During my time in Monterey, I had the opportunity to dive multiple times a day for many days in a row. Unfortunately, we could not dive from the beach due to a sea lion takeover (as pictured above); however, we ended up having wonderful boat dives. The extensive time in the water allowed me a…
For a few days in between the National Aquarium and the Monterey shootout, I had the pleasure to head down the coast to visit Ron Watkins for a photography workshop. I was so grateful to be able to fit this in and learn from another amazing photographer. His workshop was run a bit differently than…
Continuing my immersion in the aquarium world, I headed down to visit Holly Bourbon at the National Aquarium. Diving within the tanks allowed me lots of time to practice with the camera and give lots of fish sand baths. I made fast friends with a pork fish who would swim alongside me throughout the dives,…
New England Aquarium week! Thank you to Dan and Dawn Dolan for hosting me in Boston during my time at the New England Aquarium! I went to the Quincy rehabilitation and husbandry center with Dan on the first day, spending the first part of the day in the turtle rehabilitation center helping with feeding, exam…
Once I got home from the Arctic I settled in, did laundry and was off to see Jake Stout at Sunset Lake in New Hampshire. What a great few days! We started off by going through his photo class lecture which was invaluable to shaping the way I look at photography and included much more…
I stared into a microscope for many minutes watching plankton hop around. It was beautiful and mesmerizing, I could have stayed there for hours. Just days before the same thing happened as I watched the ctenophore’s rainbows go up and down their filter feeding mechanisms while diving off the coast of Svalbard. It was magical…
This week as I waited for my generously donated Otter dry suit I borrowed a suit from Vin Malkoski. While changing out the seals to fit I won the tiniest neck trophy! I am so honored to have gotten this valued trophy from Wayne at Divers Market. In all his 40 years of cutting neck…
With a wake up call of 6:30 on my first day with Kim Malkoski, I headed out to get trained in CPR and First aid. I am incredibly grateful to Kim for letting me join at the last minute! Before such taxing activities however, a French bakery breakfast was needed. After a wonderful fruit tart…
Wow! What a great first week with Rick Simon. Rick and his wife Erin graciously hosted me on their farm this week where I got to pet their donkey and horses while I practiced my dive planning math. While Rick threw hay and called out questions, I took my duty of scratching the donkey seriously…