The Bear Grylls Adventure Hits Diver Milestone

The Bear Grylls Adventure, located at The NEC in Birmingham, has today announced that it has officially taken 10,000 guests on their first dive experience in their custom oceanarium. The attraction’s Shark Dive experience gives plucky adventurers the chance to experience SCUBA diving amongst the creatures that call the centre home, and the team can now celebrate that they’ve shared this experience with a milestone amount of guests.

Those who dive at The Bear Grylls Adventure will start their certified diving journey with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, earning their PADI Discover Scuba Diving certificate. The Bear Grylls Adventure has now officially registered 10,000 adventurers for their PADI Discover Scuba Diving  certification, meaning that the attraction has been the first experience of SCUBA for an incredible amount of novice divers. With a message that adventure is for everyone, The Bear Grylls Adventure welcomes divers of all experience levels, and is thrilled that it has introduced thousands of guests to their incredible underwater world.

The Bear Grylls Adventure is home to around 1,000 creatures, including Black Tip Reef sharks, Nurse Sharks and Cow Nose Rays. Throughout lockdown, the creatures have been monitored daily by the animal welfare team, who have provided their individual food requirements and carefully monitored the water quality in order to keep them fit and healthy while the attraction has been closed. With The Bear Grylls Adventure preparing to reopen, the team are now taking steps in readiness to reintroduce the creatures to a busier schedule of guests.

Since their opening in 2018, The Bear Grylls Adventure has worked with The Shark Trust, the leading UK-based shark conservation charity, to raise awareness and contribute to the urgent conservation of global shark populations. A percentage of each Shark Dive ticket sold at the attraction goes towards the work done by The Shark Trust, at a total of almost £15,000 since September 2018. Everyone that dives with sharks at The Bear Grylls Adventure makes a financial contribution to the Shark Trust as part of their ticket purchase, allowing the team to educate guests and support further projects with The Shark Trust.

Paul Cox, Managing Director of The Shark Trust, said

“We know from visitor research at The Bear Grylls Adventure that participants come out of the Shark Dive experience with a renewed appreciation of sharks, and a desire to learn more and get involved with their vital conservation…”

Just some of the ways that The Shark Trust drives for positive change are:

• The Great Eggcase Hunt: Encouraging beachgoers young and old to find, identify and record shark and skate eggcases that are washed up on the UK’s beaches.
• No Limits?: Supporting vital global advocacy campaigns targeted at ending the overfishing of sharks through the adoption of science-based catch limits.
• Angel Shark Conservation: Leading an international collaborative action plan for the conservation of some of the world’s most endangered sharks.
• Fisheries Advice: Distributing hundreds of advisory packs in multiple languages to support the fishing industry in meeting legal commitments and providing valuable species-specific data to aid conservation.
• Basking Sharks: Collecting and sharing annual sightings of UK Basking Sharks and promoting a code of conduct to ensure safe and responsible ecotourism

Bear Grylls said

“We are so proud to partner with the Shark Trust, to highlight the importance of shark conservation, to further education and to allow our visitors to really engage and understand these majestic creatures.”

With over 10,000 dives now under their belt, The Bear Grylls Adventure team are keen and excited to reach their next milestone, and continue raising awareness and donations for The Shark Trust.

To book your visit to The Bear Grylls Adventure, visit www.beargryllsadventure.com

To find out more about The Shark Trust, visit www.sharktrust.org