratched with sand or
shells. She sat there motionless as I scratched her
shell. Every now and then you would hear a large
thump while in the tank. This is Myrtle stomping her
powerful front flippers on a rock or moving large
rocks on the bottom of the tank. It was also very
cool to come face to face with a tiger shark. There
were many large animals in this tank. The small fish
were the most territorial and nippy. I had one small
fish bite me three times as I swam past. These are
small nips and not painful of course but a bit
surprising.
It was just surreal to be there. I waived to many
people waving in at me. I could imagine exactly what
they were thinking. My girlfriend was apparently running up
and down the spiral walkway around this tank trying to
get my attention to take a picture. I finally spotted
her as she came close to the window to take a picture
of me waving from inside the tank. I was determined
to have evidence of this experience! I told her to
make sure she got a picture!
The tank is exactly 23' deep and thousands and
thousands of gallons. They have an artificial reef
structure with several swim throughs. There is
actually a decent amount of current inside the tank
with the 4 or 5 high volume filter tubes. The entire
volume of water is cycled every 90 minutes. When you
swim over these outlets you get pushed right along and
out toward the wall.
There were too many species of fish to name in this
post. It was just an opportunity of a lifetime.
After 30 minutes it was time to surface. We stepped
out of the tank with a large crowd looking on and
asking questions. As we were tearing down gear my
friend asked me if I planned to log this as a "real
dive". Hell yes was my reply.
--Matt
