National Aquarium Day 1: Diving in the Atlantic Coral Reef Habitat!

Today is my first day as a volunteer for the National Aquarium! Holly Bourbon, director of dive programs at the National Aquarium, is hosting me at her house for the next week. We woke up bright and early at 5:15am to leave for the aquarium by 5:45am. Upon arrival, I got my badge that gives me access to staff entrances and stored by dive gear in the dive locker. Holly had a contractor coming to assess a window in one of the habitats, and they did a dive around 7:45am. When I was waiting with the contractor, we established that I go to school in Santa Barbara and he grew up there, small world! We headed to the dolphin enclosure where they were doing their dive and I explored a bit. I then met Jackie, the senior assistant dive safety officer, and she took me through all the safety training for being a volunteer. I even learned how to use the compressor that they have and filled tanks. Then, Holly and I got suited up and headed to the Atlantic Coral Reef Habitat to do a checkout dive. I went over all the skills I learned in my open water course, and we did a couple laps in the habitat. It was so cool to be in the tank while the aquarium was open. I got to wave at little kids and Jackie took our picture. After we completed skills, we did one more lap and went into some of the tunnels and areas where the reef hung over. It was unlike any experience I’ve ever had! We got showered and then headed to Hollys office for lunch. Since Holly had to do work, I sat down with Jackie and we had a great talk about diving and safety, and I really appreciated her answering all my questions. She toured me around the habitats I hadn’t seen yet, and then I walked around alone and stopped at some exhibits for a while. 

The jellyfish exhibit was just beautiful, and I will spend more time there before I leave Baltimore. We ended up logging in just about a ten hour day! We got home and I fell asleep while reading a book on the couch, the long day definitely got me tired. We had the best steak and homemade mac and cheese for dinner.  I had the best first day with Holly and her husband Bill, and excited to see what the rest of the week holds!