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During my first week at WHOI with Kim, I had the opportunity to meet for an afternoon with Sea Rover Dr. Roger Hanlon at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. As someone who loves all things cephalopod, it was amazing to meet Dr. Hanlon and talk about his work studying cephalopod behavior! We talked especially about some of his current research into what cuttlefish camouflage actually looks like to the predators the cuttlefish is trying to fool. I learned that he met one of his research partners at the Boston Sea Rovers Clinic, and Dr. Hanlon walked me through what they’ve been working on in the past few years.

Cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses are in complete control of how they appear to the outside world, and are able to change their color, pattern, and texture within the blink of an eye to match their surroundings. The question Dr. Hanlon and his team are asking is what the camouflaging animal looks like to other sea creatures, since they all perceive color differently. Some (like us) have three color receptors, while others have two or four, or more! Mantis shrimp famously have twelve color receptors in their eyes, which let them see thousands more colors than we can imagine. To understand this, Dr. Hanlon built a camera with sixteen color receptors, to be able to pick and choose receptors to imitate shark-vision or fish-vision. Dr. Hanlon was really kind and walked me through some of the hardware and software he’s been using to gather that data. It was so amazing to see!

Dr. Hanlon took me on a brief tour of the MBL labs, and I got to meet some of the cuttlefish, squid, and octopus that live there. They all had fun names, which I loved. One cuttlefish, Inigo Montoya, was very suspicious of the strange humans in his room, and changed his skin to have eyespots on the back of his mantle and a rippling white rectangle in the middle. Dr. Hanlon (the Cuttlefish Whisperer) has been studying cuttlefish for so long that he knows exactly what each display means, and was able to translate it for me!

I had a wonderful time talking with Dr. Hanlon. I was already interested in cephalopods, and in behavioral research, but talking with him made me really excited for my own journey as a diver and scientist. We talked about how we both prefer spending time in the ocean rather than in a lab, and he gave me some great pointers about using photography as a part of research. I’m heading to the Backscatter Digital Shootout as a part of my Internship, so I’ll be keeping his advice in mind as I get more familiar with underwater photography.

I will forever be grateful that Dr. Hanlon took the time to meet with me and show me his research, and for how interested in encouraging my own journey he was! It was a fascinating afternoon with a fascinating man.

– Sofia

My Internship has officially started! I spent the first several days in Cape Cod with Sea Rovers Vin and Kim Malkoski (the current BSR president!). Neither of them have seen me dive before, so we did several check-out dives to assess my buoyancy and to practice some skills. It’s been a while since I was in a drysuit, so it was really helpful to get that practice in too.

My first day was a big one: Vin and I went through all my gear, making sure I had everything I needed and that it was all set up correctly. We did our first check-out dive and since the weather was so lovely, and stopped for ice cream on the way home (Vin and I are both big on ice cream, I’ve learned).

That night, the Malkoski family and I drove up to Boston to see the first showing of Sea Rover Keith Ellenbogen’s short film Space to Sea: The Gulf of Maine’s Ocean Wilderness at the Museum of Science. We got to see the film on the huge IMAX screen of the Museum’s Mugar Omni Theater, and Keith spoke about the process and inspiration behind the film before showing it again. The images were all stunning, and did a great job showing the importance and beauty of New England’s ocean ecosystems. My favorite part of the film was a transition from a dark water column full of plankton fading to become stars in the night sky. It was a great night, and there were plenty of other Sea Rovers in attendance to support Keith!

In addition to my checkout dives with Vin, I also got to spend some time at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, where Kim is the Dive Safety Officer! We dove off the dock at WHOI, and I got to meet some of Kim’s colleagues and learn more about what she does in the Dive Office. 

I had the opportunity at the very end of the week to join the DAN Diving First Aid course that Kim was teaching – with so many researchers heading out soon, plenty of people needed to renew their First Aid and Rescue training. We learned how to properly give CPR, bandage wounds, recognize decompression sickness, administer emergency oxygen, and a whole lot more! I’m really grateful that Kim had me join the class, I feel much more prepared as a diver. It was also great to get a glimpse of some of the training that scientific divers like those at WHOI have to go through before they can join expeditions!

– Sofia

During my time in Monterey, I had the opportunity to dive multiple times a day for many days in a row. Unfortunately, we could not dive from the beach due to a sea lion takeover (as pictured above); however, we ended up having wonderful boat dives. The extensive time in the water allowed me a lot more practice with my camera and Backscatter generously allowed me to try out a bunch of new stuff including their new hybrid flashes, and a macro set up. I got to practice macro, wide angle, play with sea lions, and dive through kelp! It was very helpful to be able to get time and comfort in the water to practice. Above water I got to hang out with the incredible people that work at Backscatter and did a bit of whale watching thanks to our wonderful Captain Phil! Phil was an amazing asset to my dives, keeping us safe, telling us where to go, and he even gifted me his grandmother’s sterling silver grapefruit spoon. (I have found that using a small spoon to take off my Kubi dry gloves is the most effective way for me to do it on my own.) When Phil saw this, he promised me he had the perfect tool: a grapefruit spoon which has small flat edges — perfect for prying. I will forever cherish my dives and learning in Monterey and the amazing people that welcomed me with open arms and will continue to polish my dry suit grapefruit spoon thinking of Phil and Backscatter every time. Thank you so much to Becca for organizing my time there amidst the chaos of the competition week and getting me set up with some awesome opportunities! I learned a lot about underwater photography and videography, how the shop runs, and about the underwater life of Monterey.

For a few days in between the National Aquarium and the Monterey shootout, I had the pleasure to head down the coast to visit Ron Watkins for a photography workshop. I was so grateful to be able to fit this in and learn from another amazing photographer. His workshop was run a bit differently than Jake Stout’s and instead of a lake we had a pool! I learned a lot from him and gained many tips I hope to use in the shootout. We had a very fun pool photoshoot photographing my sister as the model. Unfortunately, his dog Atlas was not allowed in the pool to model for us though he would have loved it. During my two days there, we went through multiple lectures, discussed different equipment and techniques, and conducted the pool session. Below are some behind the scenes pictures Ron took of me and a few I took myself. Thank you so much to Ron and his wife Manomi for sharing your home and incredible knowledge with me! I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to enhance my skills!

 

Continuing my immersion in the aquarium world, I headed down to visit Holly Bourbon at the National Aquarium. Diving within the tanks allowed me lots of time to practice with the camera and give lots of fish sand baths. I made fast friends with a pork fish who would swim alongside me throughout the dives, and it was so fun to see how interactive some of the fish are and how some really don’t mind my camera lights. I was surprised how big the puffer fish were!

On my second day I spent the morning shadowing the team feeding the rays and Zuri the leopard shark. I also helped with food prep and got to tour behind many of the galleries. It was really cool to hear about how all the galleries are maintained and how the coral is grown. I learned that the touch tank jellies exhibit has jets and slanted walls to help them circulate and flow easily throughout the tank. I also got to see some feedings in the exhibits and shark alley. The sawfish were so cool! Then I got back in the water in the afternoon, searching for the new moray eel Gerkin, who has been hiding and taking a few photos around the exhibit practicing with the camera.

Day three was spent in the new Harbor Wetland exhibit, making finishing touches and getting it cleaned up for the opening. It was lots of fun, but very sad to see how much trash is in our water and getting washed up against the new wetland area. On the plus side, we also saw lots of wild ducks happily hanging out near the new habitat and poking around. The team that built the wetland did a fabulous job and it looked great!

I also got to spend time with the Jelly exhibit team! It was so cool to learn about the jelly life cycle which is drastically different from most other animal life cycles. They showed me around behind the exhibits and lab where they culture the jellies. My favorite part was seeing the different life cycles of the jellies under the microscope! I got to see the planula (fertilized free-floating egg with cilia so they can move around), the polyp (stationary asexual phase), and ephyra (free floating phase that starts to look more like a jellyfish). It was incredible! I also got to view what they eat under the scope including krill and rotifer, and I also learned about the complexity of the water quality control of the exhibits. I learned the curved shape of the exhibits is for flow as the jellies cannot move much on their own and rely on current to help them get around. They told me keeping jellies in the exhibit is like “keeping an antelope on the moon” (a quote by David Oyedepo), a visual that stuck with me to remember how complex it is.

On my last day I was able to go over to the animal care and rehabilitation center where I got to see many of the animals who are off exhibit for the time being due to retirement, quarantine, construction, and more. The facility was much larger and newer than I had experienced at the New England aquarium. I saw many freshwater turtles including pig nose and snake neck turtles. I learned that it is possible for turtles who have been hit by boats to get gas stuck in their carapaces making them positively buoyant and unable to stay down. In the afternoon I got to hop in the water and explore Black Tip Reef. It was really fun to swim around with all the large sharks and rays. You can’t appreciate the ray’s sizes until you are down next to them. I also met Cena, a Humphead Wrasse, who is slowly turning from female to supermale as she grows larger and turns bright blue! I had a wonderful time with Holly showing me around. Thank you so much Holly and the National Aquarium team!

New England Aquarium week! 

Thank you to Dan and Dawn Dolan for hosting me in Boston during my time at the New England Aquarium! I went to the Quincy rehabilitation and husbandry center with Dan on the first day, spending the first part of the day in the turtle rehabilitation center helping with feeding, exam checkups, tagging, and more! There, I learned all about the multiple types of tagging (satellite, acoustic, flipper tags) including how long they last, where they go on the turtle, how big the turtle needs to be for them to be attached. The turtles were so fun to watch and be around, and it was cool to get to know their personalities a bit while I was feeding them. Some would come right up and steal everyone’s food, others would hang back and ignore the fish even when you put it right in front of their face. When taking them out for exams a few would flip around while others just sat on the towel peacefully. On the husbandry side I had the opportunity to feed the rays! Their vacuum-like mouths and hard plates felt weird at first, but I got used to it quickly and had a blast trying to get them all their fish before they swam away. I also got to watch them play with different enrichment objects and clean part of one of the quarantine tanks. It was while cleaning that I met Potato! Potato is a little balloon fish, and I had a great time watching him swim around and up to Dan asking for food. Thank you so much to the Husbandry and Rehabilitation Team!

      

The next day I got to hang with the penguin team! They were such great people to work with and, just like the others at Quincy, very knowledgeable about the animals. They welcomed me with open arms and gave me the chance to feed and hold the penguins! I am so grateful for the opportunity to hang out with them (even if it was cold water!), and  I had so much fun learning about each individual penguin and who was a picky eater vs a more aggressive one vs “a shark” that tried to snatch fallen fish out of the water before you grabbed it back up. They were lively and a few were very interested in the enrichment, which was cool to see. I just had to remember to keep my hands up out of the water, so they didn’t bite my fingers as they circled around me. Overall, such a good day, and I appreciate wet suits for keeping me warm! Thank you so much to the Penguin Team! 

Next, I had the amazing opportunity to hang out with the Giant Ocean Tank team for two days! First up, we pulled the two loggerhead turtles out of the tank to record their weight and check their eyes. They were pretty good about getting in but did not want their eyes checked with the bright light. Then I prepared food for Myrtle the turtle and the comb and triggerfish! Myrtle gets her fish wrapped up in lettuce and it was fun to try to get her to eat the butts of the lettuce which she can be picky about. After feeding, I got to get in the water! I dove around mesmerized by the fish coming right up to my face and Myrtle asking for back scratches. I had a great time and learned so much about how they feed and run the tank.  The second day I already knew how to do some tasks such as feeding Myrtle and food prep and was delighted to be able to do them on my own.  Thank you, GOT!

 

I also had the opportunity to shadow the touch tank and medical staff during barb clips of the rays.  It was amazing to see the efficiency with which the different departments came together to make it a smooth process.  The person cutting the barbs used a tool as simple as dog nail clippers but had to make sure the barb was long and pointy enough to need cutting.  I learned some species have up to 10 barbs and sometimes they can grow backward by accident!  One of them also needed an ultrasound and it was cool to see how they infiltrated the gills with water so the ray could stay breathing while on the exam table.  I can now officially say I have seen the inside of a ray! Lastly, I found it very interesting that they scatter fed the rays whereas other departments had to count the amount of food most animals got to make sure they were eating enough. Thank you, Touch Tank and Medical Staff!

 

I spent my last day with marine mammals which includes the sea lions and harbor seals. I watched them do each training session, which was the most interesting part of the day. I even got to give the harbor seal Amelia a salute, wave, and dance signal. The intensity with which the animals pay attention to their trainer is incredible. They respond to the slightest movements and bark when they get excited that they did something right. I think it is awesome that they can train them to voluntarily offer different positions and parts of their bodies for exams and checkups. It makes it easier and more enjoyable for everyone and is one of the most crucial parts of their training. To end the week, I helped to clean up and learned about food prep. I was surprised to learn they eat Jello! Thank you, Marine Mammal Team, for a great last day!

 

Overall, it was an amazing week, and I am incredibly grateful to all the Aquarium staff and Dan Dolan for organizing it. I have learned that most everyday aquarium animal care is the same routine, however, each day holds at least one unique new task. 

 

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!