Swimming With Sharks

The new Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J., is aptly named: its visitors are offered the opportunity to get in the water with sharks.

And The Early Show resident veterinarian Dr. Debbye Turner

"Sharks are very, very unique animals," says Greg Charbeneau, the aquarium's executive director. "They're living dinosaurs. They've been around for a long, long time, and they're fascinating creatures.

"Our 'Swim With the Sharks' program is pretty unique. The way we designed our program is to allow visitors to get right there next to the sharks, if the sharks chose to swim near you. So really, there's nothing between you and the sharks. If they wanted to they could get right there with you."

The two-hour program starts with some classroom instruction. Turner says, "Though we're told it's safe, we're also told we must sign waivers, just in case!"

Then, it's time to get into the 72-degree water. The 550,000-gallon tank has a shallow shelf built along its perimeter. A low wall separates swimmers from the sharks. But, Turner notes, "There are several cutouts in the wall big enough for a shark to get at us if he wanted to.

"These guys aren't small. The largest weighs 700 pounds. And everyone in my group agreed that seeing them up close, with nothing separating you from them, is a bit frightening."

Kristina Lindsay was among the swimmers. "They're much bigger than you expect them to be," she says. "In person, up close. I mean, when you see them behind the glass. But when it's within six feet of you, that's a completely different thing. It's kind of scary."

"Believe it or not," Charbeneau says, "we regulate the diets of our sharks. We only feed them three times a week, and we feed them about 5 percent of their body weight each time we feed them. We don't want them to become to heavy or too thin."

"For much our time in the water," Turner admits, "my group held hands to make sure we didn't drift into the tank, and we squeezed tightly when a shark swarm right at us.

"When it was over, we felt a sense of exhilaration and, I have to be honest, a little bit of relief."