Blue Planet Aquarium, Ellesmere Port

I was bought a'Dive With Sharks' at the Blue Planet Aquarium so this review will be based on that experience, rather than the blue plant aquarium itself.

In March 2000 my husband & I became qualified Divers in Goa with Barracuda Divers. My daughter who has this knack for buying really excellent presents decided to buy my husband for a Christmas present something with a bit of a bite. A dive with Sharks!! I helped her plan this but little did I know she was also planning to buy a dive with Sharks for me for me too. We were both chuffed to bits with our pressies.

Blue Planet is voted 10th best place in the world to dive with Sharks on the Discovery Channel.

Getting there.
Located just off M53 north of chester at:

Longlooms Road
Cheshire Oaks
Ellesmere Port
Cheshire.

0151 357 8804

www.blueplanetaquarium.com

Diving with the Sharks.
With 2 non diving friends we arrived at Blue Planet which by now was closed to the public.
We had been told to make our way around the back entrance of the aquarium. We had to show our qualifications to our dive guide who had introduced himself but whose name I have now forgotten, who recorded our details and organised us with 2 other divers he then directed us to the changing rooms. We were told to have a shower to wash any soaps, perfumes etc off so not to upset the finely tuned balance of the water and change into our wetsuits, and to get our BCD's and regs etc as apart from mask, snorkel and fins ( the latter two we didn't need in the tank ) we were hiring kit, then it was round to the auditorium for the dive brief and to be told when it was our turn. Here we were told all the dos and don'ts that we had to obey for our trip in the tank. One of which was if the our guide banged the 2 bolts together he was carrying, once it meant he wanted our attention, twice, meant the guide was pointing out something of interest but THREE times we had to go right down on our knees and duck as shark overhead!!! Our group was first to enter the tank. Our friends were now located in the viewing tunnel ready to video all the action. We were weighted with 30 lbs of lead weight and we entered the tank with help from the dive and 3 minder divers (minders were armed with poles and looked very menacing!!!).It felt very strange with all the extra weight and not having fins just dive boots. We were told that all the coral in the tank was entirely false so we could use it to help us get in and out of the tank and that we had to lean forward to walk. We followed the guide to the various stopping points in the tank where we could look and admire the local fish life.

The dive marshal checked everything was ok, recorded our air supply and we were off. We were given the order of descent and I got in first followed by my husband and then the other 2 divers. Once settled on the bottom, we were given the final OK and then we were off. Ooops three taps, down on the knees, what's up? One of the Sand Tiger Sharks was taking an interest in our group. How cool was that??? Next were off to the first stopping point next to one of the tunnels. Here we could look at the spectators that were watching us AND the Sharks, better still WE could look around for the sharks. There's one big one slowly making its way towards us, no taps so time for some photos. One shark passes almost touching my husbands head. On our brief, we were told to look out for shark's teeth in the sand. They occasionally dropped out, so any we found we could keep. Our guide called us closer and gave us each a couple of teeth (no not his, the sharks!) The guide started to sprinkle the coarse sand and signalled for us to do the same.

Very soon loads of different species were around us, all plying for their share of being sprinkled and massaged by the sand. The bigger varieties pushing the smaller ones out of the way, so they could hog all the fun.

Two taps and we were off towards the large display window, where our friends could video us. We slowly made our way to the next stopping place; you had to lean forward quite a bit as it made it easier. My husband was looking around and snapping different shots when the moments allowed when three taps were heard, I look forward as I dropped to my knees. There in front of us were a couple of sharks; we had to wait for them to move on before turning the corner and arriving at the window. We saw many different fish. We saw a Box Puffer Fish, Barracuda, Huge rays, bannerfish, Morays to name a few. All too soon we were being signalled to clamber back to the top. I just wanted to stay kneeling down on the bottom forever. I struggle back up to the surface with all my extra weight, strange not having to control your buoyancy on the ascent, this must be due to the extra weight being carried; thankfully there are steps to aid us otherwise I would never get out. Finally, back at the surface muster point, we are logged back in and a record of our air taken. Then it was back to the kitting area, a shower, and back to find our friends who had hopefully videoed it all. We were presented with a certificate stating that we had 'dived with the sharks';

COST
£175 each plus kit hire of around £10