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Cathy Sakas Born in the southernmost tidewaters of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay, Cathy's lifelong love of the ocean began at the age of three when a huge wave knocked her face flat onto the beach. Momentarily dazed but alert, from that vantage point she observed Coquina (beach rock constructed by tube dwelling worms!) wiggling back into the sand as the wave receded down the beach. That pivotal event sealed her respect for the awe inspiring force of the ocean and fostered an inquisitive fascination for its vast array of creatures. She has lived almost all of her life on the southeastern coast, mostly on or near one of Georgia's beautiful barrier islands. In 1976 Cathy began her academic and professional career by earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Armstrong-Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. Ten years later she added her Masters of Education in Science from the same institution. For the past 25 years Cathy has been a professional interpretive naturalist specializing in tropical and subtropical marine and terrestrial environments. Leading innumerable educational expeditions mostly with Wilderness Southeast Inc. throughout the southern USA, the Caribbean and Central America, her favorite trips have been those that introduce her participants to the wonders of the coast and in particular the sea. Throughout her years in the natural sciences, Cathy has worked on many research projects collecting data on Northern Right Whales, Loggerhead Sea Turtles and American Alligators. In the winter of 1992-93 she headed up the New England Aquarium's Northern Right Whale aerial survey team, which flew the northern Georgia and southern South Carolina coastal areas. In 1990 after spending a year sailing in the Pacific around Japan and the Marshall Islands she returned to the Georgia coast to help with the Loggerhead Sea Turtle Hatchery on Little Cumberland Island. From 1984 to 1989 she served as an Environmental Educator at Oatland Island Education Center in Savannah, Georgia where she was in charge of, and literally a member of, the resident pack of Eastern Timber Wolves. Besides leading trips, teaching and collecting data, Cathy has had success in public television. In 1990 and 1994 Cathy produced two nature documentary series called Coastal Naturalist for Georgia Public Television. She created, wrote, hosted and narrated both series. Her first production was a five part series on the habitats of the southeastern coast, and the second was an Emmy nominated five part series on the vertebrates of the eastern seaboard. During the production of the second series she and her camera crew she traveled over a two-year period from the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas to the Bay of Fundy in Maine filming fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals in every state along the east coast. Both series are still broadcast nationally and the second internationally as well. In addition to providing an outlet for Cathy's scientific knowledge and creativity, the two Coastal Naturalist series earned her acclaimed public recognition and a conservation award from the Georgia Wildlife Federation in 1995. In her spare time Cathy co-produced and wrote a third program for Georgia Public Broadcasting entitled Secret Seashores, which describes the natural history of the islands and how they have remained wild in the midst of unprecedented coastal growth due in large part to the foresight of the island owners. Secret Seashores' premiere broadcast was Mother's Day 2001. Cathy is presently employed at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
where she serves as Education Coordinator. In that capacity she teaches
programs via distance learning television about Gray's Reef, Northern
Right Whales and Manatees to middle and high school students throughout
the state of Georgia. She also reports on the many undertakings of Gray's
Reef through radio ads on commercial stations, periodic reports on public
radio and by co-hosting a local cable channel talk show as well as by
creating educational modules. So far her favorite jobs at Gray's Reef
have been SCUBA diving and becoming a pilot of a one-person submersible
called DeepWorker 2000. She has operated the sub on missions at Gray's
Reef and in the Florida Middle Grounds where a sea mount she explored
was named Mount Sakas. In September 2001 she is scheduled to become an
aquanaut and will spend 10 days in the underwater habitat called Aquarius,
with three other scientists and two technical staff. From the habitat
the Aquanauts will be able to dive up to eight hours each day without
ever returning to the surface. She is looking forward to this latest experience
in the natural world. In her other life Cathy vamps it up as the lead
singer for Savannah's own blast from the past The World Famous Crabettes! |
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