Diver Ed’s Dive-In Theater

Recommended without reservations. Our family with two boys, five and two, were completely engaged for the whole trip. The parents loved it as well, fun and lots of learning for all ages.

This is a naturalist boating experience geared towards children. But don’t mistake that it means no knowledge or neat things happen, it’s just wrapped in a boisterous, yes everyone needs to touch this stuff experience.
Just remember a sea star can also be a hat

Just amazing! Diver Ed is hilarious and the sea life is fascinating! My kids loved the show and it was fun for us adults too!

A must go if you have kids. Actually, there is a Ranger lead tour that’s probably good for adults as well. Captain Ed and his wife are great. He’s engaging, funny, and the trip is very educational, even for the adults.
He dives 70+ feet, had a camera where you are watching on a 80″ screen and he is taking to you. He then comes up and talks about what he brought up.
There is no need to go on the LuLu lobster boat AND Diver Ed’s and Ed’s is the better choice after we went on lulu first.
Captain Ed– one suggestion is don’t spend so much time talking about the costs of equipment, what broke, how often, etc…
Thanks for a great trip! My entire family loved it
Enjoy!

The other reviews you read here are spot on. Ed and Captain Evil do a great job doing what they love. It is entertaining for the entire family. Seeing the HD detail on the 70″ TV of the underwater creatures was spectacular. Great tour.

I don’t really know what’s left to say about the amazing Diver Ed and his Dive-​In Theater. We visited for our nephew’s 7^th birthday, and the show was everything Unilocal claimed. Once the boat left from College of the Atlantic and reached its destination, Ed dove down twice: once with just a mike, so he could talk to his wife, «Captain Evil», and collect specimens. The second time, Ed dove with an underwater camera, Nat-​Geo style, and taught the spectators while showing video on a large-​screen TV. Mini-​Ed, his playmobile friend, encountered lobster claws, sea-​cucumber inhalation, and other adventures on the ocean floor. After the dive ended, Ed peeled off the wetsuit and taught the class about each of his finds. At the end, kids could touch, hold, and play with his finds before they were returned to the ocean. Ed’s humor, personality, and enthusiasm through the show were outstanding, and the crew’s knowledge of their specimins was spot on– according to my brother-​in-​law, a marine biology professor.
To boot, Ed gave our nephew a shirt for his birthday.
It was a highlight for our trip to Bar Harbor, something we will always remember.

We recently spent a week in Bar Harbor with our entire family — 75-​year old parents, my two sisters, and all of our kids — aged 2 – 17. The Diver Ed cruise was easily near (or at) the top of the highlights for the trip. My wife and I were cracking up half the time, my 4-​year old was in heaven, and even my 2-​year old had a blast (especially once Diver Ed brought up the sea creatures for her to touch).
Diver Ed, Captain Evil & Fishy Face are doing a very special thing for kids and parents alike. It’s not easy to entertain and educate kids (and adults) but these folks are some of the best we’ve seen, and we’ve been fortunate to be able to bring our kids to a lot of shows, attractions, etc. Thanks Diver Ed & Crew for everything!

We went on a gray day when the weather wasn’t too conducive to hiking or biking in Acadia. We had a great time.
Diver Ed and his crew put on a fantastic show for us. Special hazardous duty pay goes to Mini-​Ed #154 for going where no sane diver would dare go on their own.
After leaving the pier we headed out past a few of the islands on our way to the dive spot. We saw eagles and various other birds. The on-​board ranger also helped point out interesting features about the geology of the islands and their wildlife and vegetation.
At the dive location, the show really began. Diver Ed dons his dry suit and encourages the kids to help push him overboard. He goes down with lights and camera and the whole thing is shown live on a huge 80″ flat screen at the front of the boat. The narration is very good. The adults were informed and we actually learned things. The kids were in stitches and they learned things too even if they didn’t realize it. After the dive the specimens collected were brought up for everyone to see in a touch-​tank environment before being released back to the wild.
We had a full boat, but the capacity and crowds were never a problem.
Definitely worth the price of admission. It’s a Must See if you’re in Bar Harbor with kids.

Just had our third time (in four years) out on Diver Ed’s boat. Clearly, Ed *loves* his job. His passion and enthusiasm for entertaining and educating kids makes the whole experience well worth it. He engages and includes every single kid. And the technological improvements over the years have been amazing (video).

This was definitely my 8 year old daughter’s favorite part of our trip to Acadia. At first I thought it was a little overpriced but after experiencing the trip, it was a phenomenal deal. Diver Ed and Captain Evil obviously love what they do and even adults had a great time. The equipment was top grade and the view from the ocean floor was extremely high quality when broadcast to the TV on board. Diver Ed made sure to include every child in the presentation/​show and he even put a crab on my head which my daughter thought was awesome. We will definitely do this again on our next trip to Bar Harbor.

Diver Ed and his wife, Captain Evil [Edna] are superb. Not only are you in for wonderful trip on a great boat, but they both used to be teachers and know how to engage an audience. Nice people, great experience for young and older alike.

I’ll keep my review short as there are a lot of positive reviews chock-​full of details. Bottom line: My 12 and 9 year olds girls had a wonderful time and my wife and I enjoyed the trip as well. A great mix of learning and fun. Definitely recommend Diver Ed and the Skeleton Crew.

I can’t say enough about how positive our experience was with Diver Ed and crew. I have a 6 year old and an almost 4 year old. This was, without question, the most fun experience they had on our trip to Acadia! It was so fun and educational too. I took some flak from my wife when I told her I’d made reservations, especially given the seemingly steep price. All was forgiven 30 minutes in– the kids were 100% engaged and having so much fun! Dr. Ed does 2 – 3 shows/​day, but he made us feel like the only audience he has all week. Exceptional!

Diver Ed and Captain Evil were fantastic as usual. You will never get tired of Ed and mini-Ed’s under sea adventure. The kids all love it and learn so much (even though they don’t realize it). Think of Ed as a cross between Jacque Cousteau and John Belusihi. A great adventure for kids of all ages. Always the highlight of our visit Bar Harbor.

If you are in the Bar Harbor area and you are looking for something to do with kids (and adults), Diver Ed’s Dive-​In Theater is a must. We took this tour thinking it was going to be an interesting tour where someone dives down and collects sea creatures and teaches those on board about some interesting facts. Well, all of that does occur, but this tour is so much more than just that. Ed and Edna truly love what they do and they provide a total entertainment experience for everyone on the boat– especially the kids. It is so great to find someone who has such a passion for what they do, combined with the flair and skill to present it in a way that is funny, captivating way. Their antics keep all the kids and the adults in constant laughter, but also allows for a great learning experience.
I don’t give a lot of five star reviews, but this is certainly deserves all 5. We would absolutely do this the next time we are back in the area.

Very good experience for children– not for adults though! We went out thinking maybe it would still be interesting, but it is extremely geared towards children, to the point where it just isn’t fun for anyone older — (i am 25, but very young at heart ;-) They do have a ranger trip that is supposedly more for adults, but the times didn’t work for us. Bring sweaters for sure. We saw seals which was amazing and the only reason we didn’t regret buying the tickets– its not cheap!

Diver Ed may just be the best activity for kids on Mount Desert Island if not all of Maine. Five stars are too few. The embarkation point is at the College of the Atlantic where you board the Starfish Enterprise — shouldn’t that be the Sea Star Enterprise, Driver Ed. Captain Evil, Diver Ed’s wife, pilots the boat with two deck hands, Silent something and Pink Berry and two giant black Newfoundlands (dogs). The deck hands may be their kids in disguise. Diver Ed and Captain Evil entertain the kids onboard with Looney Tune style antics. Evil is semi-​serious and I’m not sure why she is evil and Ed is manic. One of the dogs demonstrates how to use the life preservers. Diver Ed greets everyone on the boat after launch. Everyone gets duct tape name tags and repeat sailors get a different color sharpie. Ed and Evil demonstrate the equipment including the dry suite, which always seems to over inflate. In the water, Diver Ed and Mini Ed film the deep and collect sea creatures for show and share. Every voyage has brought several new underwater adventures. Diver Ed provides status updates and Mini Ed always seems to get in trouble. I know what you’re thinking, but this seems to be the lackluster oversight from his dive buddy rather than Captain Evil’s doing. Nope, still not sure why she’s evil. Mini Ed likes to play with lobsters and examine ominous holes. Evil provides narration to the undersea adventures. After surfacing, Diver Ed places all of the specimens in tanks and delivers a science lesson complete with sea stars piled onto of heads, squirting sea cucumbers, and snippy lobsters. All claws get rubber bands and everyone crowds around the touch tanks. At the end, you can be the proud owner of your very own Mini Ed or a DVD of past adventures. We got the DVD, and watched it, reminiscing about the fun we have every summer.

Diver Ed’s Dive In Theater was awesome! Diver Ed was hysterical and «Captain Evil» (sweet, not evil at all!) was witty and educational too. The tour was a blast and it was one of the major highlights of our trip through the Maine coast. Great for families –my 9 & 11 year old kids loved it, and my husband and I had a great time too!

If you are going to Bar Harbor, Maine, you HAVE to visit Diver’s Ed. This was one of the most memorable parts of our vacation this summer. The kids had a great time, and although they were unsure about holding the ocean creatures at the start of our trip, by the end, they were having a great time picking up things and touching them all. The boat ride was great, and the presentation was quite memorable. If we return to Maine, we will definately take this excursion again!

We went out on Diver Ed’s Dive-​In Theater this morning on the 9:30 AM 2 hour cruise. Parking was easy and we were met by Edna, aka ‘Captain Evil’ who escorted us down the pier where we boarded their brand new boat, the ‘Starfish Enterprise’. Upon boarding the boat we were promptly greeted and sniffed by two very large friendly Newfoundland dogs, Leviathan and Halo.
It should be noted that for reasons that mostly still escape us our 6 year old son had gotten into a rotten mood from the short trip from parking lot to the boat. We were warmly greeted regardless and Ed didn’t semed to phased by having a kid rolling is eyes, whining, and complaining about having to be there at all.
Our friends who had joined us on the cruise had their 5 year old son with them and he asked Ed how he got back to the surface when he was done. Ed, without missing a beat said ‘Oh I just fart in my suit and it fills up wiht gas and I float to the surface’. Our grumpy 6 year old cracked his first smile then but quickly tried to hide it. However Ed’s constant personable banter and jokes kept coming at every turn and seemed to wear his grumpy resistance, until upon hearing that he could help push Ed into the water for his dive, any pretense of being too grumpy to participate for the entire cruise was dropped and he was now ‘all in’.
Before diving Ed introduced us to Mini-​Ed #101, a playmobile figure diver who accompanies Ed on his dives to help provide some scale to the video images we’ll be seeing and to also provide some up close personal interaction with the creatures he’d be encountering. We were informed there were indeed 100 previous ‘Mini-Ed’s’ who, through these repeated direct interactions with sea creatures had suffered injuries requiring their retirement.
Ed donned his dry diving suit & diving gear and proceded to the back of the boat where all kids who were interested were able to help push him backwards into the water. Once he dove underneath he turned on the video camera system he had with him and we all watched on the big screen what he saw and found.
As Ed roved the ocean bottom in search of lifeforms Captain Evil narrated what we were seeing and explained in detail about all we got to see in great detail on the video screen including plankton, kelp, sand dollars, barnacles, green crabs, rock crabs, welks, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, a flounder, starfish (now officially referred to as ‘Sea Stars’ since they aren’t technically a fish), a lobster and more.
As we had been warned, Mini-​Ed had some close encounters with the crabs, including a short ‘battle’ where the crab, wih Mini-​Ed in it’s claws performed what could best be described as professional wrestling moves slamming Mini-​Ed against the front of camera etc. All the creatures that were caught were put in a small mesh bag. After about a 20 minute dive Ed returned to the surface with the bag.
The bag full of creatures was then brought on board and placed in some clear plastic boxes with salt water as any kids interested were invited to sit up front. Ed then took different creatures out and showed up close to the kids in the front, often encouraging them to kiss, touch and ask questions about different creatures.
Ed explained everything with a great combination of science fact and perfectly kid-​level anthropomorphized humor, for example explaining how starfish eat their prey by extending their stomach in their prey by grabbing one of the kids in the front row as the role of the clam as he played the hungry starfish grabbing them tightly and then pulling them close to eat. The kids near the front got a close, sometimes wet, interaction as creatures were lifted to their surprised faces still dripping, wiggling and in the case of the Sea Cucumber squirting in all directions as Ed explained about them.
Once done with the narration the plastic boxes were moved closer and everyone was encouraged to play in the touch tanks. Both Mini-​Ed #101 and #100 joined us for this interaction. Ed kept lifting up sea cucumbers who promptly drained water on nearby kids and invited people to kiss it. He also put the, now rubber banded, lobster on surprised kids heads and (after asking permission) even helped give our son a mohawk while moonsnail slime, natures ‘gel’ I guess.
Just before we left a local lobster boat (the Outcast) pulled up a trap nearby which contained a ‘Lump Fish’ so they swang over and passed this on so we could see it and learn about this too.
We had a great time, the kids loved it, even our grumpy 6 year old left with a big smile on his face. The new boat is great and Ed & Edna we’re loads of fun to watch, listen to and interact with. This isn’t some pre-​packaged touristy nature cruise, this is a really smart and funny duo doing what they love to do, sharing what they know and spreading an infectious love of science, curiousity and love of nature and our undersea world. Anyone visiting the Bar Harbor area with kids should check this out.