New Underwater Adventures at Discovery Cove The Grand Reef

[Imagineer2802]

oh hang on, is it just the Sea Venture tour that is extra?

[busybee2]

Originally Posted by Imagineer2802

Looks good, but (stupidly) i was expecting the Grand Reef to be included in the price!

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it is its the seaventure thats you pay 59 extra for

[liamaxina]

Originally Posted by Tetrarch

Think I must be in the minority because it looks terrifying to me! I just know that I would feel very claustrophobic and would start to panic. Anyone else feel like me or am I just odd?

Debra

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I can't snorkel because I feel really claustrophobic with that mask on my face and feel like I'm suffocating. However, this helmet thingy looks much better to me and I might give it a go. If I don't like it I won't do it again but I think I will try.

[fdwhite]

We went to DC today & I watched some people do he sea venture walk. This is my opinion of it.
First of all the walk is quite short & very limited in the area of the reef you walk in.
Secondly the area you walk in appeared to have the least amount of fish in as there was nothing stopping them swimming away to the rest of the reef.
Thirdly, I was wandering what kept you down on the bottom for the walk & I soon realised it was the helmet. When the people were climbing up the ladder to get out they put their heads out the water & then the attendant used a winch to lift the helmet off.

After watching all this I decided not to have a go as you see more & get closer with the normal snorkelling plus I don't think I'd like having that weight on my shoulders. And at $59 a go it's over very quickly.
So my personal opinion is to give it a miss.
I'll post some pics later.

[stupet11]

Although tit's a short walk, isn't it timed - so you get 30 mins or something of the experience of being underwater?
Do they feed the fish to attract them to you?
I imagine you don't feel the weight of the helmet too much under water...bit like a scuba tank.

[fdwhite]

Originally Posted by stupet11

Although tit's a short walk, isn't it timed - so you get 30 mins or something of the experience of being underwater?
Do they feed the fish to attract them to you?
I imagine you don't feel the weight of the helmet too much under water...bit like a scuba tank.

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Not sure about it being timed or if you feel the weight as I didn't go on it, but it just seemed that the area they were in had the least fish in it. I would've thought that if they were being fed that they would hang around there?
Having said that my impression of the reef as a whole was that there far less fish than in the "old" area, or is it that the fish numbers are the same but the reef is bigger so they have more room to spread out in?

[lukebrynycz]

I'm loving the look of this Sea Venture. It's good that Grand Reef is included though for those who don't want to do the walk. I tried to pre-book this for our visit in October but they don't allow you to do it yet. It looks like it's first come first serve on the day so i'll be making sure i'm there first thing.

[lukebrynycz]

Also, how does the helmet work? Does it have a rubber seal around your neck or something? Does it have a quick release catch in case the bottle runs out of air or something?

[Guest]

We visted DC last week and watched the Sea Venture Trekkers for a while. Sad to say it does seem enclosed in every sense and not what I had expected. The helmets are extremely heavy to keep your feet on the sea bed, very well sealed on and as you are walking through a narrow oval shaped trench on the trek it definately wont be everyones cup of tea due to tight spaces.

On the flip side the new Grand Reef is very open plan with lots of nice deep places to dive into and explore so fabulous fun for all tastes.

The old reef area is now cordoned off (with the aviary and lazy / serenity river still open behind it though) and construction is imminent as they will be opening another new attraction in 2012.

Anyone heard what this may be yet?

Ps - Some of the stingrays are huge now, these guys have grown a lot since our last trip.

[bel]

is there still a seperate sting ray lagoon where you have better chance of getting up close to them?