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Father James and two parishioners swam with sharks on 4TH DECEMBER 2009 raising funds for St Peter’s Church, Didcot & the St Peter’s Youth Fund.
To follow up his 13,000 feet parachute jump, Father James Baker of St Peter's Church dived into a shark infested pool whilst still dressed in his dog collar. Father James said: ''I'm not scared of doing these events - far from it. These are incredible experiences and I would recommend them to anyone else.'' He braved 12ft sand tiger sharks, nurse sharks and giant stingrays at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire with two of his parishioners. Proudly wearing his dog collar over his wetsuit, the fearless priest spent thirty minutes swimming around the centre's shark-infested Caribbean Reef to raise over £1000. "When you're down there you do feel quite relaxed. By the time you get to the edge of the tank you're ready to go in after the safety briefing. I think adrenaline takes over and you just want to go in and do it." "It was an amazing experience watching them swimming around your head. They're up to about 12ft, the bigger ones. "We were joking about Jaws beforehand, but when you're in there it feels unusual with breathing through the oxygen mask, we were focusing on that and focusing on what the sharks were doing as well. "There was a time where a shark was coming straight towards me, I wouldn't say I was scared - just slightly worried. "We're talking about going Zorbing in the next couple of months where you just climb in a giant ball and they roll them down from the top of the hill. We are looking forward to doing it in the summer. It just looks quite fun." Blue Planet Aquarium's Paul Renolds said, "Diving with sharks is becoming an increasingly popular way for people to raise money for charities. "As far as I'm aware Father James is the first member of the clergy to actually dive in a dog collar and it certainly proved to be popular with our visitors."
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