Diving the Mall of America! (MOA)

[Chadwick]

There were three guides in the shark tank with us.
They had shark sticks which were little more then a 5 foot length of 1" PVC with black tape every 6 inches. They held them out in front of the sharks and waved them around in front of the sharks if they got too close. Apparently sharks have very poor eyesight, and the movement and contrasting colors catch their attention.
They did ocassionally rap a shark on the nose to get its attention. I've read sharks noses are very sensitive.
How they kept them away? They pretty much always kept on the shark side of us as we moved from station to station. Then they formed a half circle in front of us and kept sharks from getting past them into our zone.
It was very impressive to watch them in action, especially at station #2 where the middle guard was very busy and kept zipping back and forth to keep em out. hehe. I stopped and just sat there and watched them at work for a few minutes. It was very cool.
Oh, I forgot to mention, my favorite part of both dives was interacting with the kids in the tunnels watching us. Sticking out your tongue at them and making faces, even taking pictures of them. I hope those turn out, Jean. hehe. The look of excitement in their eyes is priceless.