I Never Would Have Imagined

When I was young my family had an annual pass to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and I would attribute some of my interest in scuba diving to my interactions with the marine life there. My favorite thing to do was to lie on the floor of the Open Sea Exhibit (despite my parents’ protests that it was dirty) and look up as the giant tuna swam by. As a child I never would have imagined having the chance to stand on top of that tank, watching the marine life swim below me instead of above me.  

My friend, Emily, is an assistant aquarist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and she took Sky and I on a behind-the-scenes tour last weekend. Our visit began with watching Emily do the broadcast feed for the Open Sea Exhibit. It was beyond cool, to walk in through one of the many locked doors I had definitely tried to open a child and climb the stairs to the top of the tank. The Mahi Mahi were zooming around the surface of the water, the Hammerhead sharks were doing ovals around the back of the tank, the tuna were at a mid depth, swimming amid the fray of the bait ball, and the rays and the white tipped shark were hanging out near the bottom. Occasionally the Mola Mola would appear underneath Sky and I for a swim by. Emily explained this exhibit has a feeding two times per day in which different fish are targeted. There are both slow swimmers and fast swimmers in the tank, and they need to be sure everyone has a chance to eat.       

After the feeding was over, Emily and her fellow aquarists went into turtle mode. The green sea turtles are moved out of the exhibit and into a holding area during feedings because they are pushy and tend to get in the way. They are trained to a mark, which is a yellow and white or red and black buoy, depending on the turtle. Hypothetically, the turtles know to follow their mark, which is how they are led to and from the exhibit. I say hypothetically because turtles do not always follow directions.

After the turtles were successfully relocated and happily munching on lettuce we went down into the drifters lab. Emily covers the Drift Gallery on weekends and is in charge of the gallery when the senior aquarist is gone. In the lab she does jelly culture work as well as algae, nauplii, and rotifer culturing. The lab is a set of rooms with jellies in all stages of life floating in tanks with rounded edges. It also has pipes of bubbling orange and green stuff, which we learned later, is algae. Emily told us jellies do better in tanks with rounded edges because it allows them to stay suspended rather than getting stuck in a corner. The algae are grown because the aquarium makes a point to grow every food source for the marine animals. The idea is you grow nourishing algae, which is then fed to the brine shrimp, which is then fed to the jellies. This helps ensure the health of the animals on exhibit and also makes the aquarium sustainable.

I have always found jellyfish extremely beautiful but never thought of them as the type of animal you would interact with, but Emily treated them like you would a cat. She moved them around with her hands and petted them, despite some of the species stinging her. She said she had been working with them for so long it didn’t bother her anymore, especially on her hands where the skin is tougher. Occasionally though, she said she leaves work with stingers still on her hands, and on the drive home she will touch her face or her eyes and that hurts!

In addition to the responsibilities I mentioned above, Emily is also on the Mola Mola, Turtle, Jellies Experience, and Tentacles teams. I am extremely grateful to her for taking time from her busy schedule to show us around. It was an amazing experience, especially as a diver! If you happen to be one of the lucky ones invited to the aquarium by Emily, I definitely recommend you seize the opportunity!  

Photo by Skylar Merritt 

Shark Angels

The scattered light and weird silhouettes created by the stacked pilings that once supported Mala Pier made it difficult to distinguish what was real and what was a trick of the light. I strained my eyes trying to see the animal my divemaster had indicated was hiding there. As I inched along the sandy bottom, the outline of the magnificent being began to appear. I could see her oblong body, pointed dorsal fin, rounded snout, and, finally, her pinprick black eyes looking right at me. Any fears I may have had on land were forgotten as I gazed at this beauty. I just got close enough to have a good view and in an instant she was gone, swimming further into the shadows. Most of my encounters with sharks have been like this. There and then gone.  

Much of the world fears sharks, but as divers we seek them out because they are truly beautiful animals. Tragically, 10,000 sharks are killed every hour for tacky souvenirs, fillers in foods, and makeup products. This is a travesty, not only because these creatures are amazing to behold, but because their existence guarantees ours. Sharks are apex predators who regulate our ecosystems and keep our oceans thriving. Our oceans are a huge source of food and they produce more oxygen than all of the forests in the world combined. Whether you love sharks or find them terrifying, this is not a light matter. We need sharks.

Shark Angels is an advocacy group focused on grassroots campaigns and educating the public to encourage individuals to make a difference and get others to join them. In addition to being the founder and executive director of Shark Angels, Julie Andersen is a SCUBAPRO Ambassador and Marketing Representative, and I had the pleasure of meeting her at the SCUBAPRO Platinum Meeting in March. There was no missing her passion for these animals. At the meeting, there was an extremely interesting presentation about new research surrounding shark repellents. The moment Julie heard “shark” she was beaming and she moved to the absolute edge of her chair to be that much closer to the conversation surrounding the creatures she loves so much. Shark Angels reflects that love and passion in its mission and dedication to affecting change.

Shark Angels provides us with a multitude of ways to reduce the number of sharks that are killed for our consumption, starting with becoming a Shark Angel and taking the pledge to not support businesses that sell shark products, increasing your shark IQ and teaching others the value of sharks, standing up for sharks and reporting any mistreatment, and, if possible, go meet a shark! Another way to save sharks is to “know what you are buying” and “be smart when you are eating seafood.” Shark is sometimes disguised with names like rock salmon or whitefish and “½ of the 73,000,000 sharks caught yearly are caught as by-catch,” meaning they are caught in commercial fishermen’s nets intended for other fish. Many people do not know but Squalene, or shark liver oil, is used in cosmetics; you can make a difference by “keeping sharks out of your cosmetics.” An individual person can affect change and it is important that you do.

Sharks are killed regularly for their fins; “a single Whale Shark pectoral fin can sell for up to $100,000 USD.”  Imagine being ripped out of your home and dragged across the deck of a boat, then having your appendages removed with a blazing-hot sharp blade and then being tossed into the ocean to die a slow painful death. This is unacceptable, and I urge you to take some time on the Shark Angel’s website learning what you can do to save these incredible animals.  

A Wetsuit Worth Sharing

It needs to fit, it needs to be comfortable, it needs to be durable, and, especially in Monterey, it needs to keep you warm. I think most of us would prefer to dive without a constricting layer of neoprene but, because that would most likely end similarly to the climax of the movie Titanic, we must find the most comfortable wetsuit to fit our needs. We want a fit that is like a second skin and that allows as much mobility as possible. But we also need durability, because this suit will be stewed in salt water (and other liquids, depending on your fluid intake and preferred method of warming up your wetsuit), raked with sand, and dashed by rocks and it must hold up to protect you. My wetsuit is one of my most cherished pieces of equipment because, without it, I am merely counting the minutes until I get out.

A couple of months ago I was in Pro Scuba chatting with Dave and Cheryl; a fellow diver walked in and we were introduced. We started talking about our love for diving and the topic of wetsuits came up. He had recently purchased a new suit. He was so stoked about it, he ran out to his car to grab it so he could show me. His new purchase was a SCUBAPRO Everflex Hooded Front Zip. His biggest praise was how comfortable the suit was. He loved the convenience of having the hood attached because he hated how the bib of his separate hood would bunch up in his previous wetsuit.

After seeing his enthusiasm for the suit, I read about it on the SCUBAPRO website and found several more qualities that really made it stand out. It fits our need for durability with abrasion resistant neoprene and abrasion resistant fabric on your booty (or, as is politely put on the website, “seat”) and shoulders. I also love that it is made out of SCUBAPRO’s X-foam. It “is the only formula which complies with very strict P.A.H. [Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons] test requirements.” PHAs are an environmental nightmare because they are difficult to burn and so they stay in the environment for long periods of time. They also have the potential to be harmful over continued exposure. The wetsuit is built the sane way, with the zipper in front and reachable; no more having to break out in sandy wetsuit yoga to get in and out.  

I do not have this wetsuit, but I felt it was worth sharing because a fellow diver was so excited about it and it covers our basic needs in a wetsuit. It is built to fit and be comfortable, durable and warm.  

Observations Confirmed

Over the weekend I was in San Diego visiting family. Unfortunately, I was unable to get in the water to dive, but I did go for a swim with my dad at La Jolla Cove. When we arrived we debated whether or not to get in because the conditions were not ideal. The waves were big and they were breaking just off shore. The beach at La Jolla Cove is relatively small and it is bordered by rock outcroppings. The shoreline is littered with rocks; even on a calm day you would have to be careful to not bang up against one. In our case, with the waves, there was the worry of getting caught up in a break and being pushed toward, hopefully not into, the outcroppings on either side of the beach. The water was a brisk 57 degrees and, without wetsuits, we were going to really feel the cold. We decided to go for it. Getting out past the waves was a bit of a challenge and the visibility was very limited (I get the heebeejeebees when I can’t see my hand in front of me when I’m swimming), but we made it and the chilly water was refreshing.

As I was toweling off, I noticed four divers heading down the stairs to the beach, which made me nervous. Each diver was overloaded with gear, everything from multiple camera set-ups to lift bags to dive slates. They had so much stuff that they could not attach it all to their bodies, and they were having to carry some of the gear in hand. La Jolla Cove is a location that I would guess is probably fairly calm most days because of the topography, but it was not at this time. These people used a significant amount of energy getting down the steep stairs to the ocean and were about to enter a rocky shore with a large break. Most of them did not have a hand to steady themselves if they got off balance. It did not look like a safe situation to me. I knew from being in already it was a struggle to get out, even with the maneuverability of not having any gear on. Plus, the visibility was limited and so they would not be seeing much even if they did make it past the waves with no incident. As I was standing there debating whether to point out my observations to them, a lifeguard came running up. I am assuming he explained to the group it was not a wise decision to get in because, after they finished speaking, the four hauled their gear back up the stairs and did not attempt the dive.

It was a relief they did not dive and also nice to have my observations confirmed by the lifeguard. I was glad the divers came down to the beach though, because it gave me an opportunity to answer questions about scuba diving for my thirteen year-old cousin. I explained how a buoyancy compensator operates and how it works with the regulator, octo and tank. I talked about the importance of having good buoyancy control and the risks associated with diving if you do not. I hope maybe I piqued enough interest for him to consider diving when he gets older. Maybe in the future, if he gets certified, I can take him diving at La Jolla Cove on a good day.

Photo by Kyle Pearce

http://www.dreamlajolla.com/la-jolla-cove-pictures.html