This past Sunday, June 7, 2009, the Dive Team was once again invited to Jenkinson’s Aquarium to participate in its celebration of World Oceans Day. The history of this international event can be found at http://www.theoceanproject.org/wod/wod_about.php .
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Throughout the day, visitors to our display viewed marine “biofacts” (a.k.a. seashells) collected from our local waters, recovered artifacts, and videos of some of our underwater adventures and training dives. “SCUBA Steve” was also a popular photo op, suited up in his winter drysuit and full face mask, despite the fact that there wasn’t actually a person inside!
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Our headline presentations, though, were SCUBA diving demonstrations in the harbor seal tank. Three times during the day, a buddy team of our divers were allowed to enter the exhibit and, with the help of a tender, enter gently to show basic diving equipment and skills. The water temp in the tank was almost 70 degrees F (about 20 degrees warmer than anything we’ve been in since last year!), so everyone was quite comfortable to be back in wetsuits. One team member was outside the tank with visitors to explain the equipment, prompt the divers to perform different skills, and answer questions from the audience. The seals, still in THEIR tank during all of this, were a little frisky on occasion, coming right up to touch a diver’s head or swim around the bubble trails.
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Being in an aquarium tank really is a unique experience. Even though it was our divers on exhibit, visitors outside the tank were very happy to pose for pictures and video taken from the inside. How often does an exhibit ask to take YOUR picture?
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