Santa Claus joins sharks for holiday swim at Rio de Janeiro aquarium

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(21 Dec 2024)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 21 December 2024
1. Various of Felippe Luna, senior animal handler at AquaRio, dressing up as Santa and putting on diving gear
2. Luna in the water tank, putting his diving goggles
3. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Felippe Luna, senior animal handler at AquaRio:
“For the kids, seeing Santa Claus underwater is already incredible. And Santa feeding a shark by hand? That stays unforgettable for the children.”
4. Various of Luna dressed as Santa interacting with visitors
5. Ana Paula Vidal and her son Leonardo Vidal interacting with Santa
6. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Ana Paula Vidal, visitor:
“My husband and I had already been to the aquarium, and now we brought the boys. It was incredible, they are loving it, right, son? How was seeing Santa Claus? Cool, wasn’t it?”
7. Pan from diver dressed as Santa to shark
8. Shark being fed by diver dressed as Santa
9. Shark swimming over tunnel
10. Diver dressed as Santa swimming over tunnel
11. Nine-year-old Guilherme Martins interacting with diver dressed as Santa
12. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Guilherme Martins Matos, 9, visitor:
“I’m very happy because when I go to the mall and see Santa Claus, it’s cool. Imagine him underwater feeding the fish? It’s even cooler.”
13. Visitors inviewing tunnel
14. Diver dressed as Santa waving at visitors


STORYLINE:
Santa Claus has arrived in Rio de Janeiro — underwater.

Starting on Saturday, he’ll be spotted at AquaRio Marine Aquarium swimming with sharks during their daily fish feeding sessions as part of the city’s Christmas festivities.

Nine-year-old Guilherme Martins Matos said he’d seen Santa — or at least an impersonator — at the mall. That was cool, he said, but this was better.

“Imagine him underwater feeding the fish? It’s even cooler,” Guilherme told The Associated Press.

This version of Santa Claus is Felippe Luna, 39, a senior animal handler at AquaRio.

What began as a joke among staff has become an annual tradition.

Dressed as Santa, Luna dives into the aquarium’s 924,602-gallon tank to feed marine animals, including sharks.

“For the kids, seeing Santa Claus underwater is already incredible. And Santa feeding a shark by hand? That’s unforgettable,” Luna said.

The Santa Claus dive runs daily at AquaRio through December 25 at 1:30 p.m.

AP video by Lucas Dumphreys

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