Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – The Guadalajara Zoo has a special surprise for children visiting this week. Santa Claus, better known as “Aqua Claus” here, is making a special holiday appearance at the aquarium.
During the Christmas season, Miguel Villanueva, a marine biologist and one of three underwater Santas at the zoo, puts on the full Santa costume, including the traditional red suit with white trim and a white beard and wig, before putting on his diving gear.
He then jumps into the cold tank amid the fish, an underwater Christmas tree, chimney and presents. He waves, does flips and entertains, in a special show to celebrate the season.
Seeing this unusual scene, children and adults approached the glass of the water tank to take pictures with Santa Claus. Swimming amid algae, stones and fish, the jolly old Christmas elf sparks laughter, surprise and a whole assortment of emotions among the kids watching him.
Villanueva says he has been doing special underwater shows for four years, but this character is the one that most surprises children, due to the peculiarity of seeing Santa Claus swimming and doing pirouettes inside a tank filled with fish.
“It is something that is not very common and it is nice to see smiles on the faces of the children, how they get excited, it takes a bit of work to do the show underwater because it is not our environment, it is more difficult to move in addition to the fact that when the suit gets wet it gets heavy, [weighing] like five kilos, but doing this show gives me great satisfaction,” he said.
The magic of the aquatic Santa will remain in the aquarium until December 26.