February 8, 2011
Spaceman Spiff: One Person's Experience of Research Diving in Monterey Bay
by Alex Olson
Ploomp!
It's instantly cooler, almost cold, as water trickles into my wetsuit and seems to purposefully seek out the warmest of air pockets. All I can see are bubbles skittering toward the surface with a sizzle. They fade away and my attention is drawn to the light smeary splotches of green streaking below me. Kelp. The visibility isn't that great, I realize. Had I not read 45ft on the depth sounder, I would have thought the kelp descended forever into the void. "How am I supposed to see fish in this!" I check my gear again to make sure I'm all set. Slate in hand, I descend.
photo courtesy Chelsea PrindleOn more than one occasion I've pretended I'm an astronaut, plummeting towards the surface of a zero gravity world, engaging reverse thrusters to slow my approach with the press of an inflator hose button. (Think Calvin & Hobbes' "Spaceman Spiff") What creatures of my imagination lay in wait, to awe and scare the crap out of me?! Who knows!
Just as I had trained years ago as a fledgling AAUS candidate, I get neutral, check in with my buddy, grab a heading and start our transects. It's the 16th month of the 18-month pilot study at McAbee Beach and it's almost always still a rush. The cold of the ocean and dark, dangerous things that loom beyond the viz in my mind are ever present, but they cannot hold a candle to the fire of discovery.....even if it IS the same kelp rockfish who seems to greet you on each dive every month, seemingly demarcating only the best holdfasts for us to set our meter tape.
photo courtesy Chelsea Prindle
After the second dive, data collection is complete and we organize things neatly in the Whaler and head back to Monterey Harbor. Risso's dolphins surface off our port bow, blows of breath lingering in the sun. Above the roar of the wind in my face I can hear myself think about how great I really have it. I am afforded the chance to dive in Monterey, one of the richest marine ecosystems on the planet, while facilitating the collection of data and knowledge that are steps to creating a more informed and smarter world. I am in a place where humans are historically not meant to survive for more than a few minutes, meters below the surface. A very small percentage of the world gets to see what I see, let alone do what I do. 
photo by Dida KutzIn a way I am the astronaut, or explorer of a world that few regularly or ever lay eyes on. I owe all this to the opportunities that various instructors made available to me, and without them, I'm not so sure about where I might have found myself. Anywhere else almost seems unthinkable.
The sea beckons.
A San Franciscan native and Marine and Coastal Ecology graduate from California State University, Monterey Bay, Alex Olson works under and on the ocean as a diver, deckhand, and budding scientist, pursuing his passion for the sea.
Posted by Dida at February 8, 2011 2:45 PM
