Yesterday the visibility got a lot better. I spent a few hours out diving on hookah in the afternoon. As I scraped oysters off the habitat there was a mob of hungry fish waiting to see what they could scrounge from the debris I left behind. Soon after, our support crew showed up in the R/V Sabina to deliver a fresh supply of water. I secured the hose and made ready the tanks to take on the water from above. There were a few minutes to talk with our topside support. You really feel like it’s a team effort when a mission is going on. The mission, and all it includes, becomes the goal.
Last night I went out on hookah again. You always see something different at night. There were some interesting bioluminescent critters out and about. When I have a few extra minutes it’s fun to throw on another weight belt and walk around.
This morning it is Friday May 25, 2001 and it is the fifth day of the mission. It’s the last full day of diving before we begin decompression, tomorrow. I’m really getting used to being down here. If you could use the word routine to describe our habits here, then this is a routine I could enjoy. Today we are going to try to finish up some work before we begin pre-decompression preparations.
Well, it’s already Friday morning, Day 5. It’s amazing how time flies down here; the days quickly blend together. I guess when you spend all day in the water, by the time you come back, all you want to do is eat (a lot), plan the next day, and get some sleep. The next day, it’s back into the water.
And what a couple of days it’s been. Yesterday, we left the habitat about 8:30 am, and what do we see when we arrive, mass sponge spawning. Every other barrel sponge was like a chimney, streaming larvae into the water column. These sponges are literally like giant barrels, and some were filled with eggs. We’d fan out the sponge, so it was completely empty, and within minutes it was full again. Can you imagine how much energy these things are just throwing into the water, hoping that some will land on the reef? The few larvae that actually make it that far are then have to compete with algae and corals for extremely limited open space to grow and survive. Watching the angel fishes and wrasses circle around the spawning sponges, gobbling up whatever they can get to, I figure most of the sponge larvae never even make it to the reef. It was a sight I had never seen in all of my visits to the reef, definitely pretty amazing. Oh, and don’t worry, we took plenty of video.
Yesterday was also Will’s birthday, one of the few people to ever turn 21 under the sea. Our handy lab techs made a birthday cake while we were away. Little Debbie Swiss Cake rolls, covered in Butterfingers, oh and a glow stick as a candle. And our trusty surface support crew also brought down some sushi from the local grocery store for a birthday feast. A birthday to remember. Feel free to drop him a belated birthday hello.
Well, it’s back to work this morning. It’s out to the Pinnacle Site for sponge surveys. Our last full day of work. Time does fly down here.
Today I took a bit of a break from doing maintenance on the Aquarius and took a tour of the surrounding reef. I spotted a cleaning station between the corals and sponges and stopped for a manicure. There were a number of Pederson Cleaner Shrimp on duty. These small translucent shrimp have beautiful purple spots that help them advertise their business. They caught my eye, so I gently placed my hand next to their shop and they quickly went to work. They hopped onto my hand and started removing and eating the loose skin surrounding my fingernails. It didn’t hurt a bit. As a matter of fact, their little legs kind of tickled. They serve an important role on the reef. Fish stop by these cleaning stations to have parasites removed from their bodies.
About midway through my grooming, an Arrow Crab hopped aboard to finish the job. He must have been the supervisor. He finished off the missed spots. About this time, a Spotted Moray Eel stuck his head out of a hole, just inches from my hand. I guess I was intruding on his appointment. The cleaner shrimp must have put up a new sign as a Dentist Office, because Mr. Moray opened his mouth and the cleaner shrimp quickly began giving him a cleaning that any Dental Hygienist would envy. I admired their work for a while, bid them adieu, and continued my tour of the reef.
Sometimes the little things are the most fascinating!
It’s kind of like when you’re camping out in the wilderness. You start to see more. You might even think you become less intrusive on the “natural” world. The behavior around you seems to make more sense. You eventually reach a point where you think you could live like this indefinitely. That would be nice, but not quite possible. Just when you think all is honky-dory something happens that puts you back in your place.
It doesn’t take much to realize the marvel of your situation when you’re watching a spotted eagle ray fly by your window. Likewise, when an air filter becomes dislodged it makes you take note of your dependence on the life support systems of your underwater home. This is day three of my first Aquarius mission.
Just so people don’t get alarmed, the air filter that got dislodged was a redundant filter to a non-essential air system. At no time did this present a threat to the safety of the crew. It was easily fixed by the expert crew of habitat technicians (that’d be me and Otter). The episode actually was quite exciting. There’s no better way to learn about something than to try to fix it under pressure. Soon after it was fixed the Aquanauts returned to their work on the reef.
Afterward I was able to go out on hookah to trace out some exterior plumbing and perform the ritual scrubbing of valves. Most of the air supplies to the habitat are routed externally and enter at various places on the habitat hull. The best way to get a good picture in your head of the habitat as a system is to manually follow each pipe to see exactly where it goes.
I hope to get a chance to go out on hookah for a night dive at some point. Going outside here is kind of like going out in the winter. You’re excited to go but you look forward to the warmth when you come back inside. Still, I’d stay out there all day if I could.
This is NURC’s first Aquarius mission for 2001. Things are starting to settle down after getting the routine fine-tuned once again. The other habitat tech, Ryan Snow, and I have been busy stowing gear and getting the habitat ship-shape. So far we’ve been able to solve the few technical problems that have popped up.
The habitat techs try to get out in the water on a hookah diving rig for at least two hours a day. The hookah rig consists of a hose that’s attached to the habitat air supply. This allows us to work around the habitat without bulky scuba gear. It’s nice to get out into the water, but we try to get some work done at the same time. Mixing business and pleasure.
Today we did a live remote broadcast program with the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Science and Discovery, and the show also went out to the Broward County (Florida) schools. We gave them a tour of the habitat and then did interviews along with answering questions. Food is always one of the questions. We eat freeze-dried camping food as the main meal. We also have microwaveable soups and meals. There are a lot of snacks too. My favorite is “Butterfingers”! I’ll have to get back on that diet when I get topside.