One day my nine year old son came home from school and was ecstatic when I asked how his day went. He proceeded to tell me how they were studying sharks in school. This really surprised me as my son is not too fond of school and rarely shares his day with me when asked. I was very shocked to see him so excited about something. When I told my husband that night he suggested we take him to see some sharks.
The next morning before the kids were awake I decided to do some research on sharks and where you can interact with them. There was nothing near us but fortunately since we live in North Carolina we are relatively close to the Atlantic Ocean. My husband and I decided we would take the kids to Myrtle Beach where there were shark sightseeing tours and an aquarium that had many types of sharks. We packed the kids up for the weekend and my nine year old was so excited he was going to see an actual live shark.
It was also a good learning experience for my younger kids as well. When we arrived in South Carolina and headed to the marina where I had made reservations to go on a shark sightseeing tour. The guides were great and knew so much about the types of sharks and their daily patterns. We were able to see a few sharks and they even cooked us a lunch which included shark on the menu. The next day we got to visit the aquarium and get really close to some of the sharks. My son was thrilled to a see a hammerhead shark as that was his favorite he has studied in school. We had a fun and educational vacation and felt we had given the kids something to take away from the beach besides just sand.