SCUBA Diving!
I have been an active NAUI SCUBA diver since 1990, and almost all of my diving has been in cold
water--Monterey, California, Puget Sound, Washington, and southeast Alaska. I would love to do some more
warm water diving (it sure would be nice not to have to wear all the weight associated with a dry suit!), but on the whole I much prefer the ecology of cold water. In cold water there are many more surprises as it takes a careful, patient eye to see all of the cryptic animals! I consider myself an invertebrate zoologist, enraptured by the diversity and special adaptations of ALL the organisms out there (marine as well as non-marine, although I am more interested in the marine ones and know more about them), not just my special research animals.
Today's children are tomorrow's future. Teach them well and the future will be brighter -- and children can be of any age, they just need to have the joy of curiosity!
My favorite thing to do is to take people who know very little about the marine animals and ecosystems and introduce them to these amazing animals (some of which barely look like animals to most people), letting them touch them and showing them similarities and differences among them. To see these animals is to be enthralled by them, and a sense of wonder is a good stepping stone to a desire for understanding them. Only by getting many people interested in understanding and enjoying the diversity of life on this planet do we have a hope of actually preserving these treasures for generations to come. For these reasons, I often feel more of a need to teach marine biology to non-biologists of all ages than to college biology students. These non-biologists often make many of the critical decisions for our environment (either in the form of donations, taxes, laws, voting, road planning, consumer use, through their buying power, and many other ways). By getting them to understand at a basic level why biology and the environment matters for their lives (since many fear science and do not see how it is relevant to their lives if it is non-medical science), not only are their lives enriched, but their understanding and interest often has important repercussions.
Although there are times I would rather NOT get into the cold waters of Puget Sound (like at 5 a.m. in February), I love diving in this region. Because of the strong currents in the area, diving in most places is only safe at slack
tide-- the short window after the extreme tide (either high or low) has been reached and before the waters start moving again. Diving at any other time can be life-threatening, as the currents can often be stronger than a person can swim against, even with super-duper fins. This makes getting back to your boat difficult. Even if you are drift-diving with a live boat tender, there can still be sudden downwelling currents that can quickly sweep divers to dangerous depths. For these reasons, I would strongly recommend diving with someone knowledgable about the area for the first few times. Besides, having someone who knows the area means that you will see many more interesting sights, and precisely because of the strong currents here, this is some of the best diving in the world! (So I think. . . )
The amazing underwater world needs to be seen to be believed.
The rich planktonic food sources and the fast currents mean that there is plenty of food for the plethora of filter feeders that live here, and they are quite abundant and diverse. The echinoderm assemblage in the Puget Sound region is phenomenal, with suspension feeding cucumbers (such as the beautiful Cucumaria miniata) often so abundant that the bottom looks like a planted, waving garden of tentacles. Although I work on snails, my favorite animals are the nudibranchs (sea slugs). They are the most beautiful and interesting animals in the world! Don't believe me? Check out these links for some pictures of these delicate beauties.
I have recently become interested in the hobby of underwater photography--stills as well as video. For a sampling of
some of my nicer pictures, please click here. (Warning, this will take a bit more time to download.)
