NEAq: Diving the Giant Ocean Tank!

On my first day back in Boston I was excited to continue my Aquarium experiences, this time with the New England Aquarium. Saturday morning, I met with Dan Dolan, a friend of the Sea Rovers, before the Aquarium opened. He and I walked through the aquarium and he introduced me to his fellow friend of the Sea Rovers, Lissette Bayona. Lissette is a dive safety officer with the Giant Ocean Tank that fills the center of the aquarium, so she brought me up behind the scenes on the fourth floor of the aquarium to the Giant Ocean Tank prep area.

The first order of the morning was food prep for all the animals that live in the GOT. There are over 400 individual animals in the GOT, of 69 different species, so there’s a lot of food that needs to be organized and prepared properly each day! Some of these animals are fed by scattering pieces of fish, squid, shrimp, and krill into the tank, but others need more specialized feeding. For example, the boxfish and filefish get fed separately, and each of the sea turtles gets food prepared specially for them, as do the groupers, moray eel, nurse shark, and the barracuda. I put together the groupers’ food, with volunteer Alf’s help.

After we prepped the food, I got ready for my guest dive in the GOT!! I grew up coming to the New England Aquarium all the time, so I know it very well, and the GOT has always been one of my favorite exhibits. Every time I visit and see divers there, I always tell myself “one day that will be me,” and thanks to Lissette, Dan, and the Sea Rovers, it was me! It really felt like I was fulfilling some sort of prophecy.

Immediately after we dropped down, Lissette and I spotted Myrtle the green sea turtle right below us!! Myrtle is the queen of NEAq, as she’s been there since 1970 (she arrived just six months after the aquarium opened). At roughly 75-95 years old, and just over 500lbs, she is a sight to behold. We descended down to her and Lissette demonstrated how to give her shell a scratch before I dropped down and scratched her back. Sea turtles’ shells are connected to their spine, so turtles like Myrtle can feel things that touch their shell. Myrtle herself is well-known for asking divers for back scratches! It was truly some kind of spiritual experience to be interacting face to face with this creature I’ve “known” since I was little. Somehow she’s even bigger up close than I would have guessed!

After sufficient scratches, Lissette and I continued our dive, swimming along the edge of the fiberglass coral structure. We spotted Cirri the nurse shark and Thomas the green moray in a corner, cuddling together. We also dropped down into the area of the tank called Turtle Alley – aptly named, since both the loggerheads (Carolina and Retread) were hanging out there. Then we swam inside the structure and were greeted by one of the cownose rays, which really loved swimming over my face and through my bubbles.

It was just a half-hour dive, but it felt like a million years in the best possible way. It still felt surreal as we surfaced and got out of the water. I was still grinning ear to ear as we rinsed off our gear and talked about the dive, and even after we had finished changing for lunch.

I spent lunch outside with the Saturday interns and volunteers of the GOT, who were all incredibly lovely and lively people who took me under their wing right away and made me feel really welcomed. They also kept me busy: after lunch, I helped with the afternoon feedings. The morning feedings had happened just before my dive, so I hadn’t been able to help, but this time I got to lend a hand! Alf and I tag-teamed feeding the boxfish and filefish, which was a lot more complicated than I imagined. Their targets were lowered into the water, and while we waited for them to come get some food, we had to shoo the cownose rays away from the food and distract myrtle so she didn’t knock into either of the targets. It was a lot of coordination, but we made a good team! Then, once the targets were put away, I got to feed Myrtle her afternoon food: the remaining half of her 5lbs of lettuce and cucumber, and some capelin. It was an amazing experience, I loved getting to be a part of the feedings. For the rest of the afternoon, I helped out with dishes and the remaining tasks on the chore list. And after the work day was done, we all headed to the small beer garden and snack shack just outside the aquarium, to celebrate Lissette’s birthday!!

I’m so grateful to Dan, Lissette and the GOT team for welcoming me to the team for the day and for taking me inside the GOT! I can’t express what an amazing day this was. Thank you so much!

– Sofia