Otherwise known as "So you want to be an aquanaut?" Diving today was a test of our mettle and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not so sure that I won. I think the ocean did a pretty good job of (pardon the expression) "kicking my butt." The current was stronger today than I've battled in a very long time. Our trip out to the Pinnacles was great because we rode the current the whole way out. Stopping at the end, however, was another feat altogether. The first thing we are supposed to do when we arrive at the Pinnacles is to go to the gazebo and check in with Jay and Tim G. in Aquarius. When we arrived, it was difficult to hold on to the frame of the gazebo, much less swim against the current! Sebastian tried swimming against this "invisible river" but he didn't make too much headway. Thanks to the National Undersea Research Center's (NURC) Aquarius crew, there are excursion lines that we can use to pull ourselves along. We fought our way down to our monitoring site and began to work on transect lines that would define the area where we will observe changes in the population of barrel sponges. I used to think that there was a grace and beauty to SCUBA diving, but let me assure you, there was nothing graceful about our movements today. When it came time to move our equipment, most of which is bulky, we had our work cut out for us. We finished up the first site and then headed up-current to the next station. Our progress was measured in inches as we pulled ourselves along the lines with a single hand, the other grasped firmly to the equipment bags that acted as "sails in the wind" to effectively impede our attempts at forward motion. I felt like the "Little Engine That Could" as I huffed and puffed and pulled myself towards our next destination. We finally made it just in time to experience cold water coming from deep offshore.

I found myself reminded of physics and chemistry courses in college where professors extolled (ad nauseum) the virtues, marvels and wonders of water. OK, I love water just like the next person, but enough is enough. Water has the capacity to strip away your body heat faster than you can generate the necessary replacement. Sure, we wear wetsuits, which are designed to trap heat and help keep us warm, but they work best when they are not stored under pressure. Because we are constantly under physical pressure from the water above us, once compressed, wetsuits lose their effectiveness as a thermal insulator. Even when the seawater is 80o F, we get cold after being submerged for a couple of hours because the water is constantly stripping away our heat. So what is the best way to add insult to injury? When the current stops, the cold water moves in. We dive down through a water layer that is 10o F colder than the water that we've been in all day; the shivering starts almost immediately and chills us to the core.

Because we are in the water for such a long time every day (up to 9 hours), skin becomes very soft and is easily damaged, which requires extra caution in everything we do. For example, I came in to Aquarius after diving today and was changing clothes in the bunkroom when I noticed a thread hanging from a sheet on the bunk. Not thinking twice, I reached up, grabbed it and pulled to remove it from the sheet. The thread, perhaps in defiance of my actions, cut my finger as it slipped right through my hand. Mind you, this is no worse than a paper cut, but I never recall being cut by a thread! We are all suffering with a skin malady of some form or fashion. The most common problems are chafing, abrasion and blisters from wearing a wetsuit all day long while working in the water; at every seam in a wetsuit there is a potential spot for abrasion to occur. The sores are not too bad until the next time you have to go in the water and you literally get "salt rubbed in your wound!"

So I guess the point of toady's entry is this, "If you glamorize a particular occupation, it might be because you have not spent enough time working in that field." Don't get me wrong, I love the experience and opportunity to live and work under the sea, but there are days like this one when I don't think that I'd miss all the paperwork that's piling up on my desk back home. Tomorrow will be another day and will bring with it, more intrigue, challenge, and surprise. After a hot meal and a good night's sleep, I'll be ready to face the day.