Diving with sharks at Dubai Aquarium

Gulf News

Diving with sharks at Dubai Aquarium. We follow Gulf News reporter Emmanuelle Landais as she gets up close with the sea life at Dubai Aquarium. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Next time you take a stroll at Divine Mall, you might think about taking a plunge in there

00:18with sharks.

00:19This is the world's biggest suspended tank, and with 80 different species of fish, will

00:24offer an experience of a lifetime.

00:26I'm feeling quite brave today, so I'm going to give it a shot.

00:31The reason why we've introduced the shark diving program here at Divine Mall is there's

00:36a lot of public perception that sharks are not friendly animals and that if you get in

00:41the water with a shark, you're going to have a negative experience.

00:43So what we're hoping is to change public perception about sharks, show people a positive experience

00:49with the animals, and let them come away with a new appreciation.

00:52So if you were a new diver and you wanted to get in the water with the sharks, we won't

00:56throw you straight in there.

00:57There's a little bit of training that you have to do first.

01:00If you've never dived before, it's still possible.

01:03We'll start from the very beginning and teach you to dive.

01:05If you're already a diver, then you're just going to learn things like how the sharks

01:09are going to react to you being in the water, what not to do around them to make them more

01:15comfortable, and some interesting facts, like they can actually feel your heartbeat.

01:20They can sense your heartbeat, you know, and so remaining calm will bring them in closer

01:23and you'll have a better experience.

01:26After viewing a short video on do's and don'ts, I suited up and headed for the tank.

01:31Getting into the aquarium was very easy, and I was eager to get my head underwater.

01:35I couldn't see the sharks right away, but I knew they were in there.

01:38Rays were passing me at the surface, and as Paul led me to the bottom, I could finally

01:42take in the sheer size of this man-made underwater world.

01:46Having seen sharks in the wild before, I felt calm when they came closer and eventually

01:50swam by.

01:56The fish didn't seem bothered by me and carried on their route in brightly coloured

02:22shoals.

02:23It feels weird seeing shops through the glass and people waving and taking photos, a strange

02:28world of fashion and fish.

02:30It was amazing, it was awesome.

02:34It's an incredible feeling to have so many fish and sharks and everything around you

02:41at the same time.

02:42And I don't know, I think I'm a bit, I'm too used to the, like the water's 24 degrees,

02:47but you don't move very fast.

02:50I got cold.

02:51While I prefer the big blue ocean, it certainly is the most surreal experience you can have

02:55in a mall.

02:56Emmanuele Landais, Gulf News.

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