About Who's Been Here Photos Dive Log Revisions Under the Sea - Denver Downtown Aquarium 700 Water Street, Denver, CO 80211 (303) 561-4450 | More Info Max Depth: 16-20ft/5-6m Average Viz: 51-60ft/16-18m Entry Type: Shore Bottom Composition: Sand Aquatic Life: Big Animals Rating: 3.83 by 6 divers Spring: 71-75°F/22-24°C Summer: 71-75°F/22-24°C Fall: 71-75°F/22-24°C Winter: 71-75°F/22-24°C View All 6 Members View All 6 Photos BruceWestEndRoatan: Avg Viz: 31-35ft/9-11m. Water Temp: 71-75°F/22-24°C. 6/03/2017 VladMTL: Avg Viz: 31-35ft/9-11m. Water Temp: 71-75°F/22-24°C. 8/22/2015 5/15/2013 2:18 PM dontdiveenuf

Under the Sea - Denver Downtown Aquarium is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located at 700 Water Street, Denver, CO 80211. This dive site has an average rating of 3.83 out of 5 from 6 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 16-20ft/5-6m. The average visibility is 51-60ft/16-18m. This dive site provides bathrooms and airfills.

The "Under the Sea" exhibit at the Denver Aquarium is available for ’public’ diving thru special arrangement with A1 Scuba, a local dive shop (http://www.a1scuba.com/). Sign up with them for a snorkeling or scuba adventure, and they’ll provide all of the gear. In fact, for the health and safety of the animals, they’ll insist you use their equipment. The only exception is if you wear prescription lenses in your mask; you can contact them about using your own u/w camera, but usually they want you to buy a disposable.

It’s a shallow dive, but there’s a wide variety of marine life: turtles, nurse sharks, eels, rays, huge groupers and cods, Napolean Wrasse, and so on. Because there are divers in there almost every day, they’re all used to humans and many will investigate to see if you’ve got any food, especially the turtles.

Comments

ClimbrJohn - 9/01/2020 6:45 PM Rating Added: 5 ’Swim w/the Sharks’ was great!

Nitediver - 7/27/2019 6:50 PM Rating Added: 4 Nice easy dive great staff. Dive with the mermaids.

BruceWestEndRoatan - 8/17/2017 10:55 PM I went scuba diving here on 6/3/2017. Average viz: 31-35ft/9-11m. Water temp: 71-75°F/22-24°C. Best part of the dive was messing with the people on the otherside of the glass.

VladMTL - 7/04/2016 7:45 PM I went scuba diving here on 8/22/2015. Average viz: 31-35ft/9-11m. Water temp: 71-75°F/22-24°C.

ocean_lover - 1/09/2014 6:37 PM Does PADI dive at all in the Denver Aquarium? dontdiveenuf - 1/10/2014 6:48 AM A1 Scuba is a PADI school, if that’s what you mean. They’re the only one’s who have an arrangement with the Aquarium to dive students in the tanks. All other schools have to use near-by reservoirs or other venues for their Open Water classes.

bhauff - 9/05/2013 4:28 PM Rating Added: 4 The Aquarium and A1 Scuba do a fantastic job with top rate service. There is a nice locker room for showering and changing. You will enter the aquarium in a full wetsuit, hood, and your mask with an intercom attached. The crew will then put your fins and bc on for you while you sit on the entry ledge. They do a quick weight check while holding on to your tank, and then a quick skills test. After that it was 40 minutes of great fun diving the aquarium. There are angel fish, yellowfin tuna, potato cod, tarpon, red drum, giant eels, stingrays, manta rays, nurse sharks, a giant queensland grouper, a 75 year old green sea turtle, and much more. The only drawbacks to the dive were the size of the aquarium, and due to that some crowding. The aquarium has two "mermaids" that perform a show every 20-30 minutes. Two different shows went on while we were diving. When the mermaids are in the tank the divers are expected to stay out of the way. There were also some snorkelers on top of the aquarium. Between 7-8 divers (5 guests, 3 crew), the mermaids, and the snorkelers it was pretty packed. It really was a great dive though, and I would definitely do it again.

dontdiveenuf - 6/14/2013 1:05 PM A1 Scuba also occasionally uses this exhibit for Open Water certification dives, as long as there’s only a couple of divers being certified.

dontdiveenuf - 5/17/2013 9:56 AM Rating Added: 4 As a volunteer diver helping the aquarium maintain the exhibits, I get to feed the various rays, eels, and turtles that live here. The only keeping it from being a 5-star site (for me) is that I’d like it to be larger! :-)

dontdiveenuf - 5/14/2013 2:58 PM Rating Added: 4 This is the Dining Room exhibit at the Denver Downtown Aquarium. It features large schools of fish, as well as a couple of morays, a potato cod, and a nurse shark, as well as large acrylic windows that look onto the aquarium’s restaurant. Diving is restricted to those who are employees or volunteers that have qualified with a Rescue Diver certification as well as training (swim and scuba skills, plus how to set up/break-down the equipment, orientation to animal behavior, etc.). Activities include siphoning the bottom, scrubbing the fake rock and corals and windows, and occasionally feeding the beasties, as well as waving hello to the diners.