I must admit, driving into Boston on a weekday morning is no fun. However, all was made up for and more when Paul Leonard at the New England Aquarium (NEAQ) greeted me. Paul helps to run the penguin department at the NEAQ. I started my time working with the penguins. Right away I was allowed to get into the water with them and help feed. Initially, all I did was carry the clipboard and tally what each penguin ate, however, later on; I would actually get the opportunity to feed them myself. The portion of time spent not working with the penguins was spent working with the Giant Ocean Tank (GOT) and its staff. The GOT is the large center tank containing a recreation of a tropical reef. While the reef is merely fiberglass, the fish are huge and active. Being in the GOT is like being in the Bonaire you see in the brochures. During my time at the aquarium I had the privilege of working with a variety of staff and the interns working for the aquarium. Thank you for an unforgettable experience!
Category: intern-blog
The Trojan
The Sunday after working with Eric and Quest Marine Services, I was invited out again aboard the Quest to dive with the Boston Sea Rovers aboard a 1901 freighter, the Trojan. The vessel sank after being struck by passing ship as the Trojan lay at anchor in a fog bank. The vessel was carrying bronze ingots and empty medicine bottles. While the bronze has long since been recovered, many medicine bottles still lie in the hull of the Trojan. I made two dives on the ship. The first one with Eric. This dive was designed to familiarize me with the wreck. Like all New England diving, the Trojan is cloaked in dark green, cold waters. After a brief surface interval, I made a second dive with Dave Morton. This time, we collected bottles. Dave penetrated into the hull a short distance, while I stayed on the deck and placed the bottles he collected into a sack. Upon returning to the surface, we cleaned the bottles and took pictures. After returning to the dock, we helped Eric clean the boat and called it a day. And what an amazing day it was.
Quest Marine Services
Eric Takakjian and Quest Marine Services would be my next stop on the internship. Quest Marine Services is a company owned by Eric and Lori Takakjian operating out of New Bedford Harbor. Aboard their vessel, the R/V Quest, the Takakjian’s offer a variety of research support services. The week I was out with them, a joint group from the Mass Division of Marine Fisheries, Applied Signal Technologies, and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab were testing a new McCartney Focus II tow vehicle mounted with an Edgetech side scan sonar unit. Having a stable tow vehicle is crucial to gaining crisp imagery from a mounted side scan sonar unit. The Focus II, the only one currently in the United States, utilizes an inertial navigation system and stabilizer planes to keep the vehicle both stable, and on a preset track line. As with any research expedition, problems were encountered. It took us nearly the whole week just to get the operation up and running. But, after many trials and tribulations we eventually got underway. I even had the opportunity to help out with the repair efforts. Again, this was another fantastic experience. I thank Eric and Lori Takakjian for inviting me into their wonderful home and allowing me to take part in the expedition.
http://www.questmarineservices.com
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/
http://www.appsig.com
http://www.jhuapl.com
Woods Hole
Today, I went down to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to dive with Terry Rioux, the dive safety officer. I met Vin Malkoski at his home in Marion around noon and drove down to Falmouth. We toured around the village of Woods Hole for a few hours while we waited on Terry. We visited the WHOI aquarium (Vin forgot his license and had to beg to be let in), which contained a variety of New England Marine life. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the Oceanographic institute where we met up with Terry. The plan for the dive was to dive off the main pier the institute sits on. Apparently, a tower had fallen off the pier and needed recovery. We didn’t find the tower, but we did encounter such WHOI relics as WHOIhenge, an underwater mound of bricks that require proper respects be paid to before continuing, and several gargoyles located at the bottom of the drop line.
Aboard the M/V Gauntlet
My first experience on the internship involved working with the good people of Northern Atlantic Diving Expeditions. Heather Knowles and Dave Caldwell operate a dive charter off their custom-built dive boat the M/V Gauntlet. As a member of the crew, I became “deck swabby”. Which, according to Dave, came with such duties as carrying his gear and washing it (when asked how it felt to have an intern, he replied “My backs never felt better; and my gear has never been cleaner”). Although, in his defense, he never actually made me clean his gear. My time with Heather and Dave was also spent training towards a drysuit certification that Dave generously donated to the internship. Overall, I had an amazing time working with Heather, Dave, and Roman (another member of the crew). This is where I found out I get seasick as well.
DUI DOG Days Rally
Today I would try out my new drysuit for the first time. Each year, Dick Long and Sue Long from DUI, along with Faith Ortins, donate a custom fitted drysuit to the Scalli internship. As any New England diver knows, drysuits are pretty much a must if one wishes to do any serious diving around here. Prior to this, the only drysuit diving I had done had be as part of a Kirby Morgan superlight I dove with a few years prior. DOG Days is the DUI owners group rally where divers can come and try out DUI gear free of charge. In addition to myself, Brenda Mahoney, the Our Underwater World Scholar was at the rally as well (DUI donates a drysuit to OUWS as well). Vin Malkoski and Faith gave me and Brenda a brief introduction to the proper use and care of a drysuit. Then, Faith helped me cut the seals and I suited up for my first dive in my new CF 200. Andy Martinez stopped by to say hello. After suiting up Vin, my dad, Pat Scalli, and I headed down to the beach for the inaugural dive. The suit preformed beyond expectation, and with the help of a drysuit course, I was confident I would quickly master the skill of drysuit diving.
The Boston Sea Rover Seminar
The morning of March 2nd, I arrived at the Copley Fairmont in Boston not knowing what to expect. The first item on the agenda was COMS or Career Opportunities in the Marine Sciences. This program caters to local High School students, exposing them to a variety of marine careers with the hope of sparking interest in the ocean. It is here that the previous year’s intern also gives their presentation officially for the first time. Unfortunately, do to flight issues, last years intern, Katy Marston couldn’t be at COMS, so the interns from the previous years stood up and talked about their adventures. That night I attended the pre-clinic cocktail reception at the Gamble Mansion where I was again inundated by many introductions. From then on I was constantly on the go. Pat Morton took me by the arm and hauled me around, introducing me to what seemed like every member of the diving community. I visited with Faith Ortins who fitted me for a new drysuit generously donated by DUI each year to the internship. I also attended a wonderful seminar by Annie Crawly on underwater video. This year, John Ellerbrock of Gates underwater housings donated a new HD underwater video camera and housing to the Scalli internship. During the Saturday night film festival, I officially became the intern as Patrick Scalli introduced me to the crowd that had gathered in the Hancock auditorium. Perhaps the most exciting announcement though came as Steve Drogin announced that he would be hosting me in Costa Rica aboard the Sea Hunter out on Cocos Island. Ernie Brooks was generous enough to pay for my airfare. My weekend spent at the Sea Rovers Seminar was simply an amazing experience. I wish to extend my thanks to Dan Orr of Divers Alert Network for donating a year of preffered dive insurance and to Bob Boyle of Undersea Divers for donating a brand new set of dive equipment.
http://www.thesilverseas.com
http://www.uwphoto.com
http://www.underseadivers.com
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org
My First Night at Harvard
It was a cold night in January as I rode the escalator from the Redline Station to Harvard Square. This would be my very first activity as the Boston Sea Rover’s Frank Scalli intern. Shortly after receiving an email from Pat announcing that I had been selected for the internship, I received a second email from George Buckley, a Sea Rover and professor at Harvard University inviting me to attend his extension school class on Ocean Environments. I was excited; in part because I could now say I went to Harvard, and also to take an opportunity to learn more of what lay beneath the surface of the ocean. However, this excitement was quickly snuffed as I emerged upon the surface and realized I had absolutely no idea where I was going. Worse yet, class began in only five minutes. After rushing across the campus every which way stopping random people for directions, I finally made it to Emerson Hall with perhaps 10 seconds to spare. As I burst into the room, I nearly ran into George, who was standing on an elevated platform upon which lay a desk crammed with random media equipment for presentation. Thankfully, he recognized me immediately, saving any awkward introductions, and quickly introduced me to his staff. The class itself was an amazing experience. Over the next few weeks, we would cover a variety of topics from salt marshes extending all the way to the deepest depths of the oceans.
Welcome to Moorehead City
The drive down to North Carolina in Lee Livingston’s suburban was mostly uneventful. We arrived in Moorehead city around noon, one day after we departed Connecticut. We hung out at the Olympus dive shop for several hours getting our c-cards checked out and everyone payed up for the upcoming week in diving. We also had several hours to kill before we could check into the Buccaneer Inn. In the meantime, we visited a doctor who had a look at my ear, and told me I had caught a spectacular case of swimmer’s ear. It was incredibly painful, but I survived until the following day to go diving. On Monday we woke up at 6, were on the road by 6:30 and were pulling out of the dock by 7 am sharp. The seas were calm while the Midnight Express motored out to the first dive sight. The trip took about two hours. We arrived at our destination a little before nine and the crew set the anchor while Bobby the captain gave us a dive briefing. I listened attentively. The conditions sounded fantastic to me. Visibility was between 60 and 80 feet (this prompted a slightly disappointed “Oh” from the passengers) with no current on the surface or on the bottom. Bobby gave us a quick history of the dive site. It was a coast guard cutter sunk as part of an artificial reef program two years ago. The ship was sunk about 200 yards from another wreck the Aeolus, allowing fish and sharks to commute between the two wrecks, creating a more extensive habitat. I began donning my rig with my dive buddy Betsy. It was liberating to only where a 3ml wetsuit after last weeks drysuit. I needed little in the way of weight and the only extra gear I had to wear was a pony bottle, for the depth. While we were suiting up, it was warm out, but not too warm too make you sweat. Jumping into the water was fantastic. It was just cool enough to be refreshing after wearing a wetsuit out of the water for half an hour. Slipping under the surface the water was a beautiful blue color and I could actually see all the other divers nearly 100 feet beneath us. Betsy and I began our descent onto the wreck. It was remarkable to see the ship, still looking new and workable even though it had been underwater for two years. The aquatic life was abundant, though not in comparison to the wrecks we saw later in the week. The most interesting part of the dive was exploring the ship, still so intact that some of the gauges were still in the control room. However since the wrecks off the coast in North Carolina are unprotected, the gauges certainly won’t be there for long. Huge bits of the ships were removed for divers to enter the inside of the wreck. It is possible to swim through most of the ship down the hallways since nothing has caved in yet. I did not attempt this, since I was contented with what I could see from the outside of the ship. Air goes fast at 100 feet, where the wreck was at, so after 15 minutes at the bottom (breathing nitrox) Betsy and I headed for the surface. The ascent takes forever from that depth and we did a nice long safety stop at fifteen feet, so the dive is close to forty minutes long by the time you get back to the boat. Since the dives are so deep, a long surface interval is required too. I spent this time doing cannon balls off the bow of the boat with Betsy and her sister Katy. After a while, just about everyone joined in the fun and we had diving and cannonball contests. After a while it was time to eat so we did one last jump and hunkered down to our bagged lunches. Soon enough we were gearing up again. We hopped into the water and descended again. The second dive was just as enjoyable as the first with warm water and great visibility, though it was a little shorter, just to be on the safe side. About half of the passengers on the boat slept on the way back. When the boat made it back to the dock, we unloaded our tanks to get them filled then headed back to the hotel.
The Joys of a Working Camera
The third and fourth days of my Optiquatics trip went by quickly, though I only did three dives over the two days since I had come down with a stomach bug. I did one dive on the last day since I had to fly out the following morning. This dive was probably my favorite out of all the dives. We dove on a rock formation with a giant underwater arch. There was a huge variety of marine life there, more than any of the other dives we had done all week. And best of all my camera worked for almost the entire dive. Up till this final dive I had managed a meager fifteen pictures. I took more than forty on this dive alone. I shot everything, the seaweed, the sponges, the ugly little fish, the fickle garibaldis. I even managed to get a picture of a nudibranchs that wasn’t a Spanish Shawl. This was especially tricky because I caught sight of the nudibranchs under the arch where the lighting was dismally dark. I several pictures of the critter, but only one is recognizable. The dive was a blast. I was delighted the entire time. Even better was looking at the pictures when I got back topside. I was giddy. A lot of the pictures came out well. They were miles from the quality and artistry of everyone else on the boat, but a few were reasonably well exposed and decently framed. I did not manage to capture the brilliant colors that I know most of the critters possessed. This final dive did instill in me a burning desire to own my own underwater camera. On the last day the crew motored the boat back to Ventura harbor where everyone said goodbye. Mostly everyone needed to fly home, so the majority of us made our way to the Ventura Harbor Hilton where I enjoyed a nice long shower and stationary bed before flying home the next morning. Overall, diving in the Channel Islands was probably the most exciting, colorful, and challenging diving that I have done to date. And taking pictures with a working camera was probably the most fun I have ever had underwater it was fantastic. I am really inspired to go get my own camera now. I just wish they were a little cheaper:)