As if crossing the globe delivering gifts in a sleigh weren't enough of a feat, Santa Claus also makes like Jacques Cousteau every year, heading south from his North Pole headquarters to cavort in a shark tank in Kentucky.
From Nov. 23 to Jan. 1, families can delight to an unlikely sight: Kris Kringle, complete with his red suit and white beard, performing a dive show in a 385,000-gallon exhibit with underwater wildlife at the Newport Aquarium's Santa's Water Wonderland. After a brief cartoon explains why on earth — or under the waves — Scuba Santa has been entertaining families here for the past five years, it's all live action as the man himself suddenly appears, 10 feet underwater.
As kids hold a Q&A session with St. Nick (he's able to answer through the magic of a special scuba microphone), a swirl of colorful schooling fish, honeycomb whiptail rays and 20 or so sharks swim nearby, not to mention Sweet Pea, one of the only shark rays on display in the world.
Of course, entertaining onlookers, frolicking with fish and answering questions is a lot of work, so Santa has help. An elf named Snowflake, dressed in a red-and-green costume over a dive suit, makes the trip to help with the duties, and ensures that interplay between the big guy and the wildlife — such as Denver, a 200-pound loggerhead turtle, trying to tug Santa's red cap off his white curls — is just friendly holiday high jinx.