Snorkelling with sharks at SEA LIFE!

A change from books just to give you a little review of an awesome experience I recently had thanks to my wonderful ex-colleagues at SEA LIFE...!

Swimming trunks – check

Underwater camera – check

Nerves of steal – ummmm that remains to be seen!

I arrived at SEA LIFE Blackpool and was greeted by Mike who talked through what to expect from the experience. We headed to the changing rooms to ‘Get ready for the dive of your life’, donned my wet suits and headed up to the top of the ocean tank.

There before me was 500,000 litres of water at a temperature of 25°C. The calm surface of the water was broken by the dorsal fin from one of the 20 sharks that call this tank home. Snorkels and masks on and I was ready to descend into the cage. The water was colder than I thought it might be, but soon warmed up as I dived beneath the surface to get a look.

It took a little while to get used to my surroundings, but found the handy grab-ropes fastened to the bottom of the 6ft deep cage were useful to hold myself under the surface and get a good look around. Once under the water, the only sound I could hear was my heart racing…whether this was from breathing through the snorkel or that a Black Tip Reef Shark just swam in front of me I’m not quite sure!

Although I had a snorkel, it was great fun to take a deep breath and pull myself down to the bottom of the cage and really take in the surroundings. As well as the many sharks, tropical fish swam nearby including Mono and Golden Trevallies.

It’s a really odd sensation to be invading the space of the graceful creatures, and they truly are that. The Reef sharks were particularly active as was Barnaby the Bowmouth – they are fully used to having people in the tank as the SEA LIFE staff dive regular to clean and maintain the tank as well as put on demonstrations for visitors, so our presence could have gone unnoticed, however they seemed keen to swim close by us and let us glimpse their beauty.

The 15 minutes was up way too soon, I could’ve spent hours in there. It really was an experience I’ll never forget and would recommend it to anyone!

Review of Afloat by Erin Healy (digital)

This story is set on floating residential unit, the pioneering creation of Architect Vance Nolan. Not far off being complete and disaster strikes - torrential rains begin to fall, leading to sink holes and floods causing the unit to be completely cut-off from the rest of the world. 

A diverse group of people - builders, residents and investors are stranded and divisions form as to what to do next. Vance Nolan insists they should sit tight and wait for rescue. Developer Tony Dean wants to strike out into the darkness. And single mum Danielle Clement, desperate to protect her young son, Simeon, struggles to hold their motley band together.

Power failure, unnatural daytime darkness, explosions, then murder bring tensions to boiling point. But young Simeon has spotted something strange under the water - beautiful, shifting lights in the dark water below. Then there's the mysterious Ranier Smith who keeps appearing.

In this watery world where everyone's secrets will eventually come to light, salvation may mean more than just getting out alive.

It took me a few chapters to really get into this read...the descriptions of the residential unit and its surroundings along with the character introduction seemed a little tricky to follow...or that may just be me?! But I persisted and it really didn't take much to get into this gripping story, filled with suspense, almost apocalyptic action and supernatural elements. 

As I learnt more and more about the characters I began to feel a connection with them, with hints of comedy and romance in there to keep the story flowing. The back-story of Vance and how he came to know Zeke, a blind man who occasionally has prophetic visions, really help to give you a fuller picture of the subtle undertones that run throughout. 

I honestly struggled to put this book down and raced through it faster than I do most books, the mentions of God and references to scripture didn't seem out of place and worked well with the story. 

I'd definitely recommend this as a read to anyone, and look forward to reading more by Erin Healy.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsementsand Testimonials in Advertising.”