Greetings from the Aquarius, the world's only operational research underwater habitat! I'm Mark "Otter" Hulsbeck, one of the habitat technicians. The technician's job is to keep the habitat running in a safe and efficient manner. We receive lots of help and advice from our surface support crew, because fatigue and a degree of nitrogen narcosis becomes a factor as the mission grows longer. So far so good. We've had very few technical problems during this mission. I'd knock on wood, but there's none down here. I'm also the mission Dive Medical Technician. I've mostly had to deal with minor cuts, scrapes and itches. A few headaches and sinus problems thrown in for good measure. Thankfully, we've had no ear problems (except for Russ , the other Tech. He has problems hearing when I say "Russ it's your turn to vacuum the floor!"). Due to the nature of the diving, ears tend to get infected if not properly taken care of. Everyone's tired of me saying "use your drops," but it works.

My favorite part of the mission has been diving at night on the hookah rig. The hookah rig is an air hose and regulator attached to the habitat air supply that allows us to dive in the vicinity of the habitat . I take my time and look at all of the small creatures that are easy to overlook. I have found a spot that has a corkscrew anemone, arrow crab, and Pederson cleaner shrimp. I stop by for a manicure every night. If you gently put your hand by them and hold very still, the shrimp hops onboard and starts clipping away and eating the dead skin on your hand, just like you were a big old grouper coming in for your daily trim. He gets a meal and I get a kick out of watching him!

At night, we watch the amazing ocean saga unfold outside of our view ports. Lately, large snook have been feeding on the various juvenile fish, mostly grunts. The outside underwater light shines on them and when they get a fish, a shower of glistening scales flutters down to the seafloor. Incredible sight!

During the day we monitor the scientists dive activities and do our daily checklist. The checklist keeps us on our toes to ensure that all habitat life support systems are functioning properly. If you have any questions about the Aquarius habitat operations, feel free to drop me an email.