Yucky Saturday

Today was not too exciting... at all. I'm just writing to keep my mama updated and happy :]

We had a meeting last night to go over some more scheduling details, but it turned into a bonding fest. We were all starting to get so excited for the trip, we were just blurting things out and learning new things about Dr. G. Such as how he met his wife. Or the fact that Palauans have awkward ways of communication, such as staring at you, raising eyebrows slightly, or blinking slowly as a way of saying "hi." That's not creepy at all...

Today it was so cloudy when I woke up, it felt like I was walking through a cloud. There was no rain falling from the sky, yet I felt water droplets covering my bare arms, and everything looked moist. We had a quiz which was really more of a super basic worksheet to make sure we know the very basics about coral reefs and the history of Guam. Ex: who was the first explorer on Guam? Magellan. Bam. +1

We have been lazing around and packing up our gear to leave soon. Tonight we head back to L.A. and stay in a Marriott at LAX, where we are allowed to order room service for dinner, paid for by 'SC. Sweet!

We leave via Continental Airlines tomorrow morning around 9:30 A.M., two hour layover in Hawaii (Oahu), then off to Guam! Soooooooooo excited to get going. Talk to ya in two days (thanks to the date line), B

Night Dive and Day 3 on Catalina

OH my goodness, so much to talk about! (Sorry for the poor picture quality, btw)

To begin, last night we had our first-ever night dive. Whoa, what a scary concept. After a carb-filled pasta dinner, we waddled down the hill to the lecture hall to talk some notes on diving with nitrox (air with a higher percentage of oxygen and thus a lower percentage of nitrogen, increasing dive time and lowering risks of decompression sickness, etc.). If you haven't read my fbook status already; our dive instructor Jerry was late for lecture. He was taking a ride in a submarine. Nothing out of the usual on Catalina Island. Turns out, there is a 50,000 lbs. mooring that has fallen over and been dragged several meters. How? Nobody knows... there is also some kind of net missing and the hook is not-so-kindly torn off. Hmm, the mysteries of the deep never cease to amaze me.

Soon it was time... we headed down the bottom of the hill wearily and cold, sweatpants and jackets on. We found our wetsuits still wet. Surprise. Fun. Once you get it on, though, the 7mm protect your skin from wind and that does actually make you considerably warmer. We chose buddies -- I was with Dan Killam, aka Scuba Steve -- and got our flashlights. I picked the big flashlight and got to tie a glow stick to my tank too. Cool! Once on the dock in the dark, we were lucky enough to have two big ships nearby with nasty fog lights to give us some light. The ships belong to the bajillionaire who owns the submarine. Thanks, rich guy! In the light, before we even got in the water, we watch flying fish play around, just under the hungry gaze of some birds.

I hopped in the water and gave the okay sign. With only my flashlight for visual aid, I looked around me in the water and saw some red worm-like things squiggling around in front of me. Ew. Soon our group was assembled and ready. We descended and each covered our lights at the same time, experiencing total darkness (except for the glow sticks). Swimming around, we found a studly lobster trying to hide behind some coral. Ha, nice try. We surrounded it and gave it a heart attack I'm sure, because it soon fled under the kelp and into the darkness. Our group was confused and without direction, so for most of the 28 minute dive, we bumped into each other and made figure eights around the sea floor, kicking up a bunch of sand too. Not too fun, especially when you are cold. Resurfacing, we looked like torso-less heads bobbing in the ocean under tons of tons of stars. I love seeing the night sky out here, because you can see three times as many stars as Chicagoland area, about 1000 times more stars than L.A.

I wasn't as cold as I expected while getting out of the wetsuit, though it was still cold.

Day 3 on Catalina

Today we filled up our bellies with the first bananas we've seen all trip and peanut butter and toast, before embarking on our fifth dive of the trip. Today we planned our first nitrox dive and had to test each individual tank for the oxygen content and our maximum operational depth (MOD). That took a lot of time. So much time, in fact, we were soon hearing emergency alarms and seeing spinning lights. A helicopter was coming in to transport someone to a hospital on the mainland. Eek! We hurried to get all of our light gear away from the helipad, because we would lose it for sure in the high velocity winds if it wasn't hidden. Our Scuba tanks we left just nearby. We took the opportunity to run up the hill, play some volleyball and relax. We watched a boat come in with the person in distress on board. The paramedics (Baywatch) were working on them, stabilizing them I hope. The chopper arrived and we watched six big guys wheel the person to the chopper and inside, then it took off and we were back on schedule. The person was alive upon leaving; how much alive, we don't know.

We were nearly all geared up. I partnered with Jennah, who is a student like me but acting as a Scuba instructor, T.A., because she is already more than Scuba certified. She has at least 170 dives logged and lives in Florida. Go figure. We didn't not have our tanks on our backs yet. This is a process that takes a partner to lift up the 30? 40? lbs. tank, BC, and regulator up so you can strap it on. It's a wonder no one has broken their back yet. Anyways, out of no where, the alarm goes off again. Another chopper is coming! Shoot! We hurried to get our gear on and tanks on back as the chopper was circling the cove. We hurried down the dock just to discover... the helicopter was transporting the rich submarine owner and his friends and family. Ugh.

We hopped in the water and descended quickly. Today was the day we were to do our deepest dive yet. I went down as deep as 64 ft.! To be honest, I don't prefer the deep dives. It gets so cold down there, and there isn't that much more interesting to see. We slowly decreased depth and headed towards the kelp along the wall of the cove, where there is a lot of action. Bridget McDonald (the other Bridget on the trip--I know, what are the chances?) spotted and charged a huge HUGE sea hare. It was the size of a teddy bear, or small refrigerator, whichever you can visualize better. She hugged it close and you could read the excitement in her eyes. It was so big! I touched it with my gloved hand and the plump animal had a fat, elastic bounciness to it. Kind of like a sea cucumber (see the picture on the right, taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/montereybayaquarium/3554171101/). Apparently the instructor we were following saw a huge moray eel as well. I'm happy I didn't see that. I heard a deep rumbling and realized there must be a big boat nearby overhead, but where? Approaching 15 ft. down for our three minute safety stop, I decided to get a little adventurous. I did some back flips underwater, and Jennah took pictures and video of us fooling around a bit.

Resurfacing, we were greeted by a boat full of families, coming to Catalina to stay for the weekend. Lovely. They looked on at us like a zoo spectacle, as I'm sure we looked quite odd appearing out of nowhere. I'm not too happy about all the people being here. They're going to eat all our food. Although this does me that we will be served better-than-usual food... ok, I can deal.

We took our nitrox exam and I don't think I passed. Actually, I think I did, but my grader marked it wrong... 7 wrong out of 50 means 86%, right? Then I should be fine.

I also recorded by dive information in my dive log. To date, I have been underwater diving for over seven hours. Woot!

Casey -- aka Pearl -- is back on the mainland and my textbook has been shipped to her house. The textbook that took the full two weeks out of the anticipated 7-14 days to ship. And it arrived the day that I left home. The timing was impeccable. We're being tested on much of the information tomorrow. Oh well, that's what classmates are for, right?

Happy Friday everyone, B

Day 2: Shark Spotted!

Today was the day; we saw the sharks! But before this phenomenon occurred, we had a tough schedule to deal with.

6:27 AM - Bridget wakes up due to noisy raven outside front door. Boohoo
7:30 AM - Breakfast. I stole some yogurt for later
8:30 AM - Meet at the dock and prepare for diving
9:00 AM - Dive #2: laying transect lines and counting fish/invertebrates
11:20 AM - Nap time

12:00 PM - Lunch. Fried chicken, fries, and salad. The meal of champions.

1:30 PM - Meet at the dock and prepare for diving. AGAIN
2:00 PM - Dive #3: laying MORE transect lines and counting MORE fish/invertebrates
... (Note: I am writing this note at this point in the story, so the rest of the schedule is for a later post)
6:00 PM - Dinner!!!
7:00 PM - Scuba lecture with Jerry
9:00 PM - Our first night dive!
BED TIME

Anywho, we were not too excited to get into our still-wet wetsuits (I suppose that's inherent in the name, wetsuit). This is, until we put on our wetsuits, booties, gloves, hoods, and tanks. We were quite ready to get into the water at this point because we were all sweating bullets! Down the ramp we went. And that ramp gets really slippery btdubs. Swimming out, I was assigned to lay the transect tape. It is the same kind of tape measure we use for vaulting in gymnastics, so I had no prob carrying an extra two pounds or so through the water. Derek was my partner. Well, his dive name is Flipper and mine is Flounder, so that is what I shall call him from now on. Once we got down, I was allowed to swim alone ahead of the group. It was SICK. Imagine being completely alone, hearing only your steady breathing, knowing where you're headed only by looking at a compass. Pretty sweet. It was a glorious 100 meters of free time. Then the tape measure stopped moving and my alone time was over :[ Writing on our slates on water-proof paper with water-proof pencils, I counted a bunch of bass, senioritas, and cone-shaped snail thingies (I need to work on my fish recognition skills). Then we were stopped while Dr. G consulted with another dive instructor. He wrote on a slate "all accounted for?" and the guy nodded yes. So Flipper and I were told to swim on. And swim on we did. Past the other group, past the last kelp where I remembered our group being behind, past where our group should have been. On and on and on until... a manta ray swooped directly over our heads. I swear I could feel the water move from the high speed impact. Sweet! The excitement made us swim faster until Flipper stopped and wrote something on his board. I looked over: "I think we're lost." Nice. We spun around a little. Hmm, what to do when you're 22 ft. down, 1400 psi air still in your tank, and an ocean of possibilities... good think Flipper and I are logical divers. We decide to surface and looking around, saw a few heads out where we were long ago, and some more heads near the ramp back to shore. Oh, whoops. So we took our time swimming like otters back to shore. We found out that everyone else was told to swim til they had 1000 psi left then surface and go in. Eh, nbd. Oh I almost forgot: it's too difficult to tell, but I am fortunate enough to get the most awesome BC ever in existence. It is the customary black, but with neon green and purple accents!!!! I think everyone else is jealous. Hehe.

Lunch was yummy. I'm still trying to get through the text book I'm borrowing from Laura The Biology of Coral Reefs. It's just so...wonderful, I can't put it down. Thus, I never pick it up.

Our third dive of the trip was a repeat of the second. I partnered with Christine this time. Swimming out, I was looking down into the water (rather than blindly swim like an otter). Out of the clouded background, I noticed a big, long, beautiful spotted shape squirming. A SHARK! A leopard shark actually. Then another, and another. Four! No, wait, six! And tons of bat rays and I think a sting ray too? Idk they all look kind of the same. Pretty sick. I thought everyone could see 'em, but actually all of the otter swimmers were oblivious, so I just kept watching with mixed wonder and horror. I wasn't so afraid that they would attack me, I know they wouldn't. I just was horrified that such huge creatures can swim so peacefully directly below me, in water that I will soon be surrounded in.

Once underwater, about 15-22 ft. down, we swam our transect and counted fish (again). On the way back, counting invertebrates, I got to battle the kelp for 3/4 of the 100 meters. Ugh. BUT I got a little adventurous and went head-on into the darkest crevices of the rocks only to find tons of sea urchins and a HUGE lobster! Hmm, dinner anyone? Tempting, but I let him be.

On the way back, Christine and I navigated using our compasses. Heck yeah. The boy scouts of Lake Forest and Camp Makajawan would be proud. We were maybe 5 ft. off of our destination.

Now I'm snacking on a sugar cookies. I deserve it! Three dives in one day? Psh. Lots of reading to do and napping to be had. I hope my hair untangles from this knot. Talk to ya after tonight's dive (yikes!), B

Wednesday 28 July 2010

It’s the first day of our trip. Everyone made it to the L.A. Port on time and to Catalina Island without upchucking. Phew! But it feels like fall in Chicago on this island: the plants are drying out and not as green as I remember from April. :( And there’s a slight chill in the breeze that I recognize from living in Chicago around October/November. But it’s beautiful of course. We talked a bit more about our plans (orientation #20? #21? too many to keep track of).

Here are pics of my room, and a book, The Open Sea written by Sir Alfred Hardy. Yeah!

I am SO excited. Although no so excited to fly... yesterday my United flight 89 could have nearly made the news. Towards the end of our flight--maybe thirty minutes from landing?--the flight attendants began rushing around checking seat belts. Odd, I thought. They were trying to smile but their body language was not hiding the nervous scurrying. Then the captain came on, “this is your captain speaking. I have just turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. We are experiencing engine trouble and I decided to shut off an engine completely,” three beeps in the background, the microphone turns off, then back on, “we are anticipating a normal landing. Flight attendants please prepare for landing.” Holy mother of pearl. Call me a worry wart, but ‘anticipating a normal landing’ sounds a lot like ‘hoping for the best preparing for the worst.’ The flight attendants took turns, each of the three coming independently and at least once, to come to the emergency exit rows and prepare the people sitting their for landing. They would say things such as, “you know what to do,” “do you know what to do?” “I trust you know what to do,” and “be ready.” Wow, that makes me feel safe. NOT. One woman sitting on the side of the plane with the shut-off engine actually left her seat without any of her bags and was replaced with someone who felt calmer. The captain came on again: “This is your captain speaking again. LAX is preparing for our landing and there will be fire engines on the ground surrounding us when we land.” Now I’m freaking out. How the heck can a plane fly and land with only one engine? I’m more worried about the other engine; can it take the stress? My heart is thumping audibly in my chest. My hands were sweating and I could thing of nothing to do but hold onto my pillow. I even had my cell phone ready hidden on the my lab in the case that we had to evacuate the plane. Yikes! But we landed, slowed down, and pulled up to our gate with no problems (that I knew of). Everyone clapped once we were safely on the runway and knew our plane was not going to explode. Phew! The plane couldn’t make a left turn however (kind of like Zoolander) and so we stopped infront our gate, turned off the remaining engine, and had to wait to be towed into the gate. Not such a terrible wait, considering we were all alive and wayyy ahead of schedule.

Anywho, we had our first dive today, and I have to admit that I did not feel confident with myself before going in the water. I have not dived since April and my memory is a little fuzzy. I decided while I was still on dry land that I would take it slow and not rush or anything. The only real problem I faced is the huge hole in my wetsuit, located smack in the middle of my left butt cheek. Gorgeous. Eh, I must have a fat butt, because I didn’t really feel a terrible rush of cold water or anything. With our wetsuits on, we were all sweating bullets and hurried down to the dock-- as fast as you can hurry with a stiff wetsuit and heavy air tank/BC/regulator thing strapped to your back.

***As a side note: scuba diving is not made for people with a short torso like me. The air tank is either too high and smacking me in the head, or else too low and smacking me in the back of the legs as I walk. Oh well!

On the dock, the film crew documenting our trip made us stand in a row and yell at the camera “WE ARE USC COLLEGE!” I felt like I was reproducing the Robert Morris College commercial (yes, Kirsten, I know it is now Robert Morris University). With gear on and regulator in mouth, I took a long stride entrance into the water off of the dock. Getting in the water felt so good. Ahhhhhhhh. My group of two girls + me and Dr. Haw swam a bit away from the dock and descended. Under, we practiced taking our mask off, putting it back on and clearing it. That is not one of my stronger skills. I just hate having cold water rush onto your face and nose. :[ Then we practiced showing the “no air” sign and using your partner’s octopus (extra) regulator. I think I did well with my first partner, both of us taking turns mock drowning. But with the second girl, she had trouble getting her regulator loose. When she finally got it to me, i tried to take a big gulp of air (I was starting to panic a little), and took a big gulp of water. I tried again and more water came in. I was drowning! OMG what a terrible rush of fear. Then I stopped being stupid and cleared the regulator with the purge button and took a huge relieving gulp of air. She asked if I was ok and I just said ok quickly so that I could put my own regulator back in my mouth. Yikes.

Swimming around, I reached max. depth 50ft. Nice. :) One girl pointed up at one point and we watch a beautiful stink ray flap its long fins so perfectly through the water. It was awesome. Next to the kelp, we spotted a sea urchin. I don’t know the underwater signal for sea urchin, but I image it looks something like how Gwen can distort her fingers. Like a claw. Maybe. Idk. Surfacing, my ears hurt a bit, but I should survive. I hope.

We got out and rinsed our gear. The guy who fills the tanks back up was surprised to find that none of us had seen leopard sharks out. Apparently all week they have been hanging out in big groups around Wrigley Institute. Waiting for me, I know it.

Now I have lecture, dinner, lecture, then sweet, sweet sleep. Until tomorrow, B