The View From Below
It is day five of the mission and as Howard writes in the previous blog, the aquanauts are getting out there, unlocking the mysteries of the reef’s sponges, and in between becoming the focus of some underwater paparazzi. Along with a visit from a crew filming for the Discovery Channel, they did an interview from Aquarius with a reporter on shore from HD News and today, Telemundo will be making a brief visit to bring the excitement of the undersea lab to Spanish speakers across the globe.
And while landlubbers are getting a great view of what life is like down below from the streaming web cams and blogs, the aquanauts are enjoying the surrounding scenery as well. Lead habitat technician, Mark Hulsbeck finds the view especially interesting at night… “waking up in the middle of the night and looking out of the bunkroom viewport, you never know what you’ll see. The first night, I saw a large pink moon jellyfish undulating past the viewport - hard to tell if I was dreaming or not. In the morning I awoke to what first appeared to be a nuclear submarine blocking the viewport. Turned out it was the larger (300 lbs) of two goliath groupers that have taken up residency at Aquarius. Too cool!.”
And you never know what might happen when you are out diving…..aquanaut Patrick Gibson found this out, relaying, “I had a big green seaturtle come right up and check me out today. He also swam over to inspect my instruments, the “turtles.” He came right up to us without any fear or hesitation. Part of me thinks that with the double tanks on my back and the instruments looking the way they do that he may have thought he fit in with us. It’s refreshing to have those big animal encounters down here - it really brings things into perspective.”
All of the aquanauts are enjoying the extended time for diving that living in Aquarius allows and the unmatched view from the world’s only undersea research station.
Dr. Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base
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