Polar bears, Walrus, Reindeer, Oh My!

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 to see all the small and clear organisms of the sea that you don’t notice until you look up. Most of the backscatter you erase from your images is actually tiny animals floating around. Once your eyes adjust to what’s (literally) right in front of your face you see the amazing diversity and complexity of the plankton. You don’t always need a microscope. Look at what you think is sand and silt floating, and you will see it is full of life. My time diving these weeks in the Arctic has been incredibly informative. It has pushed my limits and taught me new things about diving and myself. I was also able to participate in marine science including helping with plankton tows and use photography as a means to document our data collection.  Overall, the two weeks were filled with 13 dives ranging from absolutely incredible visibility to barely seeing our own fins in the milky glacier water. We were surrounded by a stunning Arctic landscape full of ragged mountains, glaciers, snow, ice, and of course some of the coolest wildlife. One of the most amazing dives was at Bear Island — a protected, uninhabited island (besides a research station) full of bird cliffs and wildlife.

Under the water was as spectacular as on land. We descended through beautiful clear blue water into towering kelp. Throughout the dive we made our way along a cliff face full of life. We saw sea stars, Atlantic cod, brittle stars, a decorator crab with a purple flower hat, hermit crabs, snails, sponges, tunicates, and more! Holly Bourbon from the National Aquarium and my dive buddy said the kelp was one of the healthiest I’ll probably ever see.  Thanks to the incredible generosity of Faith Ortins at Blue Green Expeditions for inviting me on the trip and the willingness of Angel the scientist to show me field science. I had the most amazing educational time.

Finally, huge thanks to Lensrentals for sponsoring me with an incredible topside lens so I could capture the beauty above water and Backscatter so I could document all that I saw below water!