I had just gotten back from Newfoundland when I found myself on an early morning Amtrak down to Baltimore to meet Holly Bourbon, a friend of the Sea Rovers. Holly is the director of dive programs and a DSO at the National Aquarium, and she graciously invited me to stay with her for a week to get a glimpse behind-the-scenes at the National Aquarium!
When I arrived at the Baltimore train station in the afternoon, Holly was waiting for me outside and we headed straight to the dive locker. I met Brittney, one of the other DSOs, and Holly and I got set up for my check-out dive in the Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit!
I was absolutely buzzing with anticipation as Holly went through the briefing. I had never dove in an aquarium before, but had wanted to since before I could remember. I went to aquariums all the time as a kid, and always wondered what the exhibits looked like from the inside, long before I was a diver. Knowing that I was about to find out, I could hardly contain my excitement!
As we stepped out of the elevator, I got my first glimpse of the National Aquarium. We wheeled our gear over to the far end of the Atlantic Coral Reef (ACR) exhibit and blocked off the walkway behind us to give ourselves safety and privacy to get ready. 
Holly and I did a lap tour around the loop of the ACR, passing columns of fiberglass coral and swimming through hidden channels behind the coral before popping up by the windows that face the rest of the aquarium and then passing back into the main part of the ACR where guests in the middle of the ACR loop could see us.It was so much fun to wave to all the little kids following us from window to window! 
When we got back to the more open area underneath the dive platform, Holly and I planted ourselves on the bottom to check off some basic skills and a peg-board task. Once I finished with that, we had time to explore more of the ACR! We passed one of the green moray eels tucked into the coral, and met the other one in a small passage underneath another coral structure. The huge tarpon swam laps around the ACR and Odie the sea turtle came and checked us out as we finished our dive. What a way to start my time in Baltimore!
After a solid night’s rest at Holly’s, I was ready for my first full day at the Aquarium. 
The first thing on the docket was the extraction and rescue training that Holly and Brittney were running for the Marine Mammal team. Tuesday was the classroom session, and I observed and helped out as necessary as the Marine Mammal team practiced various CPR roles and learned how to use an extraction board.
Then, Holly gave me a tour of the aquarium, plus some behind-the-scenes areas behind the galleries. I had never been to the National Aquarium before, so it was fascinating to be introduced to it from the guest-facing and behind-the-scenes sides at the same time! In the afternoon, I returned behind the scenes to watch a dive in the Shark Alley tank underneath the ACR. This dive was to get one of the sawfish more acclimated to divers in the water. The senior aquarist of Shark Alley, Lindsey, explained the concept as she and her dive buddy got geared up. I then watched their dive from the catwalk above the tank as she and another aquarist (also on the catwalk) strategized the best approaches. The sawfish was very skittish when the divers were in the water, and even got spooked by one of the rays that swam too close. Ultimately, the aquarists had to call the dive, since they didn’t want to stress the sawfish out too much. When Lindsey surfaced, she had two Sand Tiger Shark teeth for me that she had picked up off the floor of the tank! Sharks lose teeth all the time, and their multiple rows of teeth act like a vending machine where they will move forward to fill in the gap of a lost tooth.
I stayed in the Shark Alley area for the rest of the afternoon, exploring on my own and listening in on the shark talk given about the diversity of sharks in the Blacktip Reef exhibit on the floor of the aquarium (blacktips, zebra sharks) and Shark Alley (sand tiger, nurse, sandbar sharks – sawfish are actually a type of ray, not shark!).
Once we finished up at the aquarium, Holly and I got some dinner and walked down the street to the Orioles ballpark. It was game time: Baltimore Orioles vs. the Toronto Blue Jays! It had been absolutely sweltering out that day (up to 100 degrees!) but luckily our seats were shaded, and it only got cooler as the night went on. Two of Holly’s friends, one of whom works at the Animal Care and Rescue Center I would be visiting on Friday, joined us for the game. It was a close one with lots of runs and good hits, and ultimately the Orioles won, prompting orange fireworks from the stadium.
My first two days at the Aquarium were spectacular, and I was only more excited for the rest of the week!
– Sofia