If you've always fancied a close encounter with the star of Jaws, now is your chance.
Our household ran on a strict no pets rule, until we inherited a fish tank. In a moment of weakness, my partner Graham took the girls to a pet store. Needless to say, I am now the primary fish carer after the briefest of periods of interest from my daughters.
I often wonder what it's like, swimming around all day, so when an opportunity to find out came along, attached to one of the hottest tickets around, a shark dive at Deep Sea World, North Queensferry, we were hooked.
However, examining the health consent form, I suddenly wondered if I had done the right thing by signing up my eldest daughter Eve (nine) and her chum Ria (eight) for a splash session with Jaws.
The sensible thing would be to cancel, but we upped the ante and asked people for sponsorship to raise some much-needed funds for the girls' swimming club, Midlothian.
The girls are excellent swimmers but you do not have to be too confident in the water. There is high demand for spaces, particularly at weekends, and there can be a two-month wait.
The day arrived for our once-in-a-lifetime marine adventure.
I was utterly petrified, while the girls took it all in their stride. After the safety briefing, we clambered into our drysuits.
You need to remember to bring a change of clothes, as you may get slightly wet. Next we descended the steps into the training pool, to put on our air tanks and get acclimatised and receive tuition from Ben and Richard, the Padi qualified instructors.
There is no getting round it, breathing underwater seems wrong, and I got another shock when I realised the water was salty. It's obvious when you realise the aquarium replenishes 4.5 million litres of water daily for the main display, direct from the Firth of Forth.
There are fish swimming around your feet as you are training - Stella the Atlantic Stingray took a keen interest in our instruction - I like to think she was checking out the competition, and not laughing. When everyone was confident we proceeded through to the main tank.
It's all pretty safe; you're contained within a crated area at all times and never too deep, but honestly getting up close and personal with a shoal of fish was mind-blowing.
We waved at the visitors in the tunnel below us, when we were not transfixed by the passing turbot, cod, coley, mackerel, sea bass, and grey mullet that swirled all around us. There are seven sand tiger sharks, the biggest is Tinkerbell who is 12ft in length.
The others are named Scout, Iona, Lewis, Hook, Patch and Arran and they circle around the tank with their dark staring eyes and sharp teeth and menacing movements, but the girls delighted in signalling to each other when the sharks came into view.
I tried to block out the Jaws music that filled my head. Hand-feeding the fish with squid and smaller fish was another highlight. When it was finally time to come up for air, the girls had enormous grins from ear to ear. I was just relieved it was all over.
For more info on the Junior Shark encounter visit Deep Sea World North Queensferry, Fife
This article first appeared in Scotsman Magazine 02/06/2012
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