Scuba-diving Santa spruces up his shark tank at Blue Planet Aquarium

From Ellesmere Point Pioneer: Scuba-diving Santa spruces up his shark tank at Blue Planet Aquarium
BLUE Planet Aquarium’s subaquatic Santa has spruced up his shark tank with some handmade Christmas decorations.

Staff have created a ‘coral wreath’ – made from a child’s hula-hoop covered in artificial coral – after spotting a similar design at an American zoo.

The wreath is suspended by the aquatheatre window and will form part of regular scuba-diving Santa shows in the run-up to Christmas.

Andy Hygate of Blue Planet said: “Decorations have gone up throughout the aquarium, but until now we haven’t had anything particularly festive in the displays themselves.

“The coral wreath is a great idea and it’s not only proving popular with visitors – it’s also causing quite a lot of interest among the fishy residents of our Caribbean Reef display who come up to investigate this new addition to their home.

“Having Santa Claus himself put it in place underwater was great and it will now be a feature in all our festive-themed dive shows.”

The fearless Father Christmas will brave shark-infested waters to deliver presents to a team of divers – and hand out treats to the tank’s fishy tenants.

He will take the plunge every weekend in the lead-up to Christmas during the aquarium’s regular dive shows and will dive daily from December 19-24.