Dubai: A Dubai resident finally swam with the sharks to propose to his girlfriend after a series of unfortunate incidents thwarted his other equally quirky ideas to ask for her hand.
Daniel Kearns, 25, was able to pop the question to his girlfriend Mia Jang, 29, on Friday during a shark dive at a mall aquarium here.
"I've been trying to make a plan to propose for six weeks now. First I was going to propose in Rome, but then the volcano erupted. Then I tried to get permission to use the helipad at Burj Al Arab, but was denied permission over security concerns. I wanted to get a group of my students [Kearns is a teacher] to hold balloons and stand in the shape of a heart, so she could see it from above, but Mia's work schedule didn't allow that.
"Next, I thought of proposing inside a hot air balloon, but then the crash in Al Ain happened. Finally, I settled on taking her on a shark dive and proposing at the bottom", he said.
"In the end, I don't know if I was more nervous about the proposal or the sharks".
The Korean-American set it all up with the dive instructor before hand. "He was really helpful. We talked on the phone a couple of times and everyone at the dive centre knew it was going to happen but kept quiet".
He asked some of their friends to come with a large sign, saying, ‘Mia will you marry me', which they held up to the glass when the couple descended to the bottom. He also arranged for flowers and balloons to be brought to sweeten the moment.
"Everything happened really fast when we got to the bottom", he said.
"They put the sign up so I had to get the ring out really quickly." He tied the ring to a ribbon which he wrapped around his wrist, so it wouldn't be lost in the water and hid it in the sleeve of his wet suit.
"It was a total surprise," said Jang, an air hostess with Emirates. "I didn't expect it at all. He told me he would propose in two weeks, when we'll be in the US. I didn't know it would be today." Jang, who is Korean-Canadian, was left literally speechless at the proposal as they were both in scuba gear with masks on. So how did she respond? She held up her hand in an OK sign, meaning yes.
Have you, or anyone you know, proposed in a similar way? Was it successful? Share your stories with us.
