The variety of sea life you see while diving is astounding and with 6 hours of dive time you see a lot. Yesterday, a Pederson Cleaner Shrimp (Periclimenes pedersoni) decided since I was cleaning valves on the habitat, he would try to clean my fingers. It was about ½" inch long and determined to clean me as I was cleaning Aquarius. What a delicate and beautiful creature to find in the ocean doing the custodial duties. It reminds me that I am here to support the science mission; a mission one day I hope will solve the dwindling coral and sea life populations on the earth.

Back in the late 1970s I traveled to Key West as a working diver and was impressed at the visibility because until that point in my diving career I was mostly a "black water diver" (no visibility). The fish were huge and Lobster was delicious. Coming back here after more than thirty years has impressed upon me the impact of man on the reef.

My goal is to contribute in some small way to help this program achieve its goals in scientific research. I am not a scientist, nor do I even want to speculate on what is happening to our reefs; but if I can assist scientists in their understanding of the reef by working with Aquarius, I feel I have helped the reef and the oceans in my own way.