Aquarium experience packages

The zoo guidance on scoping an encounter applies here in full and is not repeated: named species, what actually happens, duration, group size, the booking window and an agreed substitute. See scoping an encounter.

What an in-water item adds is a set of requirements that decide whether the winner can use it at all — and those have to be on the item page, before the bid, not discovered afterwards.

Certification and medical requirements

• The certification level required, named specifically, and whether it must be current
• Logged-dive minimums, where your dive operations set one
• A medical questionnaire or physician sign-off, and by when
• Age minimums, which differ between a dive, a snorkel and a touch experience
• Whether the winner may transfer the item to a qualified friend if they do not qualify

That last point prevents the worst outcome: a bidder wins a dive, discovers they cannot meet the requirement, and the organization has taken money for something undeliverable. Say up front whether it is transferable and to whom.

State what the winner actually does

In-water descriptions drift the same way encounter descriptions do. "Dive with sharks" and "dive in the exhibit where sharks are present, with two safety divers and a defined route" are the same activity described to two different expectations, and only one of them is accurate.

Say who accompanies, whether the winner handles anything, whether they may take a camera, and what they will actually be doing — cleaning acrylic alongside a diver is a real and popular experience, and it should not be sold as something else.

Capacity is the real limit

Dive operations run a schedule for exhibit maintenance and animal care, and guest dives sit on top of it. Agree a number for the whole auction and do not exceed it, even if the bidding suggests you could sell more.

An auction that overcommits dive staff raises more this year and loses the internal goodwill that makes the item possible next year — the same trade a zoo faces with keeper time, and the same answer.

What closes an area at no notice

• A life-support or water-chemistry problem
• A quarantine, an incoming animal, or a health event
• A stranding or rescue response pulling the team away
• Scheduled maintenance moved forward

All of these are normal and none are the winner's fault. Agree the substitute in the husbandry meeting, put it on the item page, and give the dive team a way to postpone without a negotiation.

Non-diver versions, which broaden the catalogue

Certification limits your audience to certified divers, which is a small slice of your membership. Offer a parallel item that anyone can win — a surface feed with the dive team, a touch-pool session, a back-of-house walk, an early-morning gallery opening — so the strongest category is not closed to most of your supporters.

The wider catalogue: item ideas that actually sell.