T.C.
Contributor
I’d think he’d get that for Chicago... or at least Hostile Fire Pay
Join the crowd.
Georgia Aquarium dive, worth it?
- Thread starter melfox26
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krukster86
Contributor
Shots fired?
I'll see myself out
I'll see myself out
Ghosty
Contributor
Guess I'll be the exception here. Sorry for the novella, but I tried to include all the details, hopefully convince anyone on the fence that it's worth the steep price. I can now say I've done three of the bigger "Whale Shark" dive spots in the Western Hemi. Belize (Gladden Spit), Isla Mujeres (Holbox snorkel only), and I got to christen my personal "Dive #50" in the Georgia Aquarium this past October, woot! Belize costed $300 for one day boat trip and we didn't see anything. Yes it was about 7 days after a Full Moon in late May, so it was one of the PRIME times to go. So disappointing. Isla Mujeres was cool because you could actually snorkel right alongside the Sharks. Even at only 15ft. long "teenage" size, it was a great experience. Yes it was a cluster-EFF of a dozen tour boats all jockeying to drop us tourists alongside surfacing whales, but I already read and knew what to expect. "Organized chaos", but it worked and no accidents.
Let me just say, "for me" the Georgia Aquarium was almost a religious experience. Just the Aquarium by itself was amazing, and I've been to a dozen all over the world. I volunteer at the Denver Aq. every weekend, and I consider the Denver and Monterey Bay Aquariums my two favorites. Georgia Aq. is now tied for the top spot with Denver. The exhibits were huge and beautiful. The facility is very modern and clean (like Denver). Way nicer than all the others I've been to in Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, Chicago, Birch/Scripps in La Jolla, etc. Tampa was pretty bad, and looked like it was poorly run.
I saved the huge showcase exhibit, "Ocean Voyager" for the last party of my tour, since my dive wasn't until the afternoon. 6 million gallons, 30ft. deep, 60ft.-wide viewing window in a big auditorium. It lives up to all your expectations, from the pics, videos, etc. That was worth the trip itself. Even the tunnel under the "Ocean Voyager" tank was huge, 100ft. long. It has a moving walkway in it. You could spend hours in there just watching everything swim over your head. It makes the Denver Aq. tunnel look tiny!
I seriously would pay to do the dive again, I loved it that much. I plan on going again next year. It starts out above the tank where he shows you how they feed the Sharks using these big pulley system and volunteer aquarists in these boats that go across the top. The surface area is HUGE obviously, DWARFS even our biggest 400k gallon Shark tank in Denver. Then you do a short classroom session. They do give you a "VIP Dive" experience from beginning to end, I noticed. There are four 20-25ft. Whale Sharks (2 male, 2 female) that swim around and sometimes come right down over your head. No pics or video can come close to how it "feels" having those giants pass over! There are also a couple Groupers the size of a VW Bug, and at least four Giant Manta Rays that I believe he said varied from 12ft. to 18ft. across! One of the bigger ones likes to do these graceful loops right above your head, it's magical.
The guides were awesome and fun. Our main guide took us in a figure eight pattern and stopped at every cool spot, including stopping to wave and do funny things in front of all the visitors behind the acrylic and in the tunnel. A videographer guide followed us or setup in front of us, to get everyone in our group (6 total incl. me) in many different shots. Never realized how fun that could be interacting with the kiddies behind the acrylic. They were so excited to watch us. The dive was very easy, but lasted the full 40mins. I actually did my Whale Shark Naturalist PADI specialty, so another guide took me aside at the end for 10 more minutes, and we went right up close to a few of the Whale Sharks. Spectacular!
The dive was expensive, close to $350, but incl. price of admission. Then another $70 for the video which was a rip, BUT this is not a private Aq. like Denver's which is owned by the Landry Restaurant Corp. So ALL this money goes to the Aquarium, non-profit, well run, and tons of education and conservation programs. I was definitely PI$$ED that you can't bring your own GoPro underwater, but oh well. No regrets whatsoever. Atlanta is a cool city (my first time there). I also went up and hiked the Becky Branch Falls near Clayton, North Georgia Chattahoochee Forest. That was beautiful. This was an experience of a lifetime for me. Even if "artificial", my "happy feelings" from this rivaled any of the top dives I did in Cozumel or Belize. Yes I paid extra to "hit the cheat code", don't care, it was worth it.
Let me just say, "for me" the Georgia Aquarium was almost a religious experience. Just the Aquarium by itself was amazing, and I've been to a dozen all over the world. I volunteer at the Denver Aq. every weekend, and I consider the Denver and Monterey Bay Aquariums my two favorites. Georgia Aq. is now tied for the top spot with Denver. The exhibits were huge and beautiful. The facility is very modern and clean (like Denver). Way nicer than all the others I've been to in Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, Chicago, Birch/Scripps in La Jolla, etc. Tampa was pretty bad, and looked like it was poorly run.
I saved the huge showcase exhibit, "Ocean Voyager" for the last party of my tour, since my dive wasn't until the afternoon. 6 million gallons, 30ft. deep, 60ft.-wide viewing window in a big auditorium. It lives up to all your expectations, from the pics, videos, etc. That was worth the trip itself. Even the tunnel under the "Ocean Voyager" tank was huge, 100ft. long. It has a moving walkway in it. You could spend hours in there just watching everything swim over your head. It makes the Denver Aq. tunnel look tiny!
I seriously would pay to do the dive again, I loved it that much. I plan on going again next year. It starts out above the tank where he shows you how they feed the Sharks using these big pulley system and volunteer aquarists in these boats that go across the top. The surface area is HUGE obviously, DWARFS even our biggest 400k gallon Shark tank in Denver. Then you do a short classroom session. They do give you a "VIP Dive" experience from beginning to end, I noticed. There are four 20-25ft. Whale Sharks (2 male, 2 female) that swim around and sometimes come right down over your head. No pics or video can come close to how it "feels" having those giants pass over! There are also a couple Groupers the size of a VW Bug, and at least four Giant Manta Rays that I believe he said varied from 12ft. to 18ft. across! One of the bigger ones likes to do these graceful loops right above your head, it's magical.
The guides were awesome and fun. Our main guide took us in a figure eight pattern and stopped at every cool spot, including stopping to wave and do funny things in front of all the visitors behind the acrylic and in the tunnel. A videographer guide followed us or setup in front of us, to get everyone in our group (6 total incl. me) in many different shots. Never realized how fun that could be interacting with the kiddies behind the acrylic. They were so excited to watch us. The dive was very easy, but lasted the full 40mins. I actually did my Whale Shark Naturalist PADI specialty, so another guide took me aside at the end for 10 more minutes, and we went right up close to a few of the Whale Sharks. Spectacular!
The dive was expensive, close to $350, but incl. price of admission. Then another $70 for the video which was a rip, BUT this is not a private Aq. like Denver's which is owned by the Landry Restaurant Corp. So ALL this money goes to the Aquarium, non-profit, well run, and tons of education and conservation programs. I was definitely PI$$ED that you can't bring your own GoPro underwater, but oh well. No regrets whatsoever. Atlanta is a cool city (my first time there). I also went up and hiked the Becky Branch Falls near Clayton, North Georgia Chattahoochee Forest. That was beautiful. This was an experience of a lifetime for me. Even if "artificial", my "happy feelings" from this rivaled any of the top dives I did in Cozumel or Belize. Yes I paid extra to "hit the cheat code", don't care, it was worth it.
I am going to swim with the whale sharks next week but haven't been diving in 20 years. I've done 50+ dives (nearly 50 hours underwater) to a maximum of 80 feet and feel very comfortable in water generally (I'm on a masters swim team) but, again, haven't been scuba diving in 20 years ago. I see that the max depth is 33 feet. Just want to get a sense of your thoughts on the environment given my rustiness - I'm assuming they are assembling the gear, etc. for us. Thanks for any insights/thoughts.
Generally, if someone hasn't dived in a few years, they are advised to take a refresher course. That general advice notwithstanding, if the Aquarium doesn't have any problem with allowing you to do this, given you haven't dived in 20 years (which you should admit to them), and if you know you are calm and relaxed in the water, and if you remember how to scuba dive, then going ahead with it seems reasonable. Calm and relaxed is the key requirement, as the Aquarium pretty much does everything else for you. You use their gear. They have helpers in the water to assist you. In other words, as scuba dives go, there are few that are more benign than this. That said, if you truly have forgotten how to scuba dive--how to use the gear, etc.--then a refresher course would not be a bad idea. And while you're at it, why not use this to motivate you to get back into scuba diving?
You could see these sorts of animals in their native habitats. Welcome to ScubaBoard!
MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
Georgia Aquarium has a Rebreather Discover Dive!! Not recommended for those out of the water for a while though.
Rebreather Dive Program | Georgia Aquarium
"strongly recommend that rebreather participants are proficient divers who are interested in the technology of closed-circuit rebreathers and are confident using unfamiliar equipment"
$470 setup + 1hr dive, 3 DMs, looks like 3 divers.
Surface swim $240
Scuba $334
+ admission $35
Rebreather Dive Program | Georgia Aquarium
"strongly recommend that rebreather participants are proficient divers who are interested in the technology of closed-circuit rebreathers and are confident using unfamiliar equipment"
$470 setup + 1hr dive, 3 DMs, looks like 3 divers.
Surface swim $240
Scuba $334
+ admission $35
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