While at Walt Disney World, I participated in a behind-the-scenes experience called Disney Dive Quest where certified scuba divers are given an opporunity to dive in Epcot’s 6 million gallon Living Seas Aquarium. The aquarium and the species in it are interesting, but for me the real treat was interacting with the people on the other side of the glass, including those dining in the restaurant that looks into the aquarium. Of course, Jen was there watching me. I tried my best to embarrass her, but I don’t think any of it worked. The Dive Quest staff are fantastic. They pretty much treat you like rock stars the entire time. You’re sent home with all kinds of goodies — a t-shirt, a stamped entry for your log book, a certificate — and you can buy a DVD of the experience. The photos on our Adventure pages are screen captures from the DVD.

The really cool thing about the Dive Quest program is that all of the proceeds go to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. Disney pays for all the administrative costs associated with the program, but all the revenue generated by divers like me participating in it is being put toward a variety of wildlife conservation programs around the world. It’s truly a win-win scenario, and it’s definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. Without doubt, I’ll do it every time I return to Walt Disney World.

This entry was posted by Steve on Thursday, April 21st, 2005 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Diving, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.