After getting PADI Open Water Certified in 1997 and living in my home state of Minnesota, I struggled to build dives in my logbook.
Fast forward to retirement in 2001 and a long anticipated relocation to Clearwater, FL, my logbook was going to start growing a lot. In between, I obtained my PADI Advanced Training diving on the Madeira wreck in Lake Superior, MN. I promised myself no more cold-weather diving. Before my relocation to Florida, I had some great dives in Hawaii, Marathon, FL, and Grand Cayman.
What changed everything was the chance to dive in a couple of Aquariums – The Living Seas at Epcot in Orlando and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. My son Jake and I shared in both experiences, and we loved it. After arriving in Clearwater, I switched from life-changing dives in smaller numbers to lower profile dives with much more regularity. My logbook had 17 dives from 1997-2001 and now stands at 104 in 2025 – the difference in 3 and a half years.
Here’s how it happened. We had a chance to tour the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (10 miles from our new home) and I was blown away by the story of “Winter” and the Dolphin Tale movies that were filmed on site. The aquarium was a treasure. On the tour, I found out about their Dive Team that is comprised of a handful of paid staff and a much larger volunteer crew.
The first thing I did was buy and watch the movies and then set about finding out how to be a part of this wonderful place. Now, understand I was 62 years old when I applied to the team. The big day came to meet the requirements of making the team – a rigorous swim test, and IF you passed that, you were invited to take their dive test. Thank goodness I had been doing a lot of swimming since moving to Florida. The great news is that I passed both tests and made the dive team in Dec. 2020 – one of my proudest accomplishments – I got a dive team shirt and a key to the place. The first year was basically diving as much as I wanted to until they changed to a weekly commitment with a smaller staff a year or so later.
Our role is to do cleaning and maintenance in a variety of tanks and pools along with occasional skits and fun holiday related events. All the equipment is provided and we show up in our swimsuit and we’re ready to go. Outside the aquarium I have also done some great Florida dives including Lake Denton, Devils Den and the Blue Grotto but they don’t compare to my Thursday morning dive at the Aquarium.
This last week my Dive Coordinator Cory Fields snapped a great picture of our resident shark “Thelma” and I after a morning of cleaning the tank which holds many grouper, angel fish and of course Thelma. We just built a manatee tank which was ready to debut when hurricanes Helene and Milton did extensive damage to the aquarium. We are on the comeback trail and things seems to be getting better each week on my visits.
The things that the aquarium has taught me is a total focus on safety. We are monitored by (2) tenders on each dive and I have gotten some priceless additional training. I still can’t believe I’m still on the team at 66 years old and holding my own and having an absolute blast.
Here’s to all the volunteers across many departments for their dedication to a wonderful place called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I sometimes have to pinch myself because I feels like I’m in a movie!
Article Kindly Submitted by Mike Langevin
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