'Shark Survival' experience more fascinating than frightening

Herald reporter Julie Middleton (left) and instructor Jen Blewett dive among the sharks at Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland. Picture / Paul Estcourt

I am a clumsy human in a wetsuit. The broadnose sevengill shark sailing straight towards me is 3m long, weighs 50kg, and has 34 efficient teeth. It can see me (in full colour), smell me, hear me, sense the electrical impulses powering my heart - and hasn't been fed for two days.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem much interested. It sails past above my head, close enough to touch, its brown back with scattered black and white spots, its belly a creamy white.

It flicks an eye towards me. It is beautiful. Only after do I wonder what would happen if it took a nibble.

I'm in a 3.3m-deep tank at Kelly Tarlton's, which has housed sharks for 20 years. Since July, it has let qualified divers into the tank, and last month, opened the experience to non-divers, who get lessons before going eye-to-eye with one of the sea's most feared creatures.

It isn't cold - the water is 19C and my wetsuit is extremely thick.

There are nine sharks in this 10m by 40m tank. The carpet shark, so-called because its brown, yellow and grey camouflage looks like a bad-taste paisley carpet, lies still in a corner. But appearances are deceptive: she's an ambush predator, waiting for food to come to her.

One golden-hued bronze whaler, the supermodel of the shark world, circles the tank. Following are seven broadnose sevengills, whose receding lower jaws make them look like they've forgotten their dentures.

But I am of no interest; they are used to seeing staff in the water. And with their snouts shut, they seem like ... well, big fish rather than potential killers.

The 20-minute experience is less frightening than fascinating. The way diving forces you to move slowly and breathe deeply seems to curb nerves. And I trust Jen Blewett, my guide: she's in charge, and doesn't seem to have any need for her just-in-case "shark stick".

No one, says curator Andrew Christie, has ever been bitten by a resident shark. And staff did their homework before launching "Shark Survival". It's safe, but divers still sign an indemnity form that essentially says 'enter at your own risk'.

Kelly Tarlton's wants to demystify sharks. Mr Christie says that there are, on average, only four fatalities worldwide every year - "you're more likely to die travelling home in the car".