Woohoo it Friday, and that means I get to dive in the Giant Ocean Tank!! This was supposed to be last Saturday but got moved around due a small covid outbreak. I am so excited! I did my morning commute to Boston, and brought all my dive gear with me. I headed right up to the Giant Ocean Tank (GOT) area and met the two interns that would be helping me that day. Doug was a year older than me, and would be showing me around as he was the most experienced. We started in the food prep room, and I worked with Mike O’neill on prepping food for half of the animals, while the other interns worked on the rest. It was very similar to how food was prepped in the Marine Mammals department. The one thing that was new was that I had to de-beak and de-pen the squid. I did this by squeezing out the beak like a pimple, which was pretty straightforward, but getting rid of the pen was much harder. I probably removed 3 pens in the time it took Mike to remove 7. The pen is this clear hard piece of the squid that is a few inches long. It is on the inside of the squid and lies under the part where the squid is darker in color. It was important to remove it as it is harder for the turtles to digest (I believe, there may have been another reason too).
Once we prepped the food, I got to go out and feed Myrtle the Green Sea Turtle. She is giant, around 70-90 years old, and around 590 pounds. She started with lettuce, as in the wild she would be eating seagrass. However, lettuce does not have all the benefits that seagrass does, so she is also fed some fish and squid to supplement that. We started with lettuce, as once she tastes the fish she has no interest in the lettuce anymore. She also gets fed a squid taco. This is a squid with three or four fish stuffed inside with her medications also inside. The medications are things like vitamins that she is missing by not eating what she would in the wild. 
After the feeding, I got suited up for my dive in the GOT. We talked about how it would go and Mike and I hopped in. We did a lap around the tank without my camera to make sure I felt comfortable, and then I grabbed my camera. My mom got to come and watch me do this which was special because she has never seen me dive before. It was so fun to wave to the kids through the glass and be surrounded by so many creatures. We even scratched Myrtles back as she loves that. Mike was a great host and made sure my mom was able to get lots of pictures of me in the tank. After the dive, I showered off and went to lunch with my mom.
After lunch I fed Myrtle again, but this time the aquarium was open (in the morning the public wasn’t there to watch). I was asked questions about Myrtle and the GOT which other staff helped me answer as I was still learning. I helped the interns clean up the area and check off everything on the to-do list before we headed home. I had a great time at the Giant Ocean Tank. I honestly can’t decide which department has been my favorite as they are all so engaging and hands on. Tomorrow is my last day and I will be heading off site to Quincy!
