Category: Uncategorized

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 than past photo classes I have taken. I spent hours snorkeling around the lake shooting various subjects in order to get a better feel of my camera and strobes. I had my butt kicked but it was a great learning experience. Then Jake critiqued my photos which was very helpful to have another person’s perspective and talk through what went well and what can be improved. Thank you, Jake, for taking the time to help me grow and learn with my awesome camera from Backscatter.

  

Here were some of my works in progress.

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!

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 seals I’m the smallest he’s ever cut! But what a wonderful job he did, and I was immediately ready to jump in the water.

The week started with a swim test where I was taught breathing techniques to get across the pool in one breath and felt like a child again free diving down and swimming around the pool. Then we had lectures, pool time, and ocean diving the rest of the week! Kim has been amazing helping me with my training, taking things slow, and making me fully comfortable in a dry suit and new gear. Finally, my loaned camera from Backscatter came! I am so grateful to Becca and the Backscatter crew for setting me up with the camera and housing. It was so exciting to pull it out and set it all up. Vin took me to dive around with it and get used to having it in my hands. I love it and can’t wait to use it!! Vin also showed me around the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries which was so cool to see their location and all the native species of the Massachusetts coast. Thank you so much to the Malkoski family for a great few weeks! And one bonus photo of me at the Mayflower!

  

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 and the most buttery croissant I’ve ever had, we were ready to get the day rolling. We spent the morning learning the basics of rescue. I learned a lot as we discussed in depth all the first aid skills I’ve never practiced before. Once we were done saving lives, we toured the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and got to see the amazing work being done all around. It was cool to see all the different equipment they use to conduct various science projects. We even got to sit in the old Alvin chamber and ponder how in the world 3 people could ever fit in there for 6-10 hours at a time in the deep sea. For the rest of the week, we fell into a rhythm of morning dives and then working on my online training. I was fortunate enough to get dry suit certified, CPR and first aid, and Science Diving certified at WHOI! It’s been lots of work but also tons of fun! Thank you to Kim for helping me through it all!

   

Finally, I got to visit Dr. Roger Hanlon. It started out cloudy, cold, and unpromising and became sunny, warm, and beautiful. I am incredibly grateful Roger could sneak me into his busy schedule before going out on field work. I got to see around his lab and meet all the octopus, cuttlefish, and squid. His work is absolutely fascinating, and I could have stayed there all day. We ended up chatting for a while about diving and science and he gave me lots of invaluable advice before regretfully having to run off to another appointment. Thank you to the Malkoski family, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Roger Hanlon for an amazing week!

  

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 and tried my best to answer the questions (math is not my strong suit).  We were also able to hop in the water and practice some scuba skills! I did my best to stay within sight of Rick during our multiple low visibility dives. Finally, our last dive to the Grecian had stunning visibility and was lots of fun. We stayed overnight on the boat and woke up at 5:30am to a beautiful sunrise. With three boats showing up to the mooring that morning, it became a party! It was a wonderful calm day to poke around the wreck. I was taken aback by the size of the four boilers as I swam between them. We even saw a Mola mola on the surface while eating lunch! It was a great learning experience to get down deeper in my dry suit and really feel cold water! The week with Rick also included some great exploration opportunities completing his various job duties. We picked a boat up off the bottom of the ocean, checked dams for the state, inspected boats and moorings, cut lines out of boat propellers (well, Rick did, and I watched) and so much more!! It was incredible to see how commercial diving operates and meet all the cool people involved. Thank you Rick and Erin!

Along with diving during my stay with Julie and Michel of Anticosti Ecotours, we also spent two days exploring the island itself! The first day was a more private tour with the three of us as well as Nick. We started the day by driving to the northern shore of the island. Anticosti has unique geological formations, including large sedimentary cliffs on the coast which host a plethora of fossils from the Ordovician period. Upon arriving, the massive height of the cliffs is astounding, and finding a couple million year old fossil is as easy as picking up any rock on the beach!

The next stop on our tour would be the Vauréal Waterfall. We walked to a nice viewing platform, where we could see tourists hiking in the canyon, and a gorgeous view of the falls. Apparently the flow was usually much stronger, however a period of weird weather had lessened the strength of the falls. While we had a snack and enjoyed the view, Julie explained that Vauréal was even taller than Niagara Falls! We enjoyed the view a while longer, took some photos and then moved to our next location.

One of the most unique things about Anticosti’s geology is the depth of the coastline. About .25-.5 mile offshore of the island, the water is relatively shallow, dropping down to only a foot or two in some areas a low tide. Because of this, coupled with the dangerous weather, the island has been the location of an estimated 400 shipwrecks over the years. While some are dive-able, a number of them have washed up on shore! We ended up visiting the wreck of the Wilcox, a minesweeper from the 1940’s which was wrecked due to a storm. The Wreck looked eerily pretty beached on shore, and it was interesting to explore and see parts of an old ship that aren’t covered in algae or zebra mussels!

 

The last site we visited on our private tour would be an old plane wreck. The plane apparently crashed in 1967 after running out of fuel over the island. While it tried to land on the main road on the island, it had to veer off course to avoid a logging truck. Luckily no-one had died in the incident, and the wreck now acts as an interesting point and place for tourists to leave their names.

 

Our next land excursion took place after we dove as a large group. Unfortunately dense fog and large waves prevented us from diving, but we made up for it by hiking to a cave! We all loaded up in two trucks, and made our way to the trail.  The walk to the cave would be around 2 miles long, and we saw a ton of unique things on the way. Including a plant know as a ghost pipe, which is a pale white flower that lacks any chlorophyll, and instead derives its energy from a symbiotic relationship with a fungi! We also came along a baby bird who had been pushed out of their nest and was walking on the ground. We eventually made it to the cave, which had a fresh water stream flowing out of it, making the rocky walk slightly hazardous but still worth the incredible view and experience. `We had a nice sandwich lunch in an overhang formed from the cave’s ceiling, and then walked back to the trucks!

For our last stop of the day, we went to a lighthouse on the northern shore of the island. While the lighthouse itself was very pretty, the highlight for myself was the pair of foxes which lived on the property and would come over to investigate.  The two were curious if we had any food for them,  and even came right up to the camera! They made a great pair of models to practice with the camera, and were super cute on top of it!

 

 

From the land to the sea, Anticosti was an extraordinary place and I feel so lucky to have been able to experience all it had to offer! With less than 100 divers experiencing their water’s yearly, I feel incredibly privileged  to have been apart of that number. Diving with Julie and Michel at Anticosti Ecotours is safe, exciting, and a once in a lifetime experience! I learned so much in my time there, especially how to manage diver safety when you are so far away from immediate medical care!

Diving in Anticosti was going to be exciting; even though most of my diving experience had been in New England waters, I had never been that far north. These northern waters meant it was time for some more practice in my drysuit! For my first dive with Julie and Michel, I got to tag along on a checkout dive for one of their customers who would be joining the trip later in the week. Going on a checkout dive from the shore of Port Menier would be a safe water to not only get a little acclimated to the water, but also to check on my weighting, trim, and any other small details. So, we suited up on the boat ramp, and started our dive! Immediately descending on our swim out, I saw one of the biggest lobsters I think I’ve ever seen underwater, and he was even missing a claw. Michel, his customer, and myself all swam along, practicing hovering after a depth change and making sure we were acclimating to the water, after about 20 minutes of swimming, Michel had me launch an SMB from depth, that way we could ascend safely in the event of any boat traffic, while also providing a visual reference for out ascent. It was great practice and I’m thankful I was given the chance do it! Our dive for the day was nothing crazy, but definitely a well needed checkout dive in a new area, our dive had a max depth of 25 feet, for a little over 32 minutes. There were lobster, crabs, and smaller invertebrates littering the bottom, and I was excited to see more soon enough!

The day before customers arrived on the Island, Julie and Michel had received word that a boat part was somewhere in a given area, and they were curious to look for it, a s it could make an interesting dive site. We woke up early for our my first dive off of their boat, the Limitless. Diving today would be Julie, one of her friends and dive guides Nick, and myself, with Michel as out Captain! While the weather wasn’t ideal with some denser fog and 2 foot waves, going diving off of a smaller boat is always fun! We took a ride out to the expected coordinates, and then got ready to get in. Once we were in, we rolled off the side together and took a heading towards the general area we wanted to look. We began our decent and noticed that the visibility would be a bit lower than expected, quite like Rhode Island waters actually; with around 4-5 feet of visibility due to a lot of silt floating around the water from a mixture of the winds and tides. We swam following our heading for about 100 feet, until we came upon an object that was certainly man-made, but had been sitting in its spot for well over a few years, as it was concreted to the ground and covered in growth. Utilizing the TG6 Camera system provided by Backscatter photo and video,  I was able to take some murky photos so that Julie could review them latter on to figure out what the object was! We swam around a little longer around the area to look for anything else, but eventually began our ascent. Upon reaching the surface, we used two SMB’s in order to help Michel find us in the fog. This was a super fun first dive to do with them, and a great opportunity to get the process of diving off Limitless down before customers arrived.

The next two dives we had in Anticosti would be with Julie and Michel’s customers! Having prepped their gear beforehand, we met all of the customers at the boat and got dressed in out drysuits. The ride out to the dive site went well, and we all got dressed and ready to roll off the boat. Our first dive site of the day was a place called “Drifters,” named after the small animals they found hitching a ride atop jellyfish! We entered the water and descended together into 40 feet of water. Throughout the dive, I towed an SMB on my reel so that Michel could follow along in the boat. One of the most unique features about diving in Anticosti is the topography! The ground in almost all of the dive sites is flat limestone rock, with very little silt or sand, making it easy to plan dives but also more complicated or vague when navigating around. We drifted gently with the minimal current on the site, swimming around and looking for the macro creatures like nudibranchs and decorator crabs that entice divers to come. We even found a huge lobster hiding beneath of the larger boulders at the site! After a nice dive in 44 degree water for 54 minutes, we spent a nice surface interval relaxing on the boat while we headed to the next dive site. Our second dive of the day was going to be the coldest, and deepest of the trip. So w got suited up again, and entered the water. On our descent to the bottom we passed through a visible thermocline, and made our way to he 60 foot depth. The water was immediately cooler than the last dive, with the computers thermometer gradually declining till it settled at 38 degrees! The combination of the depth and cold decreased our maximum dive time, but we still enjoyed a great 40 minute dive, finding large feathered and norther red anemones on the side of boulders, and spotting a ton of nudibranchs hidden in the algae. Coming up to do our safety stop was a nice relief as we passed through the thermocline, and the temperature immediately rose to above 45 degrees. After warming up on our stop, we boarded the boat and began our trip home! We stopped at the large buoy marking the channel and took a group photo, and arrived at the dock a few minutes later! Since it was the first dive I had done with Julie, Michel, Nick, and their customers, I forwent bringing the camera as too not be too task loaded, and still able to lend a hand.

The diving in Anticosti is truly a special experience, and I’m so thankful for Julie and Michel making it possible. I would also like to again thank Fourth Element for providing their Hydra drysuit and Xerotherm undergarments, they kept me nice and comfortable even through the longest of out dives throughout the trip!

For one of my longest stints of travel during my internship, I got to spend 10 days exploring the Canadian Island of Anticosti! Anticosti is a large island occupying approximately 3,000 square miles in the gulf of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Although the island is quite large, it is populated by as few as 250 people annually! Such a small number of people meant it wasn’t necessary for large commercial flights to fly to the island, which made getting there an adventure in itself. The first leg of my journey flew me into Quebec, where I would stay overnight for my smaller flights to the island. While waiting overnight, i got to try some poutine for the first time as well. Im shocked it isn’t more popular in the US.

Waking up the next morning, I got myself to the smaller private airport and boarded my first flight. Taking such a small plane was a brand new experience, but super fun! The smaller flight agencies work as the primary method of transport for many of Quebec’s more isolated towns. To get to Anticosti, my route consisted of 3 flights between these towns, with some small layovers in between. Landing in a smaller plane was super interesting, as it is much more noticeable when the plane sways side to side. Once I got to Anticosti, I was immediately met with smiles from Julie Ouimet and Michel Labrecque. Julie and Michel are the owners of N2Pix Expeditions, and Anticosti Ecotours, which specialize in nature experiences and scuba diving in special destinations! Not only do Julie and Michel operate these amazing companies, they are also accomplished photographers and videographers, making them some of the coolest people to dive with.

After being picked up from the airport, Julie and Michel took me on a quick tour of Port Menier, the most settled part of the island. After seeing the only paved section of the island, I knew this was going to be a run trip! On our small tour we also went through how the dive operations are run on the island, including their compressor system, their boat storage and care, and finally how the customers gear is taken care of. One of the most unique parts of their dive operation when compared to other northern dive operations, theirs is practically a hands off experience that they provide their customers. Once the customers arrive on the island, almost all of their gear (drysuit undergarments excluded) is taken and set up, cleaning, and dried for them throughout the trip.

Once we arrived back at Julie and Michels home for the time being, I got to meet Nick, who would be helping them out as a dive guide and spotter on our dives. We all had a nice dinner, and Julie, Michel and I were able to talk about a mixture of things. Including what their goals were for their operations on the island, as well as my own goals for my upcoming presentation about my experience as an intern. Being able to talk things over with them was super helpful, and it was interesting to learn so much about their experiences in diving and in business in general! After dinner we sat outside for a while, and I had my first encounters with the local fauna. The deer population on the island is well over 150,000 individuals, and there are also a ton of red foxes. The animals are super curious about the people in town and often will come right up to us looking for food! My first hours on the island had been incredibly welcoming and fun, and I was absolutely thrilled to see what the coming days had planned.

For my last day at the aquarium, I got to take a look behind the scenes at how some of the many galleries in the New England Aquarium are run! I spent the day with Summer, the head aquarist for the tropical galleries, as well as her intern Nick. We spent the first part of the morning going over all of the usual day to day maintenance for the gallery exhibits, and it was interesting to see how some of the life support systems are taken care of. We did checks on things such as the tank temperatures, protein skimmers, and more; all of which are vital to a clean and healthy exhibit. While I had some minimal experience in taking care of fish at home, it was really insightful to see how things such as protein skimmers work to use air bubbles to clean the surface of the water, capturing things such as fats/oils and grime on the water’s surface. Once the protein skimmers were all cleaned out, we dried and rinsed some more cleaning equipment that we would be using later on.

After the morning routine was done, Nick showed me the way the food is prepped for the galleries. Each exhibit got an assortment of foods, appropriate for both the amount of fish in each, as well as depending on what level/type of nutrients they require. While some of the tanks are fed in a simple method of scattering the food across the surface, some exhibits such as those which house venomous animals require special care and safety precautions to avoid any hazards presented by the animals themselves. These precautions can look anything like feeding the animals from a distance, to even training the animals to be target fed!

Summer and Nick went through feeding all of the exhibits in the tropical gallery, and then it was time for lunch after a quick cleanup! We all had a nice and relaxing lunch on the dock outside, and even got ice cream from the stand in front of the aquarium. Once lunch was done, Nick and I got to help out with a special project of catching comb jellies that had been washing ashore! We worked with a team of interns and staff at the aquarium to scoop up the numerous ctenophores gently in large cups  in order for them to be as healthy as possible. We caught the comb jellies for a while, and then decided to head back inside and to some final cleaning for the day. We went through scrapping the walls of the tanks to make sure no algae was growing the wound be visible to aquarium goers, no would it impact the health of the exhibit.

Today was a lucky day for me, as it was the first day a new giant pacific octopus was being placed on exhibition! We got to watch as it was placed in and explored its new home. Over all today was an amazingly insightful and fun way to end a once in a lifetime experience at the New England Aquarium. Thank you so much to the incredible staff and volunteers who made the experience so incredible, as well as Dan Dolan who organized the experience!

 

Today was another special day at the Aquarium since I would get to dive in one of the most well known exhibits, the Giant Ocean Tank (GOT)! Before we got to that however, there was work to be done and things to see. I started off by observing and helping with the food prep for the GOT, This was similar to other departments food preps, however we got to make a few unique things such as squid tacos! While they didn’t really look like tacos, it was a fun way to pack squid full of fish and make the meal more nutritious for the animals! Once the food prep was done, myself and another intern at the aquarium were given an amazing tour of the exhibits life support systems, including how the GOT’s chemistry and cleanliness are maintained. It was super impressive to see such a massive life support system in action, and it was eye opening to see how much effort goes into maintaining such large scale plumbing!

After an amazing tour, I was given the amazing opportunity to help feed Myrtle. Myrtle is a green sea turtle who has been living in the GOT for over 50 years! Everyday she eats over 6lbs of food to maintain her weight of around 550lbs.  Feeding her was super fun as she came right up and loved to interact with people; we made sure she ate her share of veggies along with fish and squid for protein. Myrtle ate up her food for the day, and then it was time to get ready for our dive!

My dive for there day would be led by Ashley, the aquarium’s dive safety officer! We put together the gear, using the aquariums gear to keep everything sanitary, and then I prepped my camera since I would get another unique experience to practice photography. It was super interesting to see how most of the aquariums divers set up their gear while, especially their methods of proper weighting so that they do not need to dive with a wing for any additional buoyancy control! Ashley, Dan and I all got suited up and then headed to the tank, we got in nice and slow as to not startle any of the animals, and then we began our dive! Ashley and I was for a nice tour around the exhibit, highlighting some key features and areas to be aware of, and then I got some time to explore! It was crazy being able to swim so close to such massive sea turtles, and it was just as fun to interact with people outside of the exhibit. Thanks to Dan, I was lucky enough to get some photos of myself as well! We swam around for a bit longer, gave Myrtle some scratches and love, and then exited the exhibit. Once we were out, we cleaned up our gear with fresh water, put it all away, and then we were done for the day!

 Diving in the GOT, and being able to observe all of the facets of its care was another once in a lifetime experience, and I’d like to thank all of the members of the GOT team, as well as Ashley for making it an amazing day!
Another huge thank you as well to Backscatter Photo and Video for providing an amazing setup that allows me to document an amazing dive.