scuba diving
Photo of the Week: Shallow Dive
Members of our Baltic Expedition crew have been diving in the waters around Finland's Åland Islands. Even in the shallow waters pictured here, the poor visibility felt "like diving at night," according to diver and deck coordinator Jesús Molino. In this water, it would be hard to see your hand sticking out in front of your face.
Even close to the shore, the water reached depths of up to 100 meters. The crew sent in remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to survey the seabed in these deep waters before heading in themselves.
The divers braved dark, icy waters to film the marine life in the waters near these isolated islands. They found a variety of shrimps, eels, isopods, fish like the fourhorn sculpin, and even a submerged bird egg.
The crew has spent the last few days in the Åland Islands, and will set off on the next leg of their journey tonight. They will be sailing north for about 15 hours to reach their next working site in the Baltic Sea.
Ocean Hero Finalists: Zach Rome
This is the first in a series of posts about this year’s Ocean Hero finalists.
Starting today, I’ll be highlighting each of this year’s Ocean Hero finalists on the blog, since their stories deserve more space than what fits in the voting boxes at oceana.org/heroes.
First up we have Zach Rome, whose love for the oceans began at age 11, when his grandfather took him scuba diving in the Florida Keys. He was hooked, and spent subsequent summer vacations scuba diving around the world, climbing the scuba certification ladder.
He went on to study marine biology at the University of Miami, where he learned just how important and fragile the oceans are. He decided that after graduation, he would devote himself to passing on that knowledge.
After spending a few years working as a scuba instructor and middle school science teacher, he founded The Schooba Academy, a nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, NY that teaches students from low-income communities about science through scuba diving.
Day 29: Heading to the ‘Alabama Alps’
Senior campaign communications manager Dustin Cranor is back on board the Latitude after a short hiatus on land, and he’s here to tell you about the latest leg of the expedition in the “Alabama Alps,” an ecologically rich reef in the Gulf of Mexico. More on that below in the video with our chief scientist, Mike Hirshfield.
Here’s Dustin:
Thursday, September 9
As Will Race and the rest of our Alaskan colleagues headed back to Juneau this week, a new crew was making its way to Gulfport, Mississippi to board the Oceana Latitude.
Our next mission? Documenting seafloor habitat areas along the continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico that may have been harmed by underwater oil.
During this leg, Spanish ROV operators Jose Manuel Saez and Josep Fleta will use a device to reach depths of approximately 1,500 feet and film in high-definition.
The Oceana Latitude also welcomed support divers Thierry Lannoy (France) and Jesus Molino (Spain), as well as Maribel Lopez from Oceana’s Madrid office. Dr. Michael Hirshfield has also returned to the ship. Here he is talking about this leg of the expedition:
Dr. Michael Hirshfield on Oceana Latitude Describes Deepwater ROV Research Sept. 9, 2010 from Oceana on Vimeo.
Oil Spill Quote of the Day
From yesterday's New York Times:
"It’s not just fishermen,” said Captain Pete [Lacombe, dive master in the Florida Keys], who is 45. “It’s dive boat operators, instructors, mates, the guys who fill up our tanks. This [oil spill] could be potentially devastating for all of us.”
Ocean Hero Finalists: Laura Medrano
This is the third in a series of posts about this year’s Ocean Hero finalists.
Laura Medrano is a mental health professional who helps inner-city adolescents in Boston through Dive Kulture, the first program in the nation to offer scuba certification in conjunction with environmental summer jobs.
The youths she helps are at risk of violence, abuse and neglect and many already have a criminal record, Laura told me. Through Dive Kulture, she uses scuba diving as a therapeutic mental health treatment. The students learn how to breathe more slowly through scuba, which helps them calm down and think more clearly in difficult situations.
Plus, for many of Laura's students, it’s their first time in the ocean -- she helps them connect to the marine environment in their backyard. Some of them, she says, didn't know the ocean was salty before joining Dive Kulture.
