UK man proposes to girlfriend underwater, with sharks as his witnesses

A British man proposed to his girlfriend underwater during a shark dive at Skegness Aquarium. The surprise plan, helped by aquarium staff, turned an adrenaline-filled experience into an engagement.A British couple got engaged inside an aquarium. (Photo: Facebook/Skegness Aquarium)A British man did not exactly get down on one knee in the usual way to propose. He put on a wetsuit, strapped on scuba gear and asked his girlfriend to marry him while sharks swam around them at an aquarium in Lincolnshire.James Walsh, from Buckinghamshire, had been planning the underwater proposal for his girlfriend Paige Cook, who loved sharks. He wanted to ask the big question "somewhere different, somewhere unique and somewhere memorable”, and eventually settled on Skegness Aquarium.“Sharks are her favourite animal. I knew that's where I wanted to do it,” James told BBC Radio Lincolnshire. “I thought, surrounded by her favourite animal, it would be a unique experience.”James contacted the aquarium before the September 10 proposal and shared his plan. Staff helped him pull it off, even providing a special sign for the occasion and separating the couple from the rest of the diving-with-sharks group. “They separated us from the rest of the group, and then a man snuck round with the sign,” he said.Once underwater, the couple knelt together in their wetsuits and scuba gear, with James holding up the sign that read, “Will you marry me?” Paige appeared stunned, covering her scuba mask with her hand before finally giving Walsh an “OK” hand signal to say yes. The newly engaged couple then embraced underwater.“Congratulations to Paige and James who got engaged in our tank today!” Skegness Aquarium wrote in a social media post accompanying a picture of the couple.See the post:For Paige, the surprise was so overwhelming that she briefly forgot she was surrounded by sharks.“This [was] the best day of my life. I've always wanted to go scuba diving and swimming with sharks. Then [the proposal] happened, and I completely forgot I was in a tank!” she said.Jamie Elvidge of Skegness Aquarium said the diving experience was already adrenaline-fuelled before Walsh added a marriage proposal to the mix.“It is a really unique way of popping the big question,” Jamie said.And with sharks, scuba gear and a surprise proposal all in one tank, it was certainly a proposal worth remembering.- EndsPublished By: Srimoyee ChowdhuryPublished On: Sep 24, 2026 13:41 IST