Trip report and pictures. Click on the images on this page. for bigger pictures

In the the end there were four divers from Rugby Divers who went to the Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port on Saturday 8^th July. The four were:-

Sarah Judd

Chris Stuart

John Fletcher

Me

We were able to bring non-diving spectators along. Sarah's husband, Dave, John's daughter, Josie and all my family, Sharon, Hannah and Megan, were there.

Sarah and Dave travelled up earlier, and the rest of us met up in Nuneaton to drive to Ellesmere Port in 2 cars. We got to the aquarium as it was closing, because they only let the divers in once it is closed to everyone else. We drove round the back so we could park close to where we dived.

There were 7 other divers from another group there, with a few of their spectators.

The staff at the Aquarium were very well organised and explained clearly how the dive would be conducted. We would be in fours, with two staff, and we would walk in line, with a staff diver at the front and back of the line. If we kept out of the way, and low, the sharks would leave us alone. They also had emergency procedures worked out and they briefed us on those.

The four of us were luck enough to go first. It could be that the staff realised that the children in our spectators would get bored if not!

When we got in the water, Sarah and I realised that we needed more weight. The instuctions that I had been sent said 5 kg of extra weight. You need loads of extra weight. I would say at least 10 kg of extra lead and 20 kg wouldn't be too much. This is because you don't ever try to get neutrally bouyant. You need the weight to push your feet into the bottom to get grip and to stop you falling over.

As soon as we got sorted and looked round, there were fish of all sorts eveywhere, and we could see and wave to our spectators inside the perspex tunnels.

The spectators had their own staff member to tell them what to look for and to answer questions.

In the water, the sharks would cruise over us, and they showed no reaction at all to us. We would stop moving and kneel down when the sharks came close to keep out of their way. When we stopped, the cleaner fish would come round and snap at anything loose. It felt like someone snapping their fingers. If we picked up a handfull of the tiny stones from the bottom, and let them fall down, these cleaner fish would congregate under the falling stones. At times we saw 20 of these fish practically forming a solid tower between our hands and the ground. We don't know if the fish thought that there was food to be had, or if they just liked th feel of the stones.

The staff led us along beside the perspex tunnels. We went quite slowly so that we could see the fish and the sharks. We went to the deep area, 5 m deep in front of the big flat observation window to the lecture room where we had had the briefing. The spectators could walk round (I think that the children ran!) round from the perspex tunnels to watch. In the deep area we were lower so the sharks didn't come as close, but we saw a moray eel and a puffer fish, and we could find some sharks' teeth in the small stones on the bottom.

After that, we walked back towards the steps where we got in, all the time with the sharks criusing above us.

We saw all sorts of other fish as well. There were several rays, and the largest shark has a remora alongside it all the time.

We climbed out at the steps. We had had 35 minutes in the water but it had gone far too quickly.

When we had got changed, we briefly watched the next group from inside the tunnels. The sharks swim just over the tunnels so they get very close even if you are in the dry.

After that it was a quick visit to Burger King and start driving back. We stopped at Corley services so that John, who had the longest drive to do, could miss out a few miles of driving. Most unfortunately, Sharon was walking around the back of the car as Chris closed the tailgate, and she got a nasty cut on the head. We drove straight to casualty. However, after 2 ¹/₂ hours we didn't seem any closer to being seen and Sharon's head had long stopped bleeding, so we went home.

Apart from that, we enjoyed the trip. My thanks to the staff at the aquarium, all those who came along, and to Bill Dyer for helping me to captue the video stills. Please contact me if you want to see the video from which these stills are taken. If you want to have a dive at the aquarium, have a look at www.blueplanetaquarium.com

You can contact me on malin@onspec.co.uk or 01455 292763

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