Dive With Sharks Program Opens October 11 at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

Non-certified divers will be able to view sharks up close from an underwater cage (no experience necessary); certified scuba divers will swim among the sharks with professionally trained guides

TACOMA, Wash. – It’s exhilarating. It’s edgy. It’s extreme tell-your-friends-about-it fun.

Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive, an experience like no other in the Northwest, opens at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium on Oct. 11.

For the first time, visitors will climb into the South Pacific Aquarium with more than a dozen sharks – including a 450-pound, 9-foot lemon shark.

And virtually anyone can do it. Dives are open to nearly everyone 8 and older as long as they’re in good health.

And no diving experience is necessary. Non-certified divers, ages 8 and up, will breathe surface-supplied air as they view the sharks up close from an underwater cage. Certified scuba divers, ages 15 and up, will be escorted around the habitat by professionally trained diver/guides.  All will get a never-before-offered Eye-to-Eye view of six species of sharks.

In fact, shark sightings are guaranteed.

In addition to the lemon shark, there are blacktip reef sharks, sandbar sharks, nurse sharks, a sand tiger shark and a Japanese Wobbegong shark.

It’s the only warm-water dive in the Pacific Northwest with this many sharks.  And it’s the only program around that offers this unique combination of no-experience-necessary cage dive for some and scuba-certification-required open dive for others.

Plus, the 240,000-gallon South Pacific Aquarium is home to dozens of other interesting fish.

Prices for the cage dive are $50 for zoo members and $65 for non-members. The cost for the scuba dive is $160 for zoo members and $175 for non-members. Prices include zoo admission and a souvenir Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive towel.

While this is serious fun, it’s serious business, too.

“The main goal of this program is to publicize the plight of sharks worldwide and to inspire people right here in Puget Sound to help protect and conserve marine life for future generations,” zoo deputy director John Houck said. “We want our visitors to leave with a pledge to take action that will help save sharks.

“Experts suggest that as many as 73 million sharks are killed each year, primarily for their fins, which are used to make shark fin soup,” he added. “Sharks are at the top of the marine food chain and are critical to maintaining balance in the world’s oceans. They desperately need our help, and we believe the Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive is a great way to get more people involved in helping these animals.”

The dive program highlights several making-a-difference actions people can take – and messages they can share with family members and friends.

Those include:

• Not purchasing shark products such as shark fin soup, sharkskin items, pills made with shark cartilage or shark jaws.
• Choosing sustainable seafood caught in ways that don’t kill sharks as bycatch.
• Urging members of congress to pass laws to protect sharks.

Reservations for the Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive programs are required and will go on sale to the general public on Sept. 16.

More information is available at www.pdza.org/dive.