Sea World and an Awesome Evening with Marty Snyderman

Today Hiro, Pat, and I spent the day at Sea World. It was neat, we saw the Shamu show, the seal show, and the dolphin show, along with various other exhibits. The shark exhibit was cool because we were moved through a tunnel under the shark exhibit on a people-mover and felt like we were underwater and surrounded by them. I also really liked the manatee rescue exhibit-I had NO idea how big they are! After Sea World we visited the Scripps Aquarium, which had beautiful exhibits of local and foreign waters. We ended the day with shopping for a while in La Jolla, visiting Wyland’s studio gallery, and then seeing dozens of seals resting on the beach downtown. The seals were sunning themselves in an area they call the “war zone” because it has been debated whether or not the city should let the seals stay in the area.

The best part of today, by far, was eating dinner with Marty Snyderman. If you have seen underwater photographs before, there is a good chance you have seen one of Marty’s! Marty Snyderman is a renowned underwater photographer, cinematographer, writer, and producer with his works published by National Geographic, Skin Diver, Time, Newsweek, and the New England Aquarium . Hiro taught Pat and I how to make spring rolls for dinner. We used rice paper, bean noodles, basil, mint, lettuce, cucumbers and parsley. Each one was rolled up with either shrimp or chicken in the center, and then cut in half. Hiro put out two dunking sauces, her recipe was delicious.

Dinner with Marty was awesome. I was sitting between Steve and Marty and just listening to boatloads of advice for college, for majoring in science, for scuba diving, and jobs from two of the greatest men in the business. It was great. Marty asked me a lot of questions about my interests, besides scuba diving and marine science and that made a strong impression on me, and said a lot about his character. After each question he would give his point of view on how to approach, say, pursuing marine biology in college. He told a great story of how he was mentored by Stan Waterman and was goggling when at dinner with him. He said he probably wouldn’t have gotten his name right if he had been asked—boy do I know what that feels like!!

He also told us about some of his adventures in his career. Marty was the first man to dive with a great white shark without a cage. When asked if he would do it again he said, “I’d be right behind you!” He teaches an online photography course, and offered to let me take his classes!! I was trying to keep my eyes in my head I was so excited, and then just after that he offered to give his two latest books Marine Life of the Caribbean, and California Marine Life to me. I couldn’t stop saying thank you but honestly I was so dumbstruck and speechless that I couldn’t think of any other words. I had a blast tonight, I couldn’t have asked for a more informational and laughter-filled night. Marty is a very cool guy and totally down to earth; he’s wicked funny and definitely not afraid to crack a joke!

A Day of Touring

Today Steve gave us very a great tour of the San Diego area, including a nice park area that overlooked yesterday’s Point Loma dive site. Basically, I would never study if I went to school here-there are way too many beautiful places to visit (above and below the water)!

Today’s breakfast conversation was phenomenal. If anything, I’ve learned the most stories or little useful tidbits of information here from just sitting around the table at mealtime. Some of today’s topics were the popular new book Shadow Divers, wreck diving and finding the remains of human bones inside a sneaker, and dolphin-free tuna catching utilizing the cinching method that Steve is involved in. Steve said that there is a possibility that we might be able to dive the Yukon during our stay, a 366 foot destroyer in about a hundred feet of water that was sunk purposely for diver penetration in 2000. Even if we don’t make it to the Yukon, I am looking forward to going to Sea World tomorrow!

Dave left for Hawaii today, but Pat and I get to stay until Thursday. Near the end of the day, Hiro went to a Thai cooking class, and Steve, Sergio, Pat, and I toured around the “City District” of San Diego. Most of the buildings were quite modern as they had been built within the last 35 years. Not only was the architecture really neat, but the city’s streets were so clean and un-crowded compared to Boston! Ironically, we ended up eating in a Thai restaurant and went back to the house to hear about Hiro’s Thai cooking class!

Diving in the Kelp Beds and Dinner with Howard and Michele Hall

We just got back from eating dinner with Howard and Michele Hall!!!! They are incredibly knowledgeable people and so nice to talk to. I was so shy in front of them at first it was embarrassing. It is pretty funny when they start talking about the importance of interpersonal communication to you, when you are at a total loss of words in front of them. We heard all sorts of crazy stories from their filming excursions throughout the world; the night was full of laughter and great advice. It was interesting to find out that all the work they do, according to Howard, is done scuba diving with the cameras, not in submersibles. They use regular, high-definition, IMAX, and IMAX 3-D cameras. IMAX cameras are huge and can weigh up to 500 lbs while 3-D cameras are 1500 lbs and need two men to operate them!

We were invited to watch a few movie clips at their house that they put together using high-def and G4 cameras with an interchangeable faceplate. Versatility, they said, is key. Many people today are using this cheaper, but most compatible technology. It is easy to invest $70,000 in a system that can become obsolete in a year, so it is crucial to make sure your equipment is versatile. They also had stacks and stacks of hard drives for storage of their media; we saw two beautiful clips of their film. Before this exciting night, however, we actually spent the day diving off of Steve’s beautiful new dive yacht Destiny.

Today’s dives were really cool, we went diving in the Pacific kelp beds. We went to Point Loma with Hiro, Sergio (president of UWATEC), Mark Conlin, Dave and Pat, and Captains Julie and Doug. The visibility is about the same as it is on the East coast, except the wildlife is a lot bigger and the water is a little bit warmer in Southern California. Our first dive was to about 80-90 feet on Nitrox. It was my first nitrox dive ever so I was checking my computer every two seconds! I kept showing my computer to Mark because it was telling me I had low airtime minutes left but according to him it was conservative and he told me not to worry, they were laughing at me when we got to the surface.

The kelp environment was darker than I had expected because the kelp blocked most of the light from the surface. We saw dark spiny urchins, many schools of fish in the shallows, and little coral and anemone carpets. I held a large, strong white crab, and we saw lots of my favorite type of gastropod–nudibranchs!! They were big yellowish white critters with yellow dots and were about two and a half inches long. I even spotted my own nudibranch hidden in the coral; it was reddish with a frilly back, just like in the pictures! The dive was good but being my first time in kelp beds, on nitrox and having been at 90 feet I was not as relaxed as I could have been and got tired at the end of the dive and couldn’t wait to jump onto the boat. Before getting out, Mark took a few pictures for internship publicity.

The second dive was a photo shoot with Mark. The last dive I felt over weighted so we dropped seven pounds off of the weight belt. I swam around about 15 feet below the surface in the kelp beds for some artistic shots. There was an immense amount of life in this zone. I saw many top-feeding surface fish, a few tiny bright orange ones, and then a couple of schools of a variety of bait fish, including smelt. About four or five pictures in, my weight belt dropped. Mark was very instructional on the surface, while all I could think about was how lucky I was that I was not 80 feet down when it dropped…that would not have ended so well. I was also lucky that Dave dove down to search for the weights and came up with them. The photo shoot ended about a roll later when the current started to pick up, and once we were all on the boat we watched a few seals dart under the hull.

On our way back we passed Naval docks and had a nice view of a Navy aircraft carrier and a submarine that were hidden behind floating pontoons, from the top deck of Steve’s boat.

THE Submarine, Mark Conlin, and Gates Underwater Housings

We are driving back on the California freeway from the site where Steve Drogin’s submarine is being constructed. California has a mountainous topography speckled with lots of bushes and trees. Being from Massachusetts I thought it was funny to see that there are stop lights and multiple lanes on the entrance ramps for “politely merging” onto the freeway-that’s a phrase you don’t hear too often in Boston! They help lessen the traffic at rush hour.

The drive was about two hours up to the shop, most of it spent telling Mark Conlin about the internship, and them him talking to me about his work and how he got started in the industry. Mark Conlin is a professional underwater photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Discover, has worked on many IMAX films, including ones for Howard Hall Productions. His story inspired me because he started out as a collector and surveyor for his school, after graduating from UCSB with a degree in marine biology. During his photographic surveying trips he would save about six exposures for himself to experiment with exposure, framing, etc. to learn more about the camera. He said that even though I will not be working my dream job when I first graduate from college, I have the potential to succeed by starting at one of these jobs and taking advantage of all opportunities that come my way. As a deckhand, he met Steve Drogin as well as Howard and Michele Hall and ended up working for them later on! Mark is an interesting guy, he knows a whole lot about the ocean and marine life but also has played a part in the construction of Steve’s submarine.

So…the SUBMARINE FACTORY was a sight to see!! You would never guess upon driving into the driveway of a small business park that hidden behind a few doors was Steve’s sub. It’s nine feet wide by maybe eighteen feet long; it’s the largest privately owned submarine and boy is it large!! It is not ready to go in the water yet but they predict it is two weeks away from submergence testing. We saw the motherboard “brains” of the sub, the three-inch plexi-glass dome that encloses the sub’s pilot and two passengers and it’s controls, the special aluminum edged seal and the enormous O-ring that seals the dome shut, and other external parts of the sub such as the propellers, pontoons, and the place where a camera will be mounted on the front.

Schmulich, the captain of Steve’s submarine, gave us an excellent tour of the sub and described how many of the parts function. He says he is still in the process of learning the controls of the sub, inside and out, and is very excited to be onboard this project. Seeing the submarine first-hand is awesome, Steve is building some really cool stuff! Next week there will be a photo shoot for the sub that sounds really neat. I can’t wait to see what Steve discovers on his adventures in it.

We hurried back to Steve’s house to run a few errands and then stopped at Gates Underwater Housings. Gates is a manufacturer renowned for their top-of-the-line underwater video housings, used by professionals all over the world. Gates is now owned by John Ellerbrock and he gave us a tour of the factory, boy was it amazing. What makes Gates unique is in the construction of their housings. Gates housings are cut out of a solid block of bulletproof machined aluminum; the precision of the high pressure water-cutter and the lack of seams greatly decrease the probability of leakages, making Gates so successful. Gates is currently making a customized video housing for Howard Hall. Mr. Ellerbrock is starting to experiment with prototype camera housings but right now he deals mainly with underwater video. Being behind the scenes in a premier manufacturing company was amazing, seeing the aluminum chips fly by us in the stripping machine I couldn’t help but wonder where that future camera might be in the future.

Flying out to San Diego

This morning I met Dave and Pat at the airport because we’re going to SAN DIEGO!! I can’t wait to see the beautiful, warm, area…and especially can’t wait to get into the ocean! Dave, Pat, and I are going to be staying with Steve Drogin in his house in La Jolla. Steve is an incredible photographer who has traveled all over the world on photographic adventures-and I mean all over! Steve has been to over one hundred countries, including Antarctica. I met Steve at the clinic this year (he was a speaker) and his animated personality got me psyched for the trip, especially when he showed me a picture of the submarine that he is in the process of building! After about six hours of being in the air, we landed in California. Steve welcomed us to San Diego by hosting a dinner cruise onboard his new dive yacht, Destiny. Destiny is beautifully decorated with Steve’s photographs, walking through the boat is like walking through a gallery-its awesome!! Steve and his wife Hiro have just returned from a trip to Mexico on the yacht and told us some cool stories. The dinner cruise was the perfect way to end a long day of traveling. We had delicious food cooked by Julie, Destiny’s captain, and watched the sun set over San Diego.

Advanced Class: Day 3

For the last day of the Advanced class, Dave and Pat came along to dive with us on the Wreck of the Chester Poling, and then for the shallower navigation skills dive at Bass Rocks. The Poling is a tanker that sunk in 1977 and the bottom of its stern sits in 102 feet of water off the coast of Gloucester. There are many different openings on the vessel, from portholes to doors to windows, and thought these openings we were able to see other divers exploring the inside of the wreck. Many frilled anemones covered the surfaces of the Poling, and we also saw a sea raven sitting on the deck as we rounded the vessel for our ascent. Bass Rocks was yet another type of environment that I hadn’t seen before. Bass Rocks has larger rocks that are covered in weed, but I noticed that it also has an abundance of skates. It’s pretty neat that so many of these sites are less than a mile from each other and yet each one looks drastically different. This was a nice dive to end the advanced class on. I can’t wait to go diving off these New England shores again-they’re beautiful!

Advanced Class: Day 2

For the second day of my Advanced class, Ethan and I rode out to Halfway Rock to work on some deep diving skills, and then some more night diving skills at Magnolia Rocks. The dive at Halfway Rock was amazing-so awesome that the view is almost indescribable. Halfway rock may look like a smallish rocky island from the surface, but underwater it is completely different. Gigantic slabs of grayish rock seem to be stacked on top of each other like a triangular house of playing cards. It extends from the surface all the way down to the bottom at ninety feet. You feel completely dwarfed as you swim around. The rocks are covered in black sea urchins, and we saw a few lobsters and little fish. It was really cool to be swimming in an environment so large, the visibility was excellent and the whole place was surrounded by very light minty green colored water. It’s beautiful.

The dive was awesome, until we hit the safety stop at thirty feet and I couldn’t stay down! Even though we dumped all the air out of my drysuit and BC, Ethan still had to hold onto me so that I didn’t shoot up to the surface. Another lesson learned- forgotten ankle weights makes a HUGE difference, especially with the buoyancy change in Aluminum 80s! I sure didn’t forget to put them on when we made the next dive at Magnolia Rocks!

The environment at Magnolia Rocks is beautiful too, but very different from Halfway Rock. This dive was a lot shallower (30-40 feet), the rocks were smaller and covered in long, flowing seaweed. There were lots of hiding spots for lobsters, which I was looking for, and then came face to face with a large pout- I was wicked surprised to see THAT!! It’s a dark gray fish with a large head and huge lips, whose body curls up into an eel-like tail. Neat creature. I would say that today’s class was definitely an exciting one!

Underwater Photo-Tech

Fred Dion is one heck of an entrepreneur; he keeps a tight store, staffed by only a few people but certainly very successful. At his shop, Underwater Photo-Tech, not only did he explain to me how cameras and strobes work underwater and how they differ from land, he gave me invaluable pointers on how to survive in the business/marketing/retail world, and told me how he got started in photography.

Fred and Dave are the owners and founders of Underwater Photo-Tech, an underwater photography and repair store in Derry, New Hampshire. www.uwphototech.com. I started off the day with a tour of the store and pointers on what has made his store successful, such as small, knowledgeable staff that willing to do anything for a customer (like manufacture custom parts on site). I spent the next few hours with MJ, watching her do Nikonos camera repair. Their collection of flooded Nikonos’ is huge! MJ explained many of the steps she takes to disassemble and solder the camera back together. It was very cool to see what the guts of the camera look like-especially when saturated with salt…ouch! After her repair, MJ puts the camera through a series of tests- light meter testing, and pressure chamber testing, for example- before she hands them over to Kelly to be checked out.

In addition to camera repair, I also got to check out some of Fred’s pictures and slide shows from his trips to Indonesia-I have never seen pictures of such gorgeous and exotic life!! He also taught me how to edit the pictures using different software on the computer. I learned invaluable information with Fred and the gang at Underwater Photo-Tech, it was an awesome day!

Advanced Certification Class: Day 1

Today was the first day of my Advanced Class with Ethan Gordon. Although diving skill is not gauged by how many cards or certifications one has, many dive charters require divers to be Advanced certified to go on boat dives. It is the next certification level up from Open Water, and requires the diver to complete a series of at least four specialty courses. My four specialty courses are deep diving, limited visibility/night diving, navigation, and boat diving.

My class with Ethan today covered navigation and limited vis skills. He had me navigate different courses, and then distracted me for a while, and I was supposed to keep bearings and get us back to shore. My favorite part of tonight’s class was the night dive- It was awesome! We saw many lobsters, at least three dogfish, and a whole bunch of different kinds of fish. When we turned off the lights, it was surprising to see how much natural light the moon provides, and also really cool to see the phosphorescence. I think that the coolest thing that I saw that night was a long-finned squid. I’ve never seen one before and it was amazing. They glide along so gracefully in the water, and escape behind a nice cloud of ink when spooked.

Harbor Surveying on the Quest with Farsounde

A group of graduate students from University of Rhode Island invented a neat new device, a forward mapping sonar system named Farsounder, and have hired Captain Lori for the past several months to test their invention in the harbor. I went out with the three inventors, Matt, Matt, and Evan, along with Captain Lori and Captain Mike. The Farsounder system is very interesting and has many practical applications; it has even sparked the interest of the US government, which has purchased a model. While many sonar systems map what is directly below the boat, the Farsounder currently has the ability to map objects at a range of 1000 feet in front of the bow, and the team is looking to go to 1400 feet in the near future. Unlike other sonar systems, Farsounder uses quiet sound waves that do not hurt or confuse mammals underwater.

Mounted on the bow of the Takakjian’s vessel Quest, Farsounder was able to chart the locations of bouys, docks, and approaching vessels on a computer screen. Large shipping cartons submerged just below the surface, uncharted shipwrecks, and even whales are extremely dangerous obstacles to vessels and can cause an unexpected sinking. Collecting data every two seconds, the Farsounder software can create a three dimensional image of the sea floor to surface ahead, helping a vessel locate and safely steer around such obstacles. We took the Quest to four different locations to test out the system. At each site we panned the area back and forth and back and forth in a cross-hatch pattern so that Matt, Matt, and Evan could eventually stitch together a full three dimensional map of each site.

First we went to Butler Flats right outside of the harbor; I got to stear for a while and quickly learned that you need to compensate for drift caused by the wind and current. The next site, the Great Ledge, was another area where they wanted to stitch together a topographical bottom map, but we had to leave before getting very far because it was too shallow and the rocks became dangerous. We panned back and forth at the last two sites as well, Church Rock and Decatur Rock, and then finally Palmer Island Light before calling it a day.

Diving in Scituate with Tom Mulloy

Today Kim and I drove up to Scituate, Mass to dive with Tom Mulloy- and his dog Bailey. Before we got the boat ready to go, Tom showed us his artifact collection and the stained glass projects that he makes. Both were very impressive. He has a great boat to dive from because the stern is very spacious. The first dive site was Mino Light. On our way out we stopped to say hi to Tom’s friend, a lobsterman who had just pulled and set his pots. The lobstering right now isn’t as good as it has been; he only had two in that whole catch!

Diving at Mino Light was awesome. The historic lighthouse sits on top of huge rocks that form mini canyons just large enough to swim through- which was awesome!. The rock walls are covered in all different types and colors of seaweed and are filled with fish and hiding spots for lobsters. The site is not too deep so it was a nice long dive-and oh yeah, I caught my first New England lobster! I grabbed it quickly but then dropped it when it started to bring its claws back towards me-Tom was laughing, but I got it again and brought it over to him. The lobster was too little to do anything with, but I was wicked happy that I caught my first one!!

Kim piloted us into the harbor where we docked quickly to see the memorial to the lightkeepers of the first Mino Light, then we were off to the next dive site: The wreck of the Forrest Queen. The Forrest Queen was a wooden hulled ship that sank in 1852, and has been worn down by the salty, current-filled New England water. Because the wreck was in 13 feet of water Kim was able to snorkel down to see it, and we were both surprised to see big looming chunks of conglomerate on the bottom rather than something in the shape of a boat . Tom taught me how to use a crowbar and hammer, and we found lots of stuff in the conglomerate-mostly all wine bottles, but I found a corset lacing snap, and Tom found some hand cut nails. It was awesome to think all this stuff was from the 1800s. After that, he let me try out his underwater scooter. Wicked cool, but I got totally lost underwater and ended up surfacing far far away.

Later, Tom took us to the local sailing museum. He’s found lots of treasures on the Forrest Queen, from intact Tabasco bottles, all sorts of hardware made by blacksmiths, and best of all a 73 lb silver ingot! Holy cow was that thing massive. He puts his treasures on display at the museum so local kids and citizens can learn about some of their coastal history. It’s all very neat.

Quest Trip to Martha’s Vineyard

Today my sister Kim and I were picked up bright and early (something I’ve noticed is really common in the diving world!) by Dave and Pat to drive down and meet Eric and Lori Takakjian at their dock in Falmouth. Kim finally got to see firsthand some of the cool stuff I’ve been doing this summer! We all went out on their research vessel, Quest, to go wreck diving off of Martha’s Vineyard. Captain Eric and Captain Lori run a business called Quest Marine Services, where they charter their vessel for oceanographic services. www.questmarineservices.com The Takakjians have found numerous shipwrecks off the New England coast, three of which we visited today. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get into the water at any of the three sites because it was too choppy, but it was a nice day spent out on the water. I was pretty lucky that we didn’t get in the water because I only had 1500 pounds in my tank just after we left the dock….oh boy did I learn my lesson!! CHECK YOUR TANK PRESSURE RELIGIOUSLY!!  I was petrified of telling the people on the boat, hahaha.  Check, check, recheck…even if the shop filled it a couple of days before….boy was that embarrassing, but it taught me.

Kim caught my expression on film when I realized that I had less than half a tank of air left before the dive…

Days 4 and 5: They Eat Better Than We Do!

Can you believe that all the food that the GOT animals eat is restaurant quality? All the way down to the cooked shrimp! These past two days I’ve spent most of the time feeding. Myrtle and the needlefish are the main ones that I’ve been feeding-the needlefish love the shrimp! Friday I worked with volunteers Jeff, Narda, Don and John. I love interning at the aquarium because every day I’ve met at least four new people. All the volunteers that I’ve met come from really different backgrounds ranging from freelance artists to computer programmers to college students.  Everyone has given me great advice on what to do after college, and how to stay in contact with the marine world.  A great idea that Tara suggested was that I should take advantage of travelling and studying abroad in college; if I want to keep traveling than working on live-aboards in Australia is definitely the way to go (that’s what she did).  It’s comforting to know that I don’t necessarily have to be a marine biologist to work with aquatic life.

Saturday was my last day at the aquarium  and I met Barry, Neal, and Dan.  I got to do two dives on the last day, both of them were with Dan. Dan took me on a great tour of the GOT; we went through all the passageways and holes above and below the reef, and he let me pat the giant green moray. Underwater it has the softest, slimiest skin- it felt like I could almost poke a hole in its side if I pushed to hard, it was so malleable. A very different feeling compared to the tough, sandpaper-like skin of the nurse shark that Holly let me touch the first day.

On the second dive Dan taught me how to use a lift bag and we each used one to transport buckets of sand from one area of the GOT to the main tray. It was really cool, but hard to swim with so I guess I didn’t put enough air in the bag. At the end of the day Dan took me on a tour of the galleries behind the scenes. It’s a room with holding tanks for the galleries, and many aquariums with one side displayed to the public. If you look down you can see the people looking in- but they don’t see you! The aquarium was a fun place to spend five days. I learned so much about the animals, and what it takes behind the scenes to keep the aquarium going (a lot!). Now I want to volunteer at an aquarium when I’m away at college!

Day Three: Penguins

Today started off with food prep again, but not for the GOT…today I prepared food for the Penguins! There are three types of penguins in the exhibit: Rock Hoppers, Africans, and Little Blues.  All three species eat smelt, a small arctic fish.  Some smelt are injected with water to keep particular penguins hydrated.  After the food was prepared, we pulled on wetsuits and got into the nippy water (it is 20 degrees colder than the GOT!). I followed Paul, the exhibit head, around on the morning feeding and the thing he warned me about most was that penguins are unpredictable animals.

We had to keep at least a 12” distance between any penguin and our heads and walk through the exhibit with fingers in palms to avoid a painful bite. My wetsuit had a small loop on the back that was a toy for one penguin, Benguela or Benny for short, who nipped, twisted and yanked on it consistently during the feeding. Every penguin has a color-coded beaded tag on one of its wings for identification. Females are tagged on the right and males on the left. At feeding time, a record of every fish that each penguin eats is kept, along with notes on behaviors and if the penguin is in a cave or sitting on eggs.

I got to see two eggs in the African exhibit, and a behind the scenes look at a Little Blue nest hidden inside one of the rock islands. Penguins are unique birds in that they keep the same mate for their entire lifetime. After the feeding, each penguin ate around 10 fish, we got out the scrub brushes, hoses and virkon (a cleaning agent neutralized by water) and scrubbed away at the rock islands to clean them of guano- a.k.a. penguin poop. After this first morning session, the staff records the weight of and how many fish were eaten, the temperature and humidity in the exhibit, and any other notes about how the feeding went.

I was lucky today because I was invited to do the 1:15 GOT dive between penguin feedings. After that it was time for the 2:30 feeding where I shadowed Logan, a college student at Wellesley and Paul in the exhibit. She taught me how to feed the Rock Hoppers! You have to present the fish head first to the penguin and then guide it into the beak. The penguin will then swallow it whole from there. With some older penguins, you need to push the fish to the back of its throat so it can swallow it easier. My biggest accomplishment was being able to successfully feed Penguino, a tough girl penguin who totally shreds up the fish with her beak then spits it out, thirteen fish! After the feeding, recording, and clean-up in the penguin locker room (no rock scrubbing on the second feeding), the day was done.

NEAQ Day 2: The Myrtle Project, a Good Dive, and Vol Work

The second day at the aquarium was just as fun as the first, if not better. I started off the day with food prep again, and then was invited to help out with the Myrtle Project. Myrtle is the GOT’s oldest inhabitant; she weighs about 650 pounds and is estimated to be between 65 and 70 years old.

The Myrtle Project is an experiment researching the effects of different sound frequencies on turtles, in hopes to create a sounding mechanism that will help deter turtles from large ships. Kathy Streeter conducts the experiment and she let me be in charge of the sound and light. With the help of mammal volunteers Allegra and Melissa, we ran a series of tests on Myrtle using operant conditioning, which involves training Myrtle to do something through positive reinforcement. Two types of trials are conducted: light trial or light and sound trial. When Myrtle hears a beep from one of two speakers underwater, she must touch the sounding speaker. When she is successful, she returns to the platform and gets a treat (fish or squid).

After the Myrtle project at feeding time I got to feed the barracudas who eat whole fish, and finish up some office work like de-rust a scale, laundry, copy intern manuals, and clean-up clean-up clean-up! The 1:15 dive was really fun today, I felt more comfortable using my own BC and less weight, and had a few fish hang out really close to me while I scrubbed the coral. Another neat part of the day was watching an purple mouthed moray eel be removed from the tank and anesthetized so that the medical services team could determine why it had been acting sluggish.

First day with Holly at the New England Aquarium

I just got back from an awesome first day of interning at the New England Aquarium. The day started off with a quick tour of the aquarium and the places I would be working “behind the scenes” with Holly, followed by a briefing of volunteer rules and regs. The first thing I got to do today was help Trish, a Dive Volunteer, clean buckets and prep food for the feedings. The animals in the Giant Ocean Tank (GOT) get fed four times a day. The tank divers dive five times a day, one at each feeding and then an additional cleaning dive. I really like food prep, different animals get different types of fish…for example needlefish get cut up sardines while the big rays like chunks of smelt and capelin, and the sharks eat squid stuffed with fish and vitamins if they are hungry. Today I got to stand on the feeding platform and feed Myrtle, the giant green turtle, and the needlefish.

I also dove in the GOT! Holly gave me a nice tour of the tank and its inhabitants and let me pat a nurse shark, it was really cool. I was apparently intruding on one black fish’s space as I was cleaning the reef because it kept nipping at my wetsuit. I learned a lot about many different animals today, from the ones in the GOT, to a couple of fish in smaller aquariums in a laboratory that Holly showed to me. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Three Days at Undersea Divers

Owning and running a dive shop sure is a lot of work! For the past three days I’ve been at Bobby Boyle’s dive shop, Undersea Divers, in Beverly, MA. I can’t believe how much Bobby does and still manages to keep sane. The day starts with checking the oil level in the compressor, then off to unpacking boxes! I spent a bunch of time unpacking new shipments (a lot of which came in wrong and had to be corrected), pricing items, restocking the floor then storing the rest. I put together a bunch of tanks and boots, and organized rental wetsuits and gear for his classes. I really liked watching Bobby do the VIPs (Visual tank inspection required once a year) and learning about hydros (tanks have to be hydrostatically tested every 5 years), different wetsuits, and fitting masks and BCs. Its amazing how many people come in to get their tank filled, say they dive regularly, but haven’t had a VIP in years.

On my last day, I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call from Patrick Scalli! He wanted to check in to see how my summer was going so far (its awesome J ) and was about to stop by but unfortunately couldn’t make it. Bobby is a popular guy; he had a constant stream of customers and friends stopping by. On Saturday, New England underwater photographer Andy Martinez dropped by the store, it was really neat to meet him and he gave me a few good pointers about college too! Working at Undersea Divers I’ve definitely gained a new respect for businessmen, dive shop owners in particular!

Spearfishing and Freediving with David Sipperly

Today I learned how to freedive and spearfish with David Sipperly in Rhode Island. The only equipment we needed to freedive was a mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins, and a weight belt. Freediving is diving while holding your breath, instead of breathing air from tanks. It was wicked fun!! Dave, his friend Eli, and I took Dave’s boat over to Block Island and anchored off the shore to look for some fish. Dave is a great instructor and fun to watch. He was a past All-American freediver, so he stays underwater forever and makes freediving and spear fishing look like nothing.

We went to three different sites to look for fish, all in about 15 feet of water, and also looked for a small wreck to dive but couldn’t find it. I thought the second site was the best-there were stripers everywhere!! Nine or ten huge fish would swim by or circle us at a time. I speared my first striped bass here. I spotted four or five Stripers while snorkeling on the surface, dove down and lay between the rocks on the bottom, one swam perfectly in front of me and I speared it through its side! By the end of the trip we had a cooler full of stripers and tautog. After a successful day of fishing and diving, we went back, I learned how to fillet the fish, then Dave grilled them up for a delicious dinner!

NITROX Class

Dives always seem to end too soon, so what better way to extend your bottom time than to breathe Nitrox? Today I took David Sipperly’s Nitrox class with Lisa O’Malley, and Chris and Mary Sharrigan. A Nitrox mixture has a higher concentration of oxygen in it than normal air does. Normal air is roughly 79% nitrogen 21% oxygen. The two most common nitrox mixes are NOAA Nitrox I (68% nitrogen, 32% oxygen) and NOAA Nitrox II (64% nitrogen, 36% oxygen). Divers like to breathe nitrox because the lower concentration of nitrogen allows divers to extend their bottom time, decrease the surface time interval between dives, ascend faster after an easy dive, and is said to lessen post-dive fatigue and nitrogen narcosis. Dave Sipperly gave us a great thorough class (especially practicing with those tables!), and Dave Morton showed up later to demonstrate analyzing and filling nitrox tanks. I can’t wait to use it!

Bon Bini na Bonaire: Welcome to Bonaire!

Bo·naire (bô-nâr’), n. an island of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of Venezuela populated by friendly inhabitants, exotic marine life, crazy divers and drivers, where you can eat conch and lizard, and practically see forever underwater. Or in other words..the most awesome underwater world I’ve ever been in!

Bonaire is a diver’s paradise, both underwater and on land.  We stayed at Captain Don’s Habitat, whose title of “diving freedom” fits perfectly beucase, unlike other dive resorts on the island, divers are allowed to be in the water 24 hours a day.  My first day in Bonaire I dove on reefs overflowing with all different kinds of tropical fish, gigantic sponges, coral, snails, worms and other invertebrates. At dinner we would see at least a half dozen turquoise dive light spots dancing around in the water at night – like a personal light show.

Picking a favorite activity or dive wouldn’t do justice to the rest because I was exposed to so many new types of activities and environments. On one dive, we dove 97 feet to the wreck of the Hilma Hooker, a drug-packed vessel that was mysteriously sunk and deserted just before the arrival of the Coast Guard. When we went on a night dive, I found out how fast starfish can actually move as I watched the basket stars scurry away from the beam of the dive light. We swam with wild dolphins, saw a frogfish, GIANT green eel, a turtle, and followed around many trunkfish and cowfish (who swim awkwardly but now are my favorite!).

Above water we went cave snorkeling, explored dry caves that had fossilized coral on the ceiling, saw flamingoes, pink salt flats, and slave huts, tried all different kinds of food (including cabrito-donkey, lizzard, and conch), and ended the week at the Queen’s Day celebration.   I got to ride on the back of Jack Chalk’s Harley across the island in an escort parade up to Rincon, Bonaire’s historic town and the site of the huge three-day celebration of Queen’s Day.  It was certainly a busy week. In Bonaire I learned about more things than I could have possibly imagined, but most important of all…it was wicked fun!

Boston Sea Rovers 50th Clinic Weekend

Coffee in hand, I walked into the Copley Plaza Hotel ready for the exciting weekend to begin, although I had no idea how incredible it would turn out to be…

The festivities start in Boston on Friday morning at a seminar called Career Opportunities in Marine Science (COMS) coordiated by Sea Rover George Buckley.  Held the Friday before every annual Clinic, COMS is a program for local high school students to learn about advancements in oceanography.  The program is filled with movies, speeches, and enthusiastic presentations by speakers that often provide students with the opportunity to get involved.  Here I was introduced to Sea Rovers and non-Rovers that I would be working with over the summer, including Terrence Tysall and Amy Giannotti of the Cambrian Foundation in Florida.

At the Pre-Clinic Reception that night, I met a boatload of smart, fun, and obviously hardworking individuals celebrating their passion for the water.  The night was filled with fun introductions and conversations.  I was astounded when I was asked to ring the bells, a tradition the Sea Rovers uphold to remember deceased members.  Seeing names names like Jacques Yves Cousteau etched on the bells, I was incredibly honored.  As if the night was not already exciting enough, the next thing hear is that in a few weeks I would be diving in beautiful warm waters of Bonaire!! It was hard to get some shut-eye that night, but needless to say I feel asleep dreaming of good visibility.

Saturday and Sunday were chock-a-block full of seminars, behind-the-scenes looks at how the Clinic works, and meeting more and more caring people, including corporate sponsors, more Sea Rovers, and the Scalli Family. Imagine being handed a backpack to carry around, later to find a new ScubaPro regulator inside! My head was certainly spinning throughout the whole weekend. Of course, my friends were jealous when I told them that I had dinner seated between Dr. Bob Ballard and Philippe Cousteau, while facing Dr. Eugenie Clark and her daughter, Stan Waterman, Joe MacInnis, and Pat Morton. Wicked cool. The big moment came when I accepted the internship from Patrick Scalli on the stage of John Hancock Hall, through unexpected tears feeling completely embarrassed when he mentioned more than my name!   But embarrassment was well worth being able to be named the first Scalli intern and meeting a family so dedicated, welcoming, and generous in every way.