Author: oceanopportunity
an illustration of why we do what we do
For the past several months, numerous friends and colleagues have forwarded me a short film about ‘Ray’. It is a beautiful piece that illustrates the lifelong passion we develop as a diver. Beyond ‘just a job’, for those of us that commit to living this life aquatic understand that there is no end point –…
Read Moreliquid breathing and the miracle of life
A wonderful Thanksgiving suprise was the arrival of my little Olive. It goes without saying that she was carefully inspected by her family for gills and webbed feet to see how much of her Dad was inherited right off. All kidding aside, among the most striking elements of Olive’s grand entrance was the realization that she…
Read Moremental health & ‘fitness to dive’
Fall 2011’s Alert Diver Magazine features a piece entitled ‘Psychiatric Fitness to Dive’, authored by Adam Roth MD. I was pleasantly surprised to find the article, as the issue of mental health is a critical one with regard to not only overall ‘fitness to dive’, but also day to day decision making by the individual…
Read Moresubaquatic job security – husbandry 101
Yesterday was a good reminder of where to find job security in the subaquatic realm – husbandry. Every device and structure – from instruments to bridges and piers – is severely abused by the natural forces of the ocean environment, and that means they need constant maintenance and upkeep…great news for us commercial divers. My…
Read Morelessons from day one | refraction in diving
Strike one, strike two, strike three – this was how I started my morning as I was swinging a hammer topside to tack up a pile wrap system while working under a pier. I just plain missed the nail three times. I then switched to my left hand and struck out again. Hmmm…something’s up. Then it…
Read Moreback to black(water)
Back at it – last winter/spring I partook in what was the single longest stretch of commercial diving that I had experienced. The project ran nearly daily for almost 6 months, requiring upwards of 30 hours of underwater time per week. Aside from the sheer exhaustion, I faced a number of other quasi-health problems which…
Read Moreoccupational diving | standards and new frontiers?
At the recent 2011 American Academy of Underwater Sciences annual symposium in Portland, Maine, I offered a presentation highlighting my team’s deep scientific exploration work in the Bahamas. At the tail end of the presentation, I shared a rough pre-production sketch of a portable inflatable habitat that we are constructing to augment the decompression phase…
Read More‘occupy’ movement and global civility
What began as a seemingly insignificant Wall Street protest has generated global support – and rightfully so. We have some very real problems to address here in this country, all of which have global implications, and frankly the world economies are proud that the US is standing up to its nonsensical musings in recent history.…
Read Morecity under the sea | not so far fetched
Every now and again, I like to share a post that brings us right to the core of our journey – doing our part to enable ‘a new life in the sea’. Each and every time I put my head underwater, two things happen; 1) my curiosities are sparked, and 2) I learn something new…
Read Morethe bluewater dimension | a next frontier for human exploration
It’d been several years since I ventured this far offshore, so this journey was a welcomed one. Teamed up with Dr. Brad Seibal and his science party aboard the R/V Endeavor, we set out about 200 nautical miles south from Rhode Island, which put us off the Maryland/Delaware coast, out into the Gulf Stream. The 20…
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