Jean Cousteau's Journal
February 15, 2010
I'm finally here in the South Pacific at Gatama Atoll! Goodbye Snowpocalypse; hello Sun, Sand, and Sea!
I almost can't believe it. After busting my butt for years, chasing a degree in marine biology I'm finally flying solo on an independent study of marine life behavior and ecosystem health. The grant money for the study came through, but only just barely. I've had to take a job to cover my living costs; but it's okay, I've found the perfect employment to go with my field work. I'm acting as a diving guide for L&L Diving Service and today I took out my first client.
Meet William Stevens III ("call me Will"—I didn't.)
I swear, the man smelled like money. Fancy gear, all of it shiny new, none of it rental. He said he really wanted to see a whale and usually that's a tough order to fill but, lucky for me, a humpback whale and her calf had been spotted just a few days ago near the atoll. I felt pretty confident I could find them so off we went in the boat to our dive spot.
Before we dove in, I gave him my standard lecture about looking and not touching. Wild animals are unpredictable, and just because you have opposable thumbs doesn't mean you can't be on the menu, Monkey Boy (okay, I didn't actually call him Monkey Boy.) He smiled, nodded, and proceeded to turn the ocean into his personal petting zoo. Please observe Exhibit A:
The whales were right where I thought they'd be and just as I was lining up a shot of the mother, my client zips past me and plops himself on her head like a goofy hat. He has no idea how lucky he is she didn't swat him. He's lucky I didn't swat him!
Things went more smoothly after that. My client snapped pictures left and right and tried to feed anything that moved. I managed to snag some nice photos too. Check this out.
I took this picture of a leafy seadragon in the kelp bed. Sea horses are my favorite types of fish and this is the neatest looking species. It grows specialized fins that look like leaves and they blend into the greenery so well they're practically invisible. I was also lucky enough to get a shot of a school of eagle rays and an ocean sun fish the size of a small car. Towards the end of our dive, my client and I surfaced and took a break on one of the many little sandbar islands that dot the area. Naturally, William tried to feed the local wildlife.
Pelican was having none of it. We wrapped the dive up shortly after that and headed back to home base.
Despite the whale rodeo, I think it was a pretty good dive. I found what my client asked to see and I made some good observations for my study too. One thing though, just as Mr. William Stevens III was getting ready to leave, I heard him muttering to himself about not seeing any sharks or something. Pfft, like a whale wasn't enough? Maybe I should have found him a nice friendly Great White to pet!
William Stevens III's Journal
February 15, 2010
Life's been such a bore lately, you know? I thought I could use a little adventure. So I booked myself a little diving tour in the Gatama Atoll with this company called L&L. Nothing big, just show me around a little, snap some good shots, have a good time. Oh, also, find me a whale. The gal at the service, name's Jean, a little uptight but still cool, she did a pretty good job.
So, yeah, there were a number of neat things floating about here and there. For example: I saw a turtle.
I also saw this really sweet dolphin. I was a little disappointed, because I've seen some sweet pictures from my buds who do this sort of thing a lot, playing with these guys. It looks like a lot of fun. But this guy, he even ignored the special Guaranteed-To-Attract-Marine-Life food that I brought with me. I mean, yeah, he looked at me and all, but I was hoping for a ride or something, you know? Probably too self-important to consider letting me near him.
But then, man, Jean delivered on the whale thing. I kinda forgot what kind of whale this one was, but man, she was huge! You just never really get it until you see one, you know? And although she wasn't really keen on the food either, I could just see in her eyes that she wanted to give me a ride, so I swim over to her back and hang on. I couldn't get my camera out, but wow, that was fun. A little slow, but fun.
We wrapped up at this place called "Deep Hole," which I thought sounded really dorky, but it turned out to be kinda cool. On the way in, I saw these guys swimming all through the kelp. It's Dory from Finding Nemo! I tried to get one for my niece back home, she loves the movie, but Jean slaps me. I guess it was one of those look, don't touch situations.
Before our air started to run out—man, how time flies—I poked around a little into this "Deep Hole" place, which was a little dark... gave me this little chill that I absolutely loved. I need to get that again. But I spotted this guy down there; Jean tells me he's a giant grouper. Kinda creepy-lookin'.
This was almost as fun as I hoped it would be, except for one little detail... my buddy Steve told me that once he'd run into a shark out here, but he was able to subdue it and sneak on by. I didn't see anything of the kind, and I was really itching to try out my new pulsar gun. In particular, I wanna see if I can ride the thing once I've tamed it. That would be just the most awesome thing ever.
February 15, 2010
I'm finally here in the South Pacific at Gatama Atoll! Goodbye Snowpocalypse; hello Sun, Sand, and Sea!
I almost can't believe it. After busting my butt for years, chasing a degree in marine biology I'm finally flying solo on an independent study of marine life behavior and ecosystem health. The grant money for the study came through, but only just barely. I've had to take a job to cover my living costs; but it's okay, I've found the perfect employment to go with my field work. I'm acting as a diving guide for L&L Diving Service and today I took out my first client.
Meet William Stevens III ("call me Will"—I didn't.)
I swear, the man smelled like money. Fancy gear, all of it shiny new, none of it rental. He said he really wanted to see a whale and usually that's a tough order to fill but, lucky for me, a humpback whale and her calf had been spotted just a few days ago near the atoll. I felt pretty confident I could find them so off we went in the boat to our dive spot.
Before we dove in, I gave him my standard lecture about looking and not touching. Wild animals are unpredictable, and just because you have opposable thumbs doesn't mean you can't be on the menu, Monkey Boy (okay, I didn't actually call him Monkey Boy.) He smiled, nodded, and proceeded to turn the ocean into his personal petting zoo. Please observe Exhibit A:
The whales were right where I thought they'd be and just as I was lining up a shot of the mother, my client zips past me and plops himself on her head like a goofy hat. He has no idea how lucky he is she didn't swat him. He's lucky I didn't swat him!
Things went more smoothly after that. My client snapped pictures left and right and tried to feed anything that moved. I managed to snag some nice photos too. Check this out.
I took this picture of a leafy seadragon in the kelp bed. Sea horses are my favorite types of fish and this is the neatest looking species. It grows specialized fins that look like leaves and they blend into the greenery so well they're practically invisible. I was also lucky enough to get a shot of a school of eagle rays and an ocean sun fish the size of a small car. Towards the end of our dive, my client and I surfaced and took a break on one of the many little sandbar islands that dot the area. Naturally, William tried to feed the local wildlife.
Pelican was having none of it. We wrapped the dive up shortly after that and headed back to home base.
Despite the whale rodeo, I think it was a pretty good dive. I found what my client asked to see and I made some good observations for my study too. One thing though, just as Mr. William Stevens III was getting ready to leave, I heard him muttering to himself about not seeing any sharks or something. Pfft, like a whale wasn't enough? Maybe I should have found him a nice friendly Great White to pet!
William Stevens III's Journal
February 15, 2010
Life's been such a bore lately, you know? I thought I could use a little adventure. So I booked myself a little diving tour in the Gatama Atoll with this company called L&L. Nothing big, just show me around a little, snap some good shots, have a good time. Oh, also, find me a whale. The gal at the service, name's Jean, a little uptight but still cool, she did a pretty good job.
So, yeah, there were a number of neat things floating about here and there. For example: I saw a turtle.
I also saw this really sweet dolphin. I was a little disappointed, because I've seen some sweet pictures from my buds who do this sort of thing a lot, playing with these guys. It looks like a lot of fun. But this guy, he even ignored the special Guaranteed-To-Attract-Marine-Life food that I brought with me. I mean, yeah, he looked at me and all, but I was hoping for a ride or something, you know? Probably too self-important to consider letting me near him.
But then, man, Jean delivered on the whale thing. I kinda forgot what kind of whale this one was, but man, she was huge! You just never really get it until you see one, you know? And although she wasn't really keen on the food either, I could just see in her eyes that she wanted to give me a ride, so I swim over to her back and hang on. I couldn't get my camera out, but wow, that was fun. A little slow, but fun.
We wrapped up at this place called "Deep Hole," which I thought sounded really dorky, but it turned out to be kinda cool. On the way in, I saw these guys swimming all through the kelp. It's Dory from Finding Nemo! I tried to get one for my niece back home, she loves the movie, but Jean slaps me. I guess it was one of those look, don't touch situations.
Before our air started to run out—man, how time flies—I poked around a little into this "Deep Hole" place, which was a little dark... gave me this little chill that I absolutely loved. I need to get that again. But I spotted this guy down there; Jean tells me he's a giant grouper. Kinda creepy-lookin'.
This was almost as fun as I hoped it would be, except for one little detail... my buddy Steve told me that once he'd run into a shark out here, but he was able to subdue it and sneak on by. I didn't see anything of the kind, and I was really itching to try out my new pulsar gun. In particular, I wanna see if I can ride the thing once I've tamed it. That would be just the most awesome thing ever.