We started the morning by getting the equipment ready for the dives for the day. We commenced diving and could tell it was pretty rough topside because of my ear drums heaving in and out. I felt bad for my brothers that were up there today. The first set of divers experienced a little difficulty with the job earlier in the morning because of the current, but they made progress, and it was my turn to dive right after we ate lunch. We had to finish the job with the 3D laser and then try a cavitating hydroblaster for cleaning on the habitat, so I had to really focus on what I was doing. I thoroughly enjoyed when topside had to scan and process their laser info, because I did a lot of googly-eyeing during that time and found myself sneaking to the bottom flipping over a rock or two to see if something was there.
About thirty minutes to an hour passed and my dive buddy had one of his fins swept away by the current (he had taken them off so he could work better on the wet porch). We then got the word that the hydroblaster wasn’t going to make it down because of the rough seas for the second support boat with the deck equipment. DARN! I don’t want to sound bad, but that was an answered prayer for me! The guys then handed us some scrapers and wire brushes, so we scraped for a few minutes, but my buddy needed to search for his fin. SLACK ON RED! I don’t think I missed an inch while scanning the bottom and surrounding area. I eventually made it to the reef, and I just stood and watched the many different, colorful, tropical fish, and looked in every nook, cranny and hole I came across. It was breathtaking to see all the beautiful and odd shaped creatures God created. I just wish I could explain the feeling I had while I was doing my exploring, hoping to see a shark during my time on the bottom (a small one and at a comfortable distance of course). We previously watched a couple of nurse sharks from out of the view ports the night before, but none while blowing bubbles.
Three hours and forty minutes of bottom time; yeah, that’s a very pleasing start and I wanted more. We completed the diving for the day and as soon as I got cleaned up I went to the bunkroom and peered out the view port. I spotted an enormous shark. I’m pretty sure it was a bull shark and it was without a doubt no less than 7 feet long. If I would have seen that cruise over me, I would have probably balled up in the fetal position and wined like a baby. Cox and Mr. Ince got to catch a glance at it also, and we started making plans for a night dive after dinner with a one hour bottom time for more exploring. Another meal and some relaxing and I am still stuck in the view port waiting for our night excursion. I was thinking back in awe of all that I had witnessed that dive and the total blessing it was to experience it. Cox and I were first to do the night excursion. I got to see many other creatures on the reef that you don’t get to see during the day. I also got to swim alongside a 50 pound goliath grouper, another dive that was absolutely amazing. Hopefully I’ll get some good rest tonight because I’m beat.
“Another day in paradise”, just off the coast of Key Largo, Florida at a depth of 47 feet of seawater (fsw). Our gaze is from the inside out and the sun must be shining for the visibility from the view ports has to be 100 feet or more. When we eat breakfast, lunch or dinner I sit by the view port and am constantly amazed at the natural aquarium created by God with all its beauty and wonders.
Outside the view port, our mission continues with cleaning and photographing the Aquarius habitat. With a total of five excursions to a maximum depth of 70 fsw, it is still hard to grasp the thought that we are living down here and do not have to decompress after each dive. The first three dives consisted of an average excursion time of three hours. The next two dives were night dives of 60 minutes each, a limit we set to obtain a 12 hour clean time so that we can dive again tomorrow. I had the opportunity to dive with LCDR David Ince of the Royal Navy. As we started our night dive we came upon a Stingray that was 5 to 6 feet wide. We took pictures and watched him feeding off the bottom. As we continued our dive we moved aft of the habitat as far as our umbilical would take us. Then we moved along the reef taking pictures and making our way around the portside of Aquarius to the forward section of the habitat. As I looked out into the darkness with only the beam of my dive light, I saw what I would consider a large Reef Shark. Fortunately, he decided not to get close enough for me to take his picture, and I was okay with that. Before we knew it, it was time to return to the habitat and cleanup for the night.
As we sit around the Aquarius at night taking turns calling loved ones, I feel most of us are living in a dream while we try and to convey to them what we are feeling. Again, I am overwhelmed with the majesty of Gods creation. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to live underwater and enjoy some of the beauties of this world that others will only see in a magazine or on television.
Well, I am going to start today by owning up to the fact that I failed to give credit in yesterday’s journal to a British Diver, LCDR David Ince, who is in saturation with us, for playing a part in our success yesterday. I sincerely apologize, and want everyone who reads this to know that he was and is a part of our team.
The military in me will never fade away. I woke up at 0530, but lay in the rack until 0630 watching fish swim at my bunkroom window. Not too long after that, the rest of the aquanauts woke up and had breakfast. The dive plan was to splash the first set of divers at 0800, and in true form our divers splashed at 0756. LCDR Ince and MDV Hove started by setting up the laser scanner in preparation for the arrival of the R/V Sabina with surface support. The laser scanner will give us an accurate 3-D view of the Aquarius habitat for future maintenance. This is where I failed to give credit to LCDR Ince, he is the laser scanner expert, but he also has engineer topside in support of the laser scanner named Ian Stifle. Sat divers, in concert with topside support positioned the laser, scanned and took snap shots of the habitat from 0830 until 1600, and all seemed pleased with the results.
Mid day Jim Buckley (Habitat Operations Manager) called me and asked if Capt. Wilkins (US Navy Supervisor of Salvage) and Capt. Murray (former Supervisor of Diving and current Navy Diving Program Manager) could come down for a visit. Both Capts are qualified Navy saturation divers, and both have an Aquarius saturation mission under their belts. Following a quick meet and greet, both men sat down and had lunch. We talked for a few moments, after all… we do have some history between us. The view from the table was like no other (if you know what I mean).
The significance of this lunch today with these two men at 45 fsw (feet of sea water) over cheese quesadillas and gatorade would not be seen by most people, at least by people who aren’t used to paying attention to tiny details. This lunch was loaded with tiny details… and to those people I say this… “Some of the best business deals have been made over what may have seemed to be an insignificant lunch.”
One last thing. Usually there are un-song heroes, people in the background that are seldom noticed. Today, as well as yesterday, the topside crews of NURC and of the U.S. Navy, along with others, once again braved a long day and 6 - 7′ seas to ensure our success. HOO YAH TOPSIDE!
As I stepped into Aquarius I was immediately reminded of a scene from my favorite movie, the scene where the recently shipwrecked sailors boarded the fog shrouded Nautilus submarine in Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Amazed by the apparently abandoned technological wonder, they eventually gaze from the view port in Captain Nemo’s stateroom, to see said Captain and his crew laying one of their fallen comrades to rest in a watery grave. I half expected Nemo to turn from his mysterious ceremony and discover that I had invaded his home as I gazed in wonder from the view port in Aquarius’s stateroom! Instead the unimpressed fish stared back at me, a creature in an ‘airium’ placed in their world for their amusement. A fantastic and humbling experience.
It wasn’t long before I was outside swimming with them, weighted down with necessary but cumbersome life support equipment, flowing past me unconcerned but curious about my presence in their environment, thousands of sleek multi-colored bodies turning the hull of the habitat into a shimmering living exo-skeleton.
In the darkness that evening I lay listening to Holst’s (Planet Suite), Neptune the Mystic, a moving and serene music which seemed to fit perfectly the ethereal view from the darkened view ports, as the denizens of Conch Reef glided in and out of the loom of the habs spot lights, the hunters and the hunted, a beautiful yet lethal dance of light and shadow.
Speechless, flabbergasted, in awe,… These are the best ways I can describe my first day inside the Aquarius. After a bit of a hectic start, things cooled off. At that point I was really able to start to comprehend what I was taking part in. The vast majority of my Navy dives have been in cold water, with visibility that was poor at best. I nearly lose my breath every time I stare out a viewport and see another five foot long barracuda, or the massive Goliath Grouper lurking outside. I think MDV Grubbs said it best, with his Quote, “I can’t believe they pay us to do this stuff”. At this moment I truly consider myself the luckiest man alive. I hope whoever reads this can enjoy the telling of this tale as much as I enjoy living it out. I thank God and my Navy for this rare opportunity.