Volume 2, No. 23. December 13, 2002
Soggy
St. Nick
The biggest challenge
in sending Santa scuba diving in a tank full of sharks is that he may show his
feminine side.
That has been the only drawback in what has become a “signature event”
for Ocean Journey in Denver, Colorado, said Kimberly Langston, the aquarium’s
public relations manager. Scuba-diving Santa has become a seasonal tradition
for the 3-year-old aquarium where a fully suited St. Nick submerges in the aquarium’s
Sea of Cortez habitat, featuring tropical fish (including the suitably shimmering
silver Mexican lookdowns), or in the Depths of the Pacific exhibit, featuring
sandbar, gray nurse, nurse and zebra sharks.
Playing Father Christmas are a few of the aquarium’s 100 volunteer divers
and, well, some of them are mothers. “His hat likes to float off, which
is an issue when he’s having his feminine side,” Langston said. Santa’s
beard can also cause some hairy moments for the divers, especially coupled with
the scuba regulator, so they keep the beard in place with a clear hair net.
His belt is actually a weight belt, and he wears flippers, of course, but otherwise
the aquarium does not order specialized Santa suits.
“It’s a normal, run-of-the-mill Santa Claus suit,” said Colby
Lorenz, diving safety officer. “We soak it to disinfect it and make sure
no dye comes out of it.” Diving as Santa also requires no additional training
or safety measures, Lorenz said, but it is a weightier task than the typical
scuba interactive programs because the Santa outfit is worn over a standard
dive suit. "It’s like you were trying to swim in your clothes. It’s
a big, baggy suit. In the water you don’t notice it, but when you get out
that suit weighs about 45 pounds.”
Unlike the divers in the aquarium’s regular scuba interactive programs,
Santa is not equipped with a microphone. “Santa can’t talk because
the beard and the regulator and talking don’t mix,” said Langston;
that plus a high-pitched Santa might confuse some children.
A scuba-diving Santa, on the other hand, not only doesn’t confuse the younger
patrons, he carries incredible awe-appeal. “We have been packed for Santa
dives,” Langston said. For the first dive this year November 29, the exhibit’s
pathway was “wall-to-wall children,” she said. “When he came
around the corner (inside the exhibit), you could hear the kids gasp.”
Santa waves to the children, interacts with a few through the glass, and scribbles
messages
on a handheld board like “Happy holidays,” and “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
and “Feliz Navidad.” “He’s bilingual when he needs to be,”
Langston said.
Scuba-diving Santa has earned the aquarium national coverage in magazines like
Good Housekeeping and this year has drawn the attention of a German press agency.
But the program carries no educational mission except, well, it’s Santa—environmentally
friendly, of course.
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