Tales from the Tank: Warm thoughts for the winter 1: Diving In Mouse Ears

Hey folks!  Each week we want to bring you stories from our (and your) favorite dives!  So to kick things off we’re going to start Tales from the Tank with our Warm thoughts for the winter series.  So, send in those dive stories that make you feel warm when your dry suit leaks to diving@patriotscuba.com.  The best ones each month will win some kick ass Patriot Swag, just make sure you put “Tales from the Tank” in the subject line to enter.  Good luck and happy diving!

Diving in Mouse Ears: 

Okay, full disclosure: the mouse ears were metaphorical.  That said, they do call Disney World the happiest place on earth and the fact that you can log a dive there that you can do nowhere else in the world certainly adds credence to that claim.  I am, of course, talking about The Living Seas Aquarium at Epcot.  Now, I know what you are saying to yourselves right now, “An aquarium dive?  I can do those all over the place!”  And while that is technically true, calling this just an aquarium would be like calling a Porsche just a car, a moniker that were you to assert those who know would roll their eyes. 

This aquarium is special.  It’s a 25 foot dive with water so warm that you wouldn’t be surprised if you sweat in your shorty.  The visibility is the gold standard in clarity; you can float at the back of the tank and still see the restaurant voyeurs waving back at you through the 5.7 million gallons of water between you.  Plus it’s a great time to try out some different toys as the staff provide all of your gear for the dive, partly to maintain the health of the tank and partly to make sure you look good with all of those mouseketeers smooshing their faces against the glass. 

But none of those numbers and measurements are what really make a dive epic.  It’s the feel of the water slipping around you, the fluttering of your heart when nature reminds you that you aren’t alone, and the sheer and utter awe of experiencing something incredible for the first time.  I was 18 when I first dove this aquarium and it was a dive of a lot of firsts for me.  I had only been diving for about two years at this point and in that time had really only logged maybe ten dives.  I had cut my teeth diving in the Long Island Sound and, consequently, I thought Millbrook Quarry felt warm.  So you will understand my meaning when I tell you that the feeling of sliding my fins into that hot water defies description.  I could feel the heat enter my body seeping into my bones and joints, shattering the clenching that had been part of my preparation to slide into what I had never believed could be truly warm.  The decent was beyond compare as the salty wetness swattled me, depositing me gently on the bottom.

I had never dove with sharks before but now they glided past us, looping in lazy figure eights.  We had known this would happen; we had been briefed on it. The sharks swam the same route all day, every day.  You could get close, really, really close.  I’ll never forget the saucers staring out of my brother’s mask as a 10 foot sand tiger finned though the currentless water maybe six inches from our faces.  We could have blown bubbles in its face.  The deadly elegance with which it coursed through the brine around us cast an almost ominous presence.  Its eyes weren’t the dull stupid orbs that straddle the sides of shark heads during shark week but rather they were steely and aware.  They gave the hulking fish a look of powerful consciousness as though it were some ancient, timeless intelligence biding its time in this holding pattern.  Simply waiting.  But for what?

The sharks renewed my deepest respects for the power behind nature; however, they were not what grabbed me and consumed me with awe.  The laurels for that achievement could only go to the 400 pound green sea turtle that ruled that tank.  It was a reptile of monstrous proportions, boasting the kind of armored mass that made sea monsters plausible.  Watching this green hulk sail though the water with complete ease awakened a deep and primal awe in me, the likes of which are so rare these days.  In world where a picture and a caption of everything known to man is only seconds away on the internet, this feeling was foreign and captivating.  It bleed down from somewhere behind my eyes and filled me like a torrent.  All I wanted to do was follow that turtle, to drift along with it and watch it float its bulk though the salt.  Infinite grace in such an unlikely form.

With about 40 minutes of bottom time, the dive was over too soon and the world cold again even in the humid air above the water.  A towel is poor substitute for a warm sea’s gentle embrace.  Unfortunately, all priceless dives must end and necessarily we are once again thrust into the world.  Yet, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t endeavor to seek out the bliss of that perfect dive wherever we can.  So, if any of you are planning on diving the Florida Springs anytime soon then check out the The Living Seas Aquarium dive at Epcot.  You won’t regret it.

-Rob C.