So this weekend to say the least was one whirlwind adventure! I am still seeing the world spin… or maybe it is just the fact that the last two days I have been on a boat. Yeah, that may have something to do about it! Ok so where to begin… I guess when I walked on to Sea Watch Friday morning-
I walk on to the R/V Sea Watch for the second time. My first being for a harbor cruise of sorts. After getting my bunk and putting my stuff away the camera crew from Global Reef started to show up. The most cameras that started to appear were worth $20 THOUSAND dollars or more. After getting whirlwind introduction to the camera crew, Kerry (Scott’s fiancé) and her two kids Shelby and Alec arrived. After they got situated and more introductions by camera crew, Scott arrived and we helped him get all his gear on board. And there was a LOT of gear! We shoved off around 4pm or so.
The ride over to Catalina was fun! I got to know Shelby and Alec some. Since I just met them! They are super great kids! They were a lot of fun to hang around with. I also spent time talking and laughing with Maleno, Will and Ricky who are three of the Sea Watch crew. How I missed those guys!
We docked in Toyon Bay where the CIMI camp is held. They were great in giving rooms for the crew that wouldn’t fit on Sea Watch for the night; also they fed some of us. Scott gave a talk to the counselors about what was going on and of course the cameras followed and recorded his every word.(Side note: If you ever get the chance to hear Scott talk, don’t pass it up! He is a wonderful speaker.)
That night most of the crew did not get to bed until 11pm or later. A few, like Ricky and Capt. Chris (captain of Sea Watch) stayed up throughout the night and made sure some details were cleared up so we did not have to worry about them in the morning. At 4am Scott arrived on Sea Watch after spending the night on shore. The boat came alive, full of cameras and crew, scrambling to get things together to make sure Scott and the camera crew going in the water had all the gear they needed. After 3 hours of mayhem Scott finally jumped in at 7:05am.
Scott took off with the crew of Blue Diver and the RIB (ridged inflatable boat). Sea Watch stayed behind a bit to make sure that the dive bell that Scott was going to be using to change gear and eat would be safe for him. Well after about 4 hours of testing we decided that it would not be. With the water conditions, and Scott’s fatigue that would arise, having him in the bell was just something that was an unnecessary risk. By the time that Sea Watch caught up with Scott and the rest of the boats, we noticed that there was one too many divers in the boat. Scott had to surface. The plan was to go without surfacing. But through a series of technical problems, Scott was forced to come up. The rest of the day ended up being Scott surfacing to exchange tanks or to rest and get some food in him, more than the protein shakes he was going to eat. Towards the second to last surface and equipment exchange things were not looking good. Even though he was faced with severe exhaustion and still another 5 miles to go, Scott still kept going on. For the last bit inside the harbor Scott changed back into his rebreather. Sid, Shelby and myself were “support divers”(Shelby and myself snorkeled because if Scott needed any real help we didn’t want our gear to be in the way) for the last little swim with his rebreather.
Scott surfaced for the last time of the day sometime around 6:15pm (or was it 7:15?) back on the shores of California in Cabrillo.
It was one long day. The hours blurred together, time was around us but did not really seem to exist. My first expedition has been completed. And what an expedition to be a first!
Quite a few things went wrong or broke. But Scott kept pushing through. His dedication to the sharks kept him going (as well as a great medic and support crew).
Let me set this straight- the 30 mile dive was not about making a world record, or being the first to do some stunt. It was to bring awareness to the declining population of sharks and just how endangered they are. This was to show people how sick our oceans are. Before and after the dive Scott talked about how back in the 80s and 90s he dove out there and he would see 20 or more blue sharks in one 45min dive. Over an expanse of 30 miles he saw absolutely no sharks. Scott also talked about how everything is interconnected in our world.
An example he used:
Are declining shark populations responsible for the rise in bear attacks in Alaska? At first I was thinking no. I mean how can sharks and bears be related in any way. In a condensed version this is what he explained- Sharks are the apex predators of the sea. Take them away and a new one comes up. This new one is the Humboldt squid. And these squid are viscous. They eat everything. So as sharks decline, squid rise and have moved north to Alaska to feed on salmon. Oddly the salmon population has been decreasing drastically. Scott mentioned a group of fishermen who were trying to catch salmon in the ocean and oddly kept hooking Humboldt squid and when they did get a salmon it was all chewed up already. Fishermen reported that they only caught 1/6 of what they normally get. So back to the bears… Bears eat salmon. What happens when bears don’t get enough salmon? They get hungry and go looking for other food sources. Just so happens that the nearest source of easy food is in people’s trash. See the connection now? Sure it may not be the primary cause of bear attacks, but do you think it is helping any??
Everything is interconnected. This dive was not about a world record. It was about getting the word out that the oceans are failing. People are not fishing sustainably anymore. Killing 200,000 sharks A DAY is not sustainable! When they have life spans and reproduction rates close to that of humans, they can’t support being killed at that rate! No one would stand by if people started killing off pandas or puppies or something cute and fuzzy. So why should we stand by when sharks are being killed?
Sharks are in trouble. We need to do something. The thing I love most about Scott is that he isn’t afraid to act. He stands up for the innocent and for what he believes in. Scott is a do-er, not a talk-er. It doesn’t take much to talk about facts and statistics. But it takes more to actually stand up and DO something.
Our oceans are in risk of collapsing. They are the life source for our world. He is right- if the oceans fail, mankind won’t be far behind.
For more information about Scott and what he does please check out his website for his non-profit company:
www.underseavoyagerproject.org
Or for more information about the 30-Mile Dive and the movie that will be coming out please visit:
www.30miledive.com
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