This Older Couple Dove Into a Shark Tank — For Fun

George Babiak, 69, a design professional, and his wife, Vanessa Valdes, 67, a physical therapist and acupuncturist, served as volunteer aquarium divers at the New York Aquarium until mid-2025, when they retired and moved from New York City to Calgary, Canada. Here’s their story in their own words.

George Babiak: The shark tank at the New York Aquarium looks like an IMAX movie screen — big and curved. It’s this huge picture window.

Vanessa Valdes: When you clean that tank, one person is the working diver. Then you have a second diver who is the spotter, making sure everybody’s still pretty chill.

George: Naturally, when one enters a tank with sharks, it gives one pause. But we were scuba divers for many years before we became diving volunteers. We dove all over the world. As a diver, you learn how wild animals behave and how to avoid provoking them.

Vanessa: I’m not saying it’s scary, but you have to be in the moment and aware of everything.

George: The enemy is algae. It’s constantly growing. So you go down to scrub structures for two to three hours at a time.

Vanessa: For many years after we got married, George and I would travel to Cozumel, Mexico, for diving. But it was expensive. In 2007 we went to a trade show for scuba divers and saw a booth for the aquarium’s dive team in Coney Island. We thought, Wow, this sounds really cool. It was a way to dive locally …

George: … for free.

Vanessa: It sort of changed our lives. George and I went through a lot of training at the aquarium. On the diving team, age means nothing. What matters is your experience.

George: It taught us how to be extremely comfortable in the water and with the different animals. Male sea lions, for example, are big and aggressive. They don’t like people in the tank with them.

For years Babiak and Valdes would go to Cozumel, Mexico, to scuba dive, but it was expensive. Volunteering at the New York Aquarium was a way to dive locally, for free.

Courtesy George Babiak

Vanessa: But the penguins are fun. You’ll be working and you’ll see these things zipping by you underwater. Volunteers also do a lot of waving at children, and I personally was involved in three marriage proposals. When you see the person who’s proposing, you pull out this laminated “Will You Marry Me?” sign — which was hidden under a conch shell—and put it up against the window. Thank God the other person always said yes.

George: Every animal has its own distinct personality …

Vanessa: Some are shy, some are inquisitive …

George: And when you spend time with them, you realize that we’re like them. People tend to think, Well, those are animals, and we’re human. But we are all creatures of nature.