Baltimore Aquarium Dives

[Empacher]

I just got back form a day of diving at the Baltimore Aquarium...What a great experience! We got spend some time in the main tank and in the ray tank. It was definitely a cool experience being on the other side of the glass!

We spent the first few hours learning about the inner workings of the aquarium and the conservation efforts. From there we had a mini info session , then it was off to the tanks..

I was able to come within a few feet of Oscar the resident moray eel. I was bumped by one of the sharks in the ray tank...

It was a great experience! (and I got a PADI aquarium diver specialist card out of it!)

[maddhadder]

Very cool! How far in advance did you have to set it up? Did you use any of your own gear? This may be a trip I need to take.

[mselizann]

Isn't it expensive?
I just spent the day with armored catfish, rays, and pacu at PPG for free today! love it- I do like diving with the sharks, but sometimes that Amazon habitat tank is fun.

[comet24]

Glad you enjoyed the dives.

The Baltimore Aquarium is a great dive. You can get very close to many creatures without going far. No boat ride needed.

You get two 30 minute dives. One in the Atlantic Coral Reef tank and one in the Wings in the Water tank.

Zoey is the Zebra shark in the Ray Tray. She swims near the top of the water column and can get very close to diver but is harmless.

The guest diver program at the Baltimore Aquarium is run by Atlantic Edge SCUBA. They are normally 2 dives a month each on a Saturday. There is a limit of 12 student and they are split into two groups. One in each tank and then they switch after 30 minutes in the water. These dives are always full.

There is a classroom portion before the dives and a tour of parts of the aquarium. There are two safety dives in the water and one top side tender for each tank during the dives.

Scuba Dive in the National Aquarium in Baltimore

[comet24]

Originally Posted by mselizann

Isn't it expensive?

I believe the cost is $295. Most of the cost goes directly to the aquarium to help support there work. BC, reg, tanks and weight are provided. You need a wetsuit, mask, fins, booties and hood. Gloves can be provided you you can bring your own.

[maddhadder]

Thanks for the info and the link Comet. Another dive on my list of things to do.

[gmorgan]

sonds like a good time

[Empacher]

The cost was $295.. A bunch of that went towards education and conservation efforts.

Zoey is blind. I mean really blind. While I was getting out of the ray tank, she rammed me at full speed and threw me off the ladder... It did not hurt in the slightest, but it certainly felt pretty weird...

I definitely recommend this dive..

[JimHar99]

I did the aquarium dives yesterday. I really enjoyed diving with all the rays. A couple of them were rather large, but all were very used to divers and seemed to enjoy swimming staight at you. I've seen many rays in the Caribbean, but I never got observe them this close up.
I thnk some of the aquarium customers enjoyed watching us as mush as the fish. Lots of fun.