NOT ENDORSED BY AUTS. JUST VERY FUNNY! ;a class="video" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AA42hW4nHbg"

If you think that meeting a great white is bad while scuba diving, then you think twice… specially if you go SCUBA DIVING in Florida… because … well, you never know what kind of Gator you will find.

Hello new marine life! hello PADI Gator Specialty.

This is from TheLivingSea.com. (check it out cool site)

As I cruised along the sand, from the hazy distance I could see a dark shadow,” Ruda writes. “Not being able to discern its shape too well, I thought to myself, ‘Holy cow! That’s a huge stingray.’”

Ruda said when he got closer, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“This creature was so out of place that I thought it was nothing more than a well-planned out hoax by my good friends,” he said. I took a photo from a distance in case it wasn't a hoax so I would have some kind of proof. As I approached closer I looked carefully at its mouth for the tell-tale sign of what I thought it was -- a salt water crocodile (in 60 feet of water!). But I could tell it wasn't a crocodile. It was, in fact, a 5 - 6 foot American alligator. Its eyes were closed and it did not move so I was almost certain this was one heck of a joke my friends were playing on me. I mean, no one can expect to see an alligator miles out in the ocean. So I approached within inches of it to get some pictures you know to play along with the joke. But suddenly its eyes opened and it moved its legs. Oh my goodness!! I could not believe this gator was the REAL thing.

FUN FACTS & SCUBA TRIVIA

(click on the stick scubaman above)

<>THOUGH Cousteau is given credit for the invention of SCUBA, Leonardo da Vinci had drawn up plans for a leather scuba suit about 300 years earlier.

<>EVER wonder why everything appears blue in underwater pictures and movies? The water above divers filters all the red and yellow light, making everything appear to have a blue hue. *Diving with an artificial light source will allow you to see true color under water.

<>IF you decide you really like to dive, it is possible to get married underwater!

<>HUMANS kill close to 100 million sharks per year, while the number of shark attacks of humans resulting in death is only 8-12 per year.

<>THE world record for longest dive is 69 days and 19 minutes and is held by Richard Presley. He completed this dive in 1992 in an deep-water module at Key Largo, Florida.

<>OVER 90% of all volcanic activity happens in the ocean!

<>SCIENTIST estimate that up to 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface.

<>THE largest living organism on earth is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It has a larger surface area than all of England!

<>THE Blue Whale is the largest known animal on the planet, with a heart the size of a small car.

<>FISH can change sex during their lives, and some even have both male and female sex organs. Intrigued? Come explore the ocean with us to see for yourself, and bring a friend!