Shark Snorkelling with Boots Opticians at the London Aquarium

I've found myself in some surreal places with the blog at times, but I think a brand literally throwing me to the sharks was a bit unexpected!



Let me explain.  As a long-time contact lens and glasses wearer, I find swimming on holiday rather troublesome, do I swim without my glasses and not be able to see anything?  Or do I chance swimming in my contact lenses and risk losing one, or worse, catching an infection?  (some waterborne parasites are not something you want in your eyes, believe me).  Boots Opticians carried out some research recently and discovered that glasses-wearers were less likely to take part in water sports than non-glasses wearers, for some reason (like, not being able to see, I imagine), and to publicise their prescription swimming goggles and diving mask service they made me a prescription diving mask and challenged me to go swimming with the sharks at London Aquarium recently.

So I did.  And I loved it. I picked out the rather fetching clear mask you can see above - which cost £80 with the prescription lenses - much cheaper than I was expecting! - and took to the aquarium to seal my fishy fate.  One note though, my mask took much longer to make than I was expecting (almost a month - they needed a special glazier because of my prescription) so make sure you order your mask in good time for your holiday, give them at least three weeks or so.  My mask was comfortable, and gave me a really excellent view of the sharks!  I tell you, you haven't lived until you've stared a brown shark (so close I could have tickled its nose) in the eye .... here's some pictures of my day:

We started with a backstage tour of the aquarium:

Sadly, this wasn't actually the penguin's chillout lounge, just the airconditioning for their pen. Bah.

 Seahorses!  I'd never seen one in the flesh!

Jellyfish.  This would make the most hypnotic screensaver ever.  You know they have to put jellyfish in a round container because jellyfish can't actually swim?  If they were in a square tank, you'd just end up with a jellyfish jam in the corner.

Lobster cast, they even cast off their eyeball covers.  Weird.  And hey, cool nail varnish (look, this is beauty blog ...)

After the backstage tour, it was time for the shark tank:

The shark tank is the main tank at the aquarium - you can see parts of it on every floor from different angles, you snorkel very near to the main entrance though, so the back of the tank.  And the only thing protecting you from the sharks is the green mesh you see there!

Literally the only picture of me you'll ever see in a swimsuit on here ... 

The mask fit well, and didn't steam up, and the joy of having crystal clear vision under water was fabulous.  I'm going to get me some prescription goggles to go with the mask so I can enjoy this next time I go on holiday.

In the meantime though, here's some fish pics:

Any Boots optician will offer the prescription goggles and diving masks, all you need is an up-to-date prescription and they'll order them for you.  It should take just over a week to get your mask, and prices start from £80.

Oh, and if you want to snorkel with the sharks, you can find out more about it here.
 


The Fine Print: mask was a PR sample, and Get Lippie was a guest of Boots at London Aquarium

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