Dive with the sharks and stingrays at SeaWorld's aquarium

By Rebecca Moubray

JAKARTA (JP): As Margie Bauer was petting a turtle on the head, a stingray zoomed by and nibbled on her's. She offered the stingray a fish, and then mustered her courage to touch it.

"It was like feeling velvet underwater," she said.

For an hour Bauer swam in the fantasy of the main aquarium at SeaWorld, where a volunteer program allows divers a chance to swim with fish from the far reaches of the archipelago right here in Jakarta.

Through the program, volunteers can dive in the main aquarium at SeaWorld in exchange for helping to scrub and vacuum the tank.

Cleaning the aquariums is one of the most important and time- consuming tasks for SeaWorld's regular staff of 16 divers. The 5,000 fish in the main aquarium eat 150 kilograms of food each day. What goes in must come out, which can contaminate the water and make the fish sick if it's not cleaned.

While volunteers feel good about helping SeaWorld, they say they're motivated by a unique dive opportunity.

"You can go anywhere and you won't find as many fish all in one place," said Budi Maramis, a Jakarta teacher who has dived hundreds of times in the tank. "You can't get visibility like this in the ocean. Here it's 100 to 120 feet."

Divers must be certified and must come with their own equipment, minus the scuba tanks and weight belts. They must pay Rp 50,000 (US$20) for the first dive to cover SeaWorld's costs, but the fee is halved with each successive dive, and is free when a diver becomes a regular SeaWorld volunteer.

When comfortable enough in the water, volunteers are rewarded with an opportunity to feed the fish during a show.

A few months from now, PT Cipta Pesona Bahari will operate a formal dive program in the aquarium, complete with rental equipment on site for those who would like to pay for a dive experience. For the altruistic or short of cash, SeaWorld will continue to operate the volunteer cleaning program.

Volunteers say it's a unique experience diving with so many fish and finding themselves one of the attractions for SeaWorld visitors.

"It's normal to smile when you wave to somebody, but if you do you get water in your mask," said Bauer, an American embassy employee on her second SeaWorld dive.

Bauer, Maramis and others say the work isn't difficult and tank diving is intense because there are so many fish. As one volunteer put it, "It's a feeding frenzy and you've got the food." Skates zoom around and knock divers off balance, and divers are always aware they're swimming with sharks.

Suzanne Gendron, curator of exhibits and education at SeaWorld, said the volunteer program has a value even greater than clean tanks because it allows people to develop a personal connection with marine life.

"They have a chance to touch something they haven't -- emotionally -- and once you become emotionally connected, it's difficult to abuse," Gendron said.

This type of personal experience -- exactly what Bauer raved about when she came out of the tank -- is what Gendron believes will help save the oceans.

Conservation and education are the ultimate aims of all the fun at SeaWorld. As Gendron says, "We're going too far in our technology. We can find fish by satellite. We have boats that never have to come home to freeze a fish. They don't have a chance if we don't try to save them."