Category: J.P. Sullivan

Two weeks after the Sea Rovers expo I was heading to the Beneath the Sea expo in New Jersey. Beneath the sea is pretty much like the Sea Rovers expo… except about 5 times bigger of an expo! This time I stayed with Ricky Simon (previous intern whose blog you can find here) and his father of Manta Industries/High Seas Millwork. The car ride was interesting on the way down, we talked about all sorts of diving and their crazy tech diving experience. Once we arrived in New Jersey we checked in to the hotel and then went to Cheeseburger Paradise and met some more divers and had some great food. Friday Saturday and Sunday consisted of helping to set up, work, or breakdown Manta’s booth and then just wandering around talking to other exhibitors and watching some presentations. Generally I spent my days observing how the dive industry really works and just gainig more knowledge on many aspects of dive gear and the industry itself.

 

 

Nights were exciting and consisted of either parties or just hanging out at cheeseburger paradise. I think I learned almost as much about the dive industry hanging out at night than during the day though, the Beneath the Sea Party and Cheeseburger Paradise were great! Finally the drive back on Sunday was much more subdued. Rick snored the whole way home and I just talked to Rick’s father about all sorts of things, Overall a great trip! (although my photos were slightly lacking)

Following COMS we headed to Danvers for the 2013 Sea Rovers Expo. Friday was a party where I met a ton of presenters and rovers, including the past interns. This was my first real experience meeting a lot of the rovers and it was very exciting! I met and talked to a lot of professionals in the marine industry, from photographers to engineers!

Saturday was the opening of the expo, so there were awesome presentations and exhibits throughout the day. Saturday night I went out to dinner with a few rovers and presenters. I had a wonderful conversation with Stan Waterman, a very prominent rover who was celebrating his 90th birthday! After dinner we proceeded to an awesome film festival featuring some awesome footage of pelagic animals off of Baja California. Also, I was formally given the internship.

 

Sunday was a pretty quiet day where everyone started to head out. I watched a few presentations and also went to a great freediving seminar put on by Nick, the owner of East Coast Divers. He was a very engaging teacher and I would highly recommend him! Following that I just helped break down some booths and eventually start to head home for some well earned relaxation. It was a long weekend!

So where to begin? I guess I’ll start the second week of March, the beginning of the Sea Rovers annual expo show

 

. Shortly after the infamous blizzard Nemo, Forecasts were calling for a little snow for Friday… well because it’s New England by Thursday night the little bit of snow quickly changed and many areas were expecting three feet. The storm certainly did deliver. The roads were an absolute mess and schools were cancelled left and right. Unfortunately, the Sea Rovers Career Opportunities in Marine Science (COMS) day was Friday morning. Despite the weather many rovers, presenters, high school students, and I managed to make our way to the Boston Public Library for Friday morning.

 

This was my first real experience as the sea rovers intern, and it really was great! There were presentations by the Cambrian foundation on cave diving, Dr. Skomal on shark biology and behavior, and Professor Buckley of Harvard on the global climate. It was very informative and engaging!

 

Following the presentations rovers and I went out for lunch in the library and then proceeded slowly over to Danvers, where the Sea Rovers Expo was being held. While trying to get out of Boston and over to Danvers we only got stuck on one parking garage ramp for only a few minutes… so overall the driving was a little interesting friday, but everything else was a major succes!