Oceans Live '97 Journals from South Caicos

  From the week ending April 18, 1997

What's Lurking in the Dark?
Cassandra L. Cummings

Last Saturday we conducted a field exercise at night at Bell Sound. Around 6:30 p.m. we all piled into the SFS truck and headed out to Bell Sound. When we got there we split up into groups and went to our stations in the water and waited for it to get dark. It was kind of scary standing there in the water as it got darker and darker, but we all had our underwater lights with us. When it was time to do the survey we turned them on and swam around looking for animals like lobsters and crabs that are most active during the night.

Even with our lights we couldn't see very far ahead of us in the murky water. Sometimes we would swim almost right into a lobster or fish before we saw it. Most of the lobsters, fishes, crabs and shrimps that we saw were all very small because it is thought that Bell Sound is a nursery area for animal species that will eventually grow up and move off to deeper waters. I saw a crab whose body was only as big as my thumbnail! In one claw he was grasping a piece of algae, and he was trying to chase me away with the other! There are many areas that we are all familiar with during the day, but when we explore them at night they are completely and mysteriously transformed. 

 

Going Deep!!!!
Peter Scholze

Recently, the student dives here at the School for Field Studies have started "deep diving," or diving below a depth of sixty feet. Diving to these depths is a great experience because it allows divers to visit sites such as wrecks and coral formations which you would not find in shallow water. In addition, the aquatic life below sixty feet is often very different from what is found at the surface. The fish are usually much larger, which adds to the excitement of the dive.

Diving in deeper water, however, can be extremely dangerous. Primarily, each diver must know his/her own personal dive limits. This will prevent overexertion and excessive air consumption. Also, visibility is often reduced in deep water, and this can make it a challenge to see your diving buddy and read your gauges. Perhaps most importantly, though, are the effects of nitrogen narcosis, the mind-numbing effect of breathing compressed air at depth. Nitrogen narcosis is not harmful, but its effects on people’s behavior can often be dangerous (e.g., taking your SCUBA breathing regulator out of your mouth). Despite these potential risks, deep diving is an extremely exciting experience and one of the best activities that can be done here at SFS.

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