This Shark Boat In New Zealand Might Be the Most Intense Ride of Your Life
New Zealand is an intense place — Haka dances, year-round sunshine, dangerous plants and animals. So, it makes sense that you’d find the most extreme semi-submersible boat hanging around Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.
Hydro Attack offers rides in semi-submersible machines designed to look just like sharks. Currently, there are four different sharks you can take a ride in. But my personal favorite (in case you were wondering) may be the shark with orange and black tiger stripes. The website describes it as a “cross between a fighter jet and a torpedo.” If you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a shark breeching out of the water, this is the ride for you.
The Hydro Attack skims across the lake at 50 mph and hits speeds of 25 mph underwater. If you have a weak stomach, take caution. The whole point of this ride is the impressive tricks, sometimes launching you 18 feet out of the water. The website describes the experience best: “Looking through the F-16 fighter-grade glass you will see the sky disappear as your pilot descends into a dive underwater for 5-15 seconds and then launches the entire 18 feet of the shark into the air. We can roll on a 90-degree angle, do tight doughnut turns and so much more.”
The company also offers boat tours, if you’ve got a group of three people or more. This option allows your friends and family to take in your experience jetting around the lake while they wait for their own turn.
As if we needed another reason to visit Queenstown.
It gets better: Say you love your shark machine ride so much you want to do it again. The Hydro Attack company actually sells these machines — called Seabreachers — completely customized to your liking. Want a bright yellow shark with blue polka dots to take around your local lake? Feasible. Check out the specifics for owning your own on the Hydro Attack website.
Rides on a shark Seabreacher start at $129. But getting a first-hand look at what it (probably) feels like to be a shark? Priceless.
