June 29, 2008
An Evening on a Tropical Beach: Tektite Man-in-the-Sea Project
Ed Clifton is a Geologist Emeritus, U.S. Geological Survey, and fellow board member for the Point Lobos Association. He's got lots of crazy research diving stories from back when the Navy dive tables were still being tested, and he agreed to share this one. I'm hoping he'll share more soon-Dida
-by Ed Clifton
The night of February 14, 1969, I sat alone on the south shore of St. John, listening to the waves lapping against a beach of coral rubble. The sky was brilliantly lit with stars, and a light, warm breeze touched my face. Introspection claimed me, for I was on the brink of trading my familiar sun and starlit world for an alien undersea environment. The following afternoon, 3 marine biologists and I would splash down to a seafloor habitat where we would spend the next 60 days as aquanauts in the Tektite Man-in-the-Sea project.
I was not, I must admit, a seasoned diver. I had become certified with SCUBA two years earlier, and had since made a few tentative dives in the southern Oregon surf zone, where we had hoped to employ underwater observation in our research of nearshore sedimentology. I suppose I had, all told, a total of 25 dives under my belt. My primary qualifications for being a Tektite diver was probably my willingness to commit 60 days of my life to being the first geologist-aquanaut. So much for "The Right Stuff"!
As I sat in the darkness, I could hear a steel band and shouts of revelry in the distance. The Navy Seabees, who had carved a base camp out of the jungle and were providing logistical support for the project, were justifiably celebrating Spashdown Eve. I wondered what part of my subaerial existence I would miss most over the next 2 months. Would it be the stars? The feeling of a breeze on my face? The underwater world seemed dark and forbidding. What did it hold? How was all this going to work?
As I mused, listening to the lap of the waves and the sound of distant partying, I became aware that there were other sounds in the night: splashes and the distinctive popping sound of feeding fish. The sea was alive! Suddenly my introspection dissolved into eagerness to explore this world in a way privileged to very few others. I sat there for awhile longer listening to the sound of life in the sea, then returned to the party.
The Tektite project proved to be a wonderful, rewarding experience. I returned to the Oregon coast the following summer and we put scuba to full use in the first comprehensive study of a high-energy surf zone. I was also an eager participant a year later in the Tektite 2 experiment which gained me an additional 20 days of undersea habitation.
And what was it that I most missed while living underwater (other than wife and family, of course!)? It was something I had always taken for granted – the healing warmth of the sun.
Posted by Dida at June 29, 2008 8:36 AM
