Things are going smoothly for the first science mission of the year. These folks are veteran Aquanauts and spend a lot of time in the water.That's the utility of the habitat - maximizing dive time. I'm spending a little more time inside the habitat this mission because I'm training a new habitat tech - Kea. She was with the Aquarius Program for a number of years, then left for awhile. She returned this year and is now more involved in technical support. She's a fast learner, so I've been able to dive around the habitat on hookah on a limited basis. Today I visited a familiar spot at the base of one of our boat moorings. It looks like a pile of rubble, but upon closer inspection, you'll find corkscrew anemones, gobies, blennies and Pederson Cleaner Shrimp. The shrimp are my favorite, because if you lay your hand out and be very still, they'll give you a free manicure. They hop aboard and go to work picking dead skin from around your fingernails. Fun to watch. Today I got a surprise though. My hand was resting too close to a mantis shrimp burrow and he let me know it. Mantis shrimp have a claw that packs a wallop. They've been known to break aquarium glass. He came out of his hole and I saw him in time to move, much to the chagrin of Mr. Pederson. Manicure over. It was time to get back to work cleaning the Open Bottom Bell - an underwater refuge made of a clear acrylic dome. Divers can stick their head inside and talk. Ours got some growth on it over the winter, so needs some cleaning. Now at the risk of certain ridicule from my Aquarius staff mates, I submit this poem from the world's worst underwater poet:

Hilarious Aquarius

There's something hilarious
about the Aquarius.
As plain as my nose is,
I think it's narcosis!
Things that aren't funny
above where it's sunny
are making us giggle and laugh.
If you heard us cackle
you'd be kind of baffled
and would say "What's so funny 'bout that?"
"Cabin fevers the cause"
some say without pause,
but those of us here have our doubts.
We work all the day
and at night hit the hay
and hope sleep will put the laughs out!