Volunteer Dive Program

Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
Fancy yourself a fish? If you’re looking for a volunteer opportunity that will allow you to get more than just your feet wet, consider joining the New York Aquarium’s volunteer dive team.

The experienced scuba divers that make up the aquarium’s 50-person dive team are trained to do a range of tasks, including cleaning and maintaining the underwater exhibits and teaching visitors about our animals and their habitats. Volunteers become underwater docents, answering questions from inside the tanks through a communication device fitted into a mask. Outside the water, divers interact with visitors about the Aquarium and its collection.

The team dives year-round in all exhibits. A surface support person ensures the divers’ safety. The dive team is headed by two dive safety officers and experienced dive team leaders.

General Requirements
  • Interested divers must be able to commit to working one full day, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., every other week for the span of a year.
  • Volunteers must be at least 21 years of age.
  • Volunteers must be certified SCUBA divers, with a minimum of 25 logged dives, which includes at least 5 made in the past year. If a certified diver has less than 25 logged dives, he or she can still become a Volunteer Dive Team intern. Interns are certified divers who have logged fewer than 25 dives, but at least  5 dives within the past year. Interns receive on-the-job training to become full-fledged members of the dive team.

Orientation
All applicants must attend an orientation session. These meetings take only about an hour, followed by a tour of the facility. Orientation dates include:

•    Third Saturday of Jan., Mar., May, July, Sept., & Nov.
•    Fourth Sunday of Feb., Apr., June, Aug., & Oct.
•    Third Sunday of Dec.

Please email rwilliams@wcs.org to schedule your session at least one week in advance of the date you wish to attend, as occupancy is strictly limited.

Document Requirements
No diver can be accepted for consideration until he/she has submitted all of the following documents.

  • Volunteer Diver Applicant Personal Information form
  • Volunteer Diver Medical form
  • Volunteer Diver Informed Consent, Waiver and Release form
  • Volunteer Dive Agreement form
  • Photocopy of highest level Dive Certification card
  • Photocopy of last 25 dive log pages or all pages of Intern applicant divers

Forms
Volunteer Diver Release for Aquarium
Volunteer Diver Agreement
Volunteer Diver Medical Information
Volunteer Diver Personal Information

Please Note: This opportunity is NOT a “Swim with the Dolphins” or “Swim with the Sharks” program.