Hello all!
For those who don't remember, Lili and her parents had purchased a shark dive at the local aquarium for Andrew for his birthday, and the day has finally arrived! So just after noon Lili and Andrew made their way to the train station to head just the otherside of the firth to North Queensferry.
North Queensferry is a lovely little town just the otherside the Firth of Fourth on the coast. It nestles in nicely, a massive hill from the train station takes you down the coast that also looks up upon the train bridge. It reminds both Lili and Andrew of New England, and some of the coastal towns they both grew up in, Lili in Woods Hole and Andrew Rhode Island and all over New england really.
The time finally arrived, with a bit of waiting and then a bit of more waiting as the previous dive ran a bit over. Andrew was taken into the back, and given the breakdown of what was going to happen. A quick slip into a dry suit and it was time to go through some brief training, including how to breathe, how to clear water from your mask and how to retrieve and clear the mouthpiece. Then they piled on 200 lbs to make sure Andrew sunk to the bottom, and it was time.
Andrew waited as the friends and families of the divers, there were 2 others, were brought into the people tank. It was soon time and Andrew stepped off the platform, and giving a final scratch to the overly friendly sea bass, over he went, and slowly sunk to the bottom of a 3 meter deep shark tank the size of an olympic swimming pool. At the bottom Lili got the first glimpses of Andrew, and to say he had magnificient hair would be an understatement. Even the aquarium photographer was commenting on it. Andrew soon found his rythm for breathing, and a 6 ft shark glided effortlessly above his head.
The divers walked the length of the pool, now Andrew found out what all the weight was for, it was much easier to walk being completely weighted down. At the end, an ungainly jump over a 4 foot wall, it is hard to jump wearing 200 lbs of diving weights, and it was a walk back down the other side of the tank. Most of the sharks were approximately 6 ft long, but there were two, Tinkerbelle and Patches, were 12 to 15 feet long and one would be hard pressed to wrap their arms around them. The sharks just swam along, taking no notice of the divers as the awed the magnificence and beauty of these beasts. They swam effortlessly through the water and made the divers scrambling along the bottom look completely out of place.
A quick ungainly jump back over the wall at the other end up the pool, some slight inflation of the safety vest and Andrew was back on the diving platform. A quick change and some warmer clothes, the water temperature was around 58 degrees and no hood or gloves are used, nor necessary once you get used to the water, and it was back on the train to head home. Smiles all around and much conversation about missing fingers and toes, and it was back home to relax for the evening of Eurovision.
More soon!
-L&A
