The Shark Swim, Florida Aquarium’s New Program, Will Be a Hit

The Florida Aquarium is one of downtown Tampa’s premier destinations for tourists and locals to visit. With their new program, The Shark Swim, the aquarium is looking for new ways to get the public to interact with their fish.

The Shark Swim is self explanatory, you literally swim with the sharks. Don’t be afraid, they won’t bite! This program is available for anyone and everyone over the age of 9 and you do not need to be scuba certified. It’s designed for visitor’s to float on top of the water in one of Florida Aquarium’s shark tanks to get an up close,interactive perspective of diver.

Using a floatation device, dive tank and a regulator, you will be able to see everything underneath the water with the ability to breath and take in the magnificent views of the underwater world. You also get to do this with the comfort of certified divers by your side as well as the reassurance of a safe environment.

At Epcot’s The Seas, one of Disney World’s theme parks, their dive program, Dive Quest, is very similar to The Shark Swim at Florida’s Aquarium. Included is a 5.7 million-gallon aquarium which hosts 6,000 sea creatures and gives certified scuba divers an opportunity to take part in a 45 minute dive in their massive tank.

However, Epcot’s program is more exclusive, offering only certified divers the experience to dive in their tank at a more expensive rate of $175 as opposed to the Shark Swim’s $100, 30 minute swim.

Florida Aquarium already has a dive program for certified divers to scuba dive in it’s largest shark tank but the new Shark Swim may be a way to compete with Epcot’s Dive Quest, offering a more inclusive way to get everyone more involved at a cheaper rate. One thing is for sure, both experiences will give you a memory to last a lifetime.