When Ben Kappel, now the assistant manager of dive immersion programming, started working at the Georgia Aquarium as an intern almost 10 years ago, he saw Scuba Claus for the first time. There was something magical about Santa underwater, with his jolly red neoprene suit, white beard billowing in scuba bubbles and manta-ray “reindeer” soaring through the salt water of the aquarium’s Ocean Voyager exhibit.
The sight captured Kappel’s imagination, and a dream was born.
“It (becoming Scuba Claus) was really the only goal I had working here for a year. I saw the outfit up there and I said, ‘I have to do that. I have to do that’ … I fit the role sure enough,” Kappel said, laughing and pointing to his own brown beard.
In 2017, Kappel’s Christmas wish came true. He was recruited by the aquarium’s digital marketing team to do an underwater photo shoot as Scuba Claus.
He peeled up the red Santa suit, put on his Santa coat and hat, layered his brown beard with a white one, secured a scuba regulator in his mouth and descended into the deep. Kappel has been playing Scuba Claus almost every year since.
He’s not the only one. A team of volunteers and staff members sign up for slots to play Scuba Claus each year. It is a coveted role.
“Who doesn’t want to be Santa, right? We get to all chip in and do a little holiday cheer,” Kappel said. “There’s an army of folks that volunteer their time with us that really help make it happen for everybody.”
A whimsical elf usually dives with Santa, too. Together, alongside the aquarium’s two whale sharks, manta rays, squadrons of stingrays, a goliath grouper and more than 50 species of fish, Santa and his elf swim around Ocean Voyager, a 100-foot acrylic tunnel filled with more than 6.3 million gallons of water. The exhibit is one of the world’s largest, neck-and-neck with aquariums in China, Singapore, Japan and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Credit: Georgia Aquarium
Credit: Georgia Aquarium
If he has to name Santa’s favorite aquatic species, Kappel said it’s probably the manta rays.
“My heart goes to the whale sharks, of course. But in terms of Santa, I have to think he has an affinity for the manta rays. They like to fly through the sky kind of like he does,” Kappel said. “The mantas in Ocean Voyager, they like to do a following behavior. They kind of map themselves out, kind of like the reindeer and the sleigh.”
So is there a Ruldolph?
“Tallulah, our largest manta ray, has got to be the leader of the pack,” Kappel said of the aquarium’s resident manta ray, who has a 16-foot wingspan.
For snow, Kappel uses bubbles.
“(I like to) blow air against the window and watch it disperse against the acrylic. It kind of looks like snowflakes and adds that fun and a little pizzazz,” he said.
The joy Scuba Claus brings kids, however, is by far Kappel’s favorite part.
“The kids are just over the moon excited to see him (Scuba Claus) down there,” Kappel said. “Sometimes, when I’m diving down there just as me with my own ugly mug, sometimes the kids will cry. But when Scuba Claus is down there, everyone’s waving and having a great time.”
IF YOU GO
Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium can visit Scuba Claus from noon to 1 p.m. in the Ocean Voyager exhibit on select days starting in December. A traditional dry Santa will also be available to take photos with kids from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on select days from now until Jan. 2. For adults, the aquarium will have live holiday music performed by students from Georgia State University School of Music from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
For more information about the aquarium’s holiday offerings, visit georgiaaquarium.org/holidays-at-georgia-aquarium.
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