Our three Official Explorers are always up to something new when it comes to helping our oceans. Ayla Besemer, Sierra Garcia and Eduardo Rocha are working with our staff and volunteers throughout 2007 to help families and kids engage more deeply in ocean conservation and explore at the aquarium and beyond. Read about their latest adventures and efforts to save our seas.
WOW! What an AMAZING year! I have had so much fun, and learned a lot too! From live radio shows to helping with the Aquarium's albatross; from working behind the scenes prepping the sea otter's training toys to cooking sustainable seafood with Chef Dory; from Underwater Explorers to Science Under Sail; the list of adventures goes on and on. I have had a majorly (is that really a word?) FANTASTIC year.
But more important than all the fun things I did, I also learned tons about our oceans. For instance, did you know there is a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean mostly comprised of plastic?! Guess how big it is. Some estimates put it at twice the size of Texas! That is huge! I also learned that kitty poop flushed down toilets, or carried away in storm drains, can hurt the otters off the coast of California. And, if we keep fishing at our current rate, some scientists believe our oceans will be fished out by the year 2048! That's only 40 years from now.
During my year as Official Explorer, I also learned lots about the Aquarium. Did you know that the rocks in the Kelp Forest exhibit aren't actually rocks? They are big pieces of styrofoam that were put in Monterey Bay until algae and natural plants grew on them. The team at the Aquarium then easily moved them into the Kelp Forest exhibit! Pretty clever, huh? Did you know the Aquarium has over 1,000 volunteers, including more than 100 scuba divers who help keep the Aquarium exhibits clean? Since I live in Colorado, this year's activities gave me a great chance to come out and see the Aquarium and the ocean more often. When I wasn't working at an event, I spent hours exploring every nook and cranny of the Aquarium.
Here are some of my favorite exhibits and animals:
Favorite Exhibit: Tie between Kelp Forest and Wild About Otters
Favorite Sea Otter: Toola (she is a wonderful surrogate Mom for stranded baby otters)
Favorite River Otter: Neema
Favorite Interactive Exhibit: MBARI
Favorite Fish: Archer Fish
Favorite Invertebrate: Sea Cucumber
Favorite Game: Tie between the Tidepool Olympics and the MBARI games
Favorite Program: Seafood Watch
Favorite Event: Tie between Cooking for Solutions and World Ocean Day
As my year as Official Explorer is wrapping up, I’m working on a very special project with one of the new Official Explorers Simon Willig. This project is called Save Our Seas. It is a PowerPoint presentation about our oceans; the danger they are in, and how kids like you can help! We are still working on it, but soon we hope kids everywhere will be presenting it to their schools and kids they know!
I want to thank everyone at the Aquarium for this INCREDIBLY fantastic year. Who knew when I set foot into the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the first time at 6 years old, that it would become such a big part of my life! I learned this year that each and every person who works at the Aquarium has a deep love of the ocean. They are dedicated to sharing all they know with kids, so we can work side by side to help them protect and save our mysterious, beautiful, and magical oceans.
I had such a GREAT time at Otter Days (September 22 and 23rd)! Otters are my favorite animals with their playful antics and cute furry faces filled with expression; I think a weekend celebrating them is a great idea. For this event, we had a fun game everyone could play—Otter Bingo. I loved handing out the bingo cards and watching people work hard to answer the questions. If they got a BINGO they won a handy-dandy otter box! Did you get an Otter Box? You can store anything in it and it won't get wet. They are so cool!
There were also lots of fun shows and speakers all talking about otters. Have you played, You Otter Know yet? It's a game show where people from the audience get to see how much they know about otters. It's so fun!! They have it now at the aquarium all the time, not just for Otter Days, so go play!
I had the chance to introduce several super interesting speakers. Two of them, Cecilia Azhderian and Alicia Pereyra, work with the sea otters right at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They shared fascinating stories about how each of the otters on exhibit came to the aquarium, and how they train them to help keep them safe and healthy.
It used to be that abandoned baby otters that were brought to the aquarium were hand-raised by staff and volunteers. But because these otters had bonded with people, when they were released back into the wild, they would find kayaker's and scuba divers to interact with. This wasn't safe for the otters or the people, so those otters ended up living at the aquarium. Because of those experiences, the aquarium developed a new way to take care of abandoned baby otters. They now use the aquarium's otters as surrogate mothers to feed and teach the babies how to groom themselves and hunt. This program called SORAC is working GREAT, and lots of little otters are being returned safe and happy to the wild. YEAH!!!!
The other person I introduced, Michelle Staedler, works on tracking otters. She showed us a very interesting snippet of a video called Oceans in Glass about how they track and learn about otters in the wild. By tracking otters, scientist can see if the sea otter population is healthy and continuing to grow. Did you know that sea otters were almost hunted to extinction in the early 1900's? A small group of about 50 otters hid along Big Sur, and the nearly 3000 otters along California's coast today are all related to that original group.
Otter days wasn't just a celebration about otters, it was a call to action. The aquarium took this weekend to educate people about the dangers otters of all kinds are in, and what we can do to help.
Ayla goes behind the scenes of the sea otter exhibit.
Here are two things you can start doing today to help with otter conservation:
1. Buy organic foods! This will stop dangerous pesticides from going into the ocean and poisoning the marine environment which harms sea otters.
2. Don't flush kitty litter down the toilette. Please throw it away in your trash can. Did you know that kitty poop can carry a dangerous parasite which causes severe seizures and can be life threatening to otters? That's how Toola, (she's so sweet) came to the aquarium. She was found having severe seizures and dying on a beach. Luckily for Toola, and us, the aquarium found her and took care of her. Now she is helping all of us learn about the dangers of kitty litter and toxoplasmosis to otters.
Please help us save our fury friends of the sea!!!
On a rainy Saturday, September 22, I participated in the "Otter Days" event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They had a lot of activities that focused on celebrating both the Sea and River Otters.
For most of the day I worked at the event booth and greeted people. I handed out Bingo game sheets. People had go around the aquarium to find the answers to 3 questions that went either across, down or diagonally. They brought their Bingo games back to us and we checked the answers. If their answers were correct, they won a waterproof, floatable box for carrying valuables when boating or swimming. It was bright yellow so one could see it if it fell into the water.
I also helped a boy dress in scuba diving gear for the "You Otter be a Diver" event. This helped to teach people about all the things you need to be safe while exploring under water.
I took a minute to see the new exhibit called "Mission to the Deep." There are a lot of interactive video games to play.
Most of all, it was good to see how well the aquarium is comparing and contrasting the differences between the Sea Otters and the River Otters. Every exhibit is instructive and all of the people who work there are very well informed.
-Eduardo
Septiembre: Días de Nutrias
Era un día lluvioso, el 22 de septiembre, cuando participé en el evento "Días de Nutrias" del Monterey Bay Aquarium. Hubieron muchas activitidades que enfocaron en la celebración de las nutrias del mar y de los ríos.
Por la mayoría del día, trabajé el Puesto de Información y le dí la bienvenida a la gente. También, les dí juegos de la Lotería. Para ganar, tuvieron que ir alrededor del Acuario buscando respuestas a las preguntas en el juego. Cuando tuvieron las respuestas de 3 preguntas que formaron una línea recta, vertical o diagonal, lo devolvieron a nosotros para chequear. Si sus respuestas fueron correctas, ganaron una caja para llevar objetos valiosos cuando se vayan en un barco o nadan. Estas cajas eran amarillas para verlas facilmente si se caían en el agua. También, eran impermeables de agua y flotan.
Otra cosa que hice fue ayudar a un niño a vestirse en el traje de bucear. Este evento le enseña a la gente toda la protección que se necesita para explorar bajo la superficie del agua.
Por un ratito, visité una exibición nueva que se llama "Misión a la Profundidad." Hay muchos juegos interactivos de video para jugar.
Sobre todo, para mi fué exelente ver que buen trabajo hizo el Acuario en sus esfuerzos para comparar y contrastar las diferencias entre las Nutrias del Mar y las Nutrias del Río. Cada exhibición es muy educativa y toda la gente que trabaja ahí estan bien informadas.
Last Sunday, I worked at the aquarium for the "Fiesta del Mar". It was an event to acknowledge Hispanic heritage. There were Aztec dancers, musicians and many educational activities.
The first thing I did was to introduce Juan Sanchez who played the guitar and sang family oriented songs. I thought he was very funny. At noon we went to a special luncheon where I met El Hijo Del Santo. He is a professional wrestler in Mexico. He was being honored by the aquarium because he uses his fame to tell kids not to litter and to recycle in order to keep the oceans clean. I thought that he was awesome and what he is doing for the environment is great. I got my picture taken with him.
During the lunch I also talked to the Mexican consul who was quite an interesting man. He lives in San Jose, California and in Mexico—so he really has a very international life and lives in two very different cultures.
After the lunch I went and worked at the prize wheel. Did you know that you may win 4 free tickets to the aquarium? In order to win the tickets, you must land on a penguin or a seastar. I encourage everyone to try their luck the next time they see the wheel at the aquarium.
I also paid a visit to the new Great White Shark. Right now he is pretty small, but he'll soon be too big to be in a tank.
Fiesta del Mar was the best day I've had as an Official Explorer. I got to meet a lot of nice people. It makes me proud to see so much creativity coming out of my Mexican community and culture.
-Eduardo
Septiembre: Fiesta del Mar
El domingo pasado trabajé La Fiesta Del Mar, presentado por el Monterey Bay Aquarium. Era un evento para distinguir y honrar la herencia hispánica. Habían danzantes aztecos, músicos y muchos programas educativos.
La primera cosa que hice fue introducir a Juan Sanchez. El tocó la guitarra y cantó canciones divertidas en español para la familia. El me pareció muy chistoso.
Al mediodía, fuimos a un almuerzo especial donde conocí a El Hijo del Santo. El es un luchador professional en Méjico. El Acuario le dió un gran honor porque usa su fama y talento para decir a los niños que no tiren basura en el suelo y reciclen para que mantengan los océanos limpios. Yo pensé que era increíble y lo que está haciendo para salvar el medioambiente es fantástico. Tomaron una foto de mi con él.
Durante el almuerzo, también hablé con un señor que trabaja como el cónsul de Méjico. Es un hombre muy interesante. Vive en San Jose, California y Méjico. Entonces tiene una vida muy internacional y vive entre dos culturas diferentes.
Después de comer, fui a trabajar a la rueda de premios. ¿Sabías que puedes ganar 4 boletos gratis para ir al Acuario? Para ganar los boletos, debe de caer en un pingüino o una estrella de mar. Les animo a todos a probar tu suerte la próxima vez que vean la rueda.
También, visité al gran tiburón blanco en la exhibición del Outer Bay. Ahora está chico pero en unos meses se va a poner demasiado grande para el tanque.
En fin, fue el mejor día que he tenido como un Explorador Oficial. Tuve la oportunidad de conocer a muchas personas buenas. Me da mucho orgullo de ver tanta creatividad que existe en mi cultura y comunidad Mejicana.
Have you ever heard of going scuba diving and not getting wet? I have! In August, I got to go scuba diving in the great tide pool at the aquarium. We all wore dry suits. These kept us completely dry, even when we dunked ourselves in the tide pool, but it was the scuba diving itself, not the dry suits, which was so much fun.
The Great Tide Pool is deep enough to stand up in and not have your fins brush the bottom in some parts. In other parts, it's so shallow that you can brush the bottom with your hands from the surface. A special part of the suit makes you float on top.
The animals in the Tidepool are masters of disguise. A rock might suddenly be revealed to contain monkey faced eels, and you might be asking yourself, "Did the sand just swim away or was that a starry flounder?"
One of the most interesting animals that I saw was a fish that I thought was a piece of kelp… until it blinked! I even saw gumboot chitons, shore crabs, hermit crabs, many kinds of fish, anemones, and a nudabrank. You may have seen some of these animals in exhibits, but in the tide pool, you have no idea when one of them will see you. All of these animals are fairly small. It helps them to be able to hide when they're about to become a dinner for something bigger.
>This tide pool wasn't an exhibit with fed animals or glass windows; the tide pool was an example of how things are in nature.
Something that I saw in the Great Tide Pool wasn't as good at disguising itself- trash. Many people accidentally dropped their bottles, their wrappers, or their papers into the tide pool. Even if it was an accident, imagine that trash in all of the earth's other tide pools. It is not true that one thing will not make a difference, because everything does. Even though the trash isn't trying to hide itself, it is still the thing that remains hidden to many people. You can decide to think that you won't make a difference, or you could help these tide pool animals. The eels, the flounders, and everything else that I saw in the pool is relying on you to help. What will you do?
Hello! Today I went on a 65 foot sailboat and learned about ocean
conservation. I was participating in the “Science under Sail” program
offered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I worked with marine biologists
as they studied the changing sea.
First, we motored around and picked up garbage from the water. They
graph where every piece of garbage is found! Next, we pulled up sea
kelp and examined it for organisms. We put the organisms on slides to
study under a microscope. We also cast a special net to capture
plankton and discovered that it had turned red from the day before.
The ocean changes so rapidly, it is important to monitor these changes
all the time. The last experiment was pulling up a crab pot that had
been placed the previous day. We found a Decorator Crab and about 25
starfish. The Decorator Crab uses little pieces of sea kelp and
decorates his body for camouflage and protection.
Finally, I helped to raise the sail and drive the sailboat during the
last hour of our trip. I felt so lucky to do such extraordinary
things. Learning from the very knowledgeable scientists and aquarium
volunteers was a tremendous opportunity for me.
I encourage you to give Science under Sail a try. Don’t worry about
seasickness because they have special bracelets that make you feel
better. I should know, because I used one!
-Eduardo
Septiembre: Ciencia Bajo las Velas
¡Hola! Hoy fuí en un barco de velas que mide 65 pies. Aprendí de la
conservación del mar. Estaba participando en un programa que se llama
“Ciencia Bajo las Velas” que está ofrecido
por el Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yo trabajé con biólogos marino
mientras estudiaban como cambia el mar.
Primero, manejamos con el motor y juntamos basura del agua. Ellos
hacen una gráfica para mostrar donde encontraron cada pedazo de basura.
Luego, jalamos alga marina y la examinamos para los
organismos. Pusimos estos organismos en “slides” para estudiarlos por debajo de un microscopio.
También, tiramos una red hecha especialmente para capturar plancton y
descubrimos que se había cambiado al color rojo desde el día anterior. El
océano cambia tan rápido que es importante observar estos cambios cada
día. Para el último experimento, jalamos una trampa de cangrejos que
había puesto el día antes. Encontramos un Cangrejo Decorador y 25
estrellas del mar. El Cangrejo Decorador usa pedacitos de alga para
decorar su cuerpo para camuflaje y protección.
Finalmente, yo ayudé alzar la vela y manejar el barco durante la última
hora del viaje. Tuve suerte de hacer tantas cosas extraordinarias.
Aprender de los científicos y voluntarios fue una
oportunidad tremenda para mi.
Yo te animo a tratar este programa “Ciencia bajo Velas”. No te preocupes si sufres de mareo porque
tienen las pulseras especiales que te hace sentir mejor. ¡Yo sé porque
usé una!
Hello friends! Sorry I haven't been in touch, but I broke my foot in May playing baseball! Now I'm much better. I just finished scuba diving with my sister Daniela in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's program "Underwater Explorers." It was AWESOME!
First, we listened to the instructors about certain rules and how to use the respirators and air tanks. Then, we put on fleece suits to keep us warm and dry suits over that to keep us dry. To complete the outfit, we wore gloves, booties and hoods. Just before we entered the tidepool at the aquarium, they had us put on flippers and air tanks. As you can see from my photo, I look very professional.
In the water, there was one teacher for 3 students, so we really got attention.
Our teacher took us to different places to look for marine plants and animals. Among other things, we saw an eel, a starfish, a coral fish, a sea cucumber and a hermit crab. The water was shallow and deep (and a bit cold on my face). I felt very light in the water, even though I had on a heavy air tank.
I totally recommend this adventure to kids who know how to swim and love the ocean. Next week I'm participating in the "Science under Sail" program, so I'll let you know how that goes. Until next time.
-Eduardo
Julio: Underwater Explorers
!Hola amigos! Lo siento que no he estado escribiendo, pero me quebré mi pie en mayo mientras estaba jugando beisbol. Ya estoy mejor. Acabo de bucear con mi hermana Daniela en el programa del Monterey Bay Aquarium que se llama "Exploradores bajo el agua." ¡Fue INCREIBLE!
Primero, escuchamos a los maestros cuando nos dijeron algunas reglas y como usar los respiradores y los tanques del aire. Luego, nos pusimos el traje de bucear que incluye la ropa de "fleece" para calentarnos, el traje seco para evitar que el aqua nos mojara, las botas, los guantes y una gorra (todos hecho de caucho). Justo antes de entrar al "tidepool" del Acuario, nos pusimos los tanques de aire y las aletas. Como puede ver de mi foto, parezco muy professional.
En el agua, hubo un maestro por cada 3 estudiantes, por eso recibimos mucha atención. Nos llevó a diferente lugares para buscar animales marinos. Algunas cosas que miramos fueron una anguila, una estralla de mar, el pez coral, un pepino de mar y un cangrejo ermitaño. A veces, el agua estuvo profunda y poco profunda (y fría en mi cara). Me sentí muy ligero en el aqua aunque tuve el tangue de aire que pesó mucho.
Recomiendo con entusiasmo esta aventura para los jóvenes que saben nadar y les gusta el océano. La semana entrante, paraticiparé en "Ciencia Bajo las Velas," y los voy a informar como va. !Hasta luego!
For those of you who love the ocean like I do, I wanted to tell you about a great summer camp I went too. It’s called Junior Sea Camp, and it was a one week sleep away camp on Catalina Island. WOW — an entire week full of sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, rock climbing, cooking, sailing, and studying in 3 marine labs—in other words, an entire week outside by the ocean. When you live inland, like I do, this is a very special treat.
I heard about it from a friend, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. It’s incredible all the things you get to do. From counting garibaldi in the bay to rock climbing on three different walls; from learning to cook in an outdoor kitchen to paddling an outrigger canoe; from sea kayaking to watching buffaloes...this camp is a blast. My favorite part (which was really hard to pick) was snorkeling (we went 3 times). No matter how cold I was, or how many barracudas I saw, I could have stayed out in Toyon Bay forever just watching the undersea world in action. I also loved learning about and touching the sharks in the shark lab. My favorite shark was the small horn shark.
The counselors are all really passionate about the ocean and have lots of fun introducing you to new things. They always make you feel safe and like you can do it—which you can. This was my first sleep away camp, and I was a little nervous. I never had time to be home sick because they kept us so busy. Plus I made lots of new friends, who I will stay in touch with, and hopefully see next year at the same camp. If you're looking to combine your love of the ocean with a little adventure, and making new friends, this is the camp for you.
What do robots, survival suits, and Styrofoam cups have in common?MBARI, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Once a year there is an open house at MBARI, located in Moss Landing, about 20 minutes from the aquarium. I was lucky enough to be in Monterey when it happened! It is so cool. Much of what we see and learn at the aquarium comes from the team of researchers and scientist that work at MBARI.
On this special open house day, they have all the robots, submarines and research boats they use for deep sea research available for you to see and tour, along with the scientists and researchers, who do much of this work, answering questions. One person was showing us how they control a robotic arm remotely for collecting samples deep on the ocean floor. They were stacking blocks and water bottles to show the fine movements these robots can do. Very cool.
Another person talked about the pressure changes that occur when you go deep down in the ocean. As a souvenir, they gave my friend Bridget and I cups that had been sent down in a deep sea submarine as a full sized cup, and came back as a cup about the right size for a stuffed animal.
We toured the Western Flyer, which is a 117-foot research vessel that was built just for MBARI to launch deep sea submarines. I hope you get a chance to see it some day. It’s hard to explain. It has two hulls with an opening in the middle where they launch and recover their submarines. There are crew living quarters, a galley, computer lab and wet lab were they do research on board. I think it would be fun to go out for a several month expedition on this boat.
We also saw this really interesting red suit, which I learned is a survival suit. It is a full dry suit that you can can survive in for several days in icy cold waters, should you fall overboard or if something happens to your boat. Now that is something I don’t want to try.
The people at MBARI had all sorts of activities and displays for people of all ages. I didn’t understand a lot of the super scientific stuff, but I had a great time. It was just exciting to be at the place where many of the discoveries talked about at the Monterey Bay Aquarium actually occur.
Have you ever wanted to see the otter feeding up close, prepare a penguin's food, clean the Splash Zone touch pool, give a bat ray breakfast, or feed the fish in the Monterey Habitat exhibit? Well, Morning Rounds is the aquarium Adventure for you! It is just like being a real aquarist in the morning.
You arrive at the aquarium at 8:30 in the morning. There are no crowds yet, just the sounds of the Monterey Bay waking up. First stop was the sea otters. What a great way to start any day...they are sooo cute! We watched their morning training which included being fed and weighed, and following simple hand commands. It was a real treat not to be watching this over the heads of hundreds of people, there were just 16 of us. By teaching the otters simple commands, aquarist and veterinarians can work more easily with the otters to take care of them while keeping everyone safe.
We then headed up to the Splash Zone were we cleaned the touch pool near the penguin exhibit. First we took all the animals out and placed them gently in a plastic tub covering them with the seaweed and kelp to keep them moist. Then we drained the water and we each had scrubby sponges to clean the sides and bottom of the pool. Once clean, everything went back into the pool and was ready for little fingers to explore that day.
We were then off to prepare the food for the 11:00 penguin feeding. Each penguin gets a herring with a vitamin pill hidden in the gill. So we had to put on plastic gloves and learn to slide this pill in the gill without breaking the head off the fish (easier said than done). But with lots of good instruction we all finally got the hang of it and the penguins' food was ready.
While in the food prep area, we picked up squid for the bat rays, as well as krill, squid and other types of fish for the Monterey Habitat and Kelp Forest exhibits. My favorite was feeding the bat rays. At first I was super nervous to put my hand in the water with their food, thinking they might bite me, but they are very gentle and only suck the food of your hand. They are so soft, and don’t have any teeth. On the two bigger exhibits, you "broadcast feed" by tossing the food all around the top of the exhibit, so all the fish have a chance to get some.
Even though a lot of what you are doing is feeding, one of the most important jobs to do as an “aquarist for the morning” is to be observing the general health of the animals, and looking for anything unusual. What I learned from Morning Rounds was just how much care and attention all the animals and fish at the aquarium receive. You can just tell that everyone loves these beautiful creatures and wants to take good care of them.
Run, don’t walk, and get yourself signed up for Science Under Sail. Last Saturday, I had a chance to experience this amazing Aquarium Adventure with my family, and I give it 6 BIG thumbs up (2 from each of us)! You leave from Fisherman’s Wharf on an incredible 65-foot sailboat called the Derek M. Bayliss, which was specifically designed to do ocean research. Along with our captain and first mate, we had two marine naturalist aboard who were willing to answer as many questions as you could possibly ask.
Our three hours out on the Monterey Bay, were filled with lots of fun and interactive science and boat jobs:
We picked up a few pieces of trash in the Bay and logged where we found it, so we can help stop pollution of our oceans.
We tested the salinity of the water by using this cool instrument that refracts light.
We did a plankton pull, where you drop this clean cone shaped net with a small bottle on the end into the water and pull it along for a few minutes. When we pulled it back on to the boat, the bottle was filled with this brownish soupy water. At first, you might scrunch up your nose and go yuck, but actually that soup is full of plankton and sea life. We took drops of this water and put them under a microscope that had a big computer screen attached. We saw fish eggs and all sorts of unusual chains of sea life and plankton. After studying them on the big screen for a while, you think they are going to be big, but actually they are the size of dust particles.
I have to say my favorite part was pulling up the benthic cage. They place a cage on the bottom of the ocean floor the night before, and then you get to bring it up the next morning and see what has wandered in. Inside was not one, two, or three sea stars, but 37 sea stars of all sizes and colors! There was also a large decorator crab, and a baby decorator crab (which was almost lunch for a hungry seastar, but we saved it). What was so cool, is that we got to touch and observe these animals without harming them. After studying them for a while, we put them all safely back in the Monterey Bay.
We also kept a running tally on a whiteboard of all the other marine life we spotted like otters, seals, sea lions, cormorants, and sea gulls.
After our science experiments were done, we then had the chance to raise the sails and try our hand at sailing the boat (with the help of our captain of course).
Everyone was so nice and excited to share all they knew. When we got back to Fisherman's Wharf I just kept jumping around with excitement, wanting to go again and take every body I know with me. It was an AMAZING adventure.
When you dive underwater in the aquarium’s Great Tide Pool, you find yourself in a whole different world. Your heavy air tank suddenly becomes as light as a feather, the hubbub of the aquarium fades into nothing but a whisper over the waves, and you feel as if you are in a magical world with no one other than the animals that call this extraordinary place home. Wow—what an experience!
In late June, I was lucky enough to participate in the Aquarium’s Underwater Explorer’s Program, twice. I had two good friends, Savannah from Boulder and Bridget from Ogden share this great adventure with me. You start in a small theater where they give you a briefing on your equipment and how to put it on, along with introducing you to some of the animals you might see. You are paired into groups of two or three, and then go outside to meet your instructor, who helps you put on all your gear. You’ll start by putting on a fleece top and bottom, then comes the tricky part, getting on your dry suit. A dry suit keeps the water out, allowing you to stay dry and warm (unlike a wet suit, which traps some water between your skin and the suit, which eventually lets you adjust to water temperature, but you also end up soaking wet). It’s actually pretty easy to get the dry suit on with everyone there to help you. You then go down some stairs towards the Great Tide Pool and get your hood, gloves, flippers, and an air tank. Once you have everything strapped on, your ready for the best part—Going In!
You slip into the water and immediately everything is different. You’re light as a feather, but you feel a little awkward floating around on your back. Your instructor works with you to feel comfortable with all this new equipment and then teaches you how to breath using a regulator (just like a real scuba diver). The most important rule of scuba diving, “never hold your breath,” just relax and breath normally.
Once everyone in your group is comfortable it’s off to explore. We headed over to hermit crab cove where hundreds of hermit crabs were scurrying around in the sand. We also found a key hole limpet (a large snail) near by. We then went and looked at Sea Stars of all kinds and colors, they are so beautiful. Something I was really hoping to see on the dive was the monkey-faced eel. With the help of our instructor, a few dead fish and some lettuce, we caught a glimpse of the eel—eerie and magnificent at the same time. We also saw sea cucumbers, giant green anemones, sanddabs (camouflaged in the sand), rockfish, sculpins, abalone and lots of different algaes. I’ve spent lots of time over the years looking at these incredible animals at the aquarium or in tide pools, but I can’t find the words to explain how different it is to experience them by being in their habitat. The whole experience seemed to fly by. After 45 minutes (which only seemed like 5 minutes) it was time to get out of the water and remove all of our heavy gear. The only thing that was wet was my short hair, which dried nicely while enjoying a cup of free hot chocolate, and talking about our underwater adventure!
Your instructor gives you, and helps you fill out, your first dive logbook documenting the date and time, water conditions etc. of your first dive. This is really an amazing program, with lots of instructors and helpers working to make your first experience diving in the underwater world a super positive one. I think it was Jacques Cousteau who said, “you protect what you love, and you love what you know.” I think the aquarium does this program to help us know and love the ocean even more. Well, it sure worked for me and my friends. I hope you get the chance to do Underwater Explorer’s some day soon.
Hi all! I had a great time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s first World Ocean Day celebration. There was lots of fun family entertainment going on all over the aquarium. A few of my favorite activities were:
Basta Basura (Enough Trash) This was the debut of new musical skit running at the aquarium throughout the Summer. It’s the story of a girl who is at the beach and is thinking about throwing her plastic water bottle into the ocean. The evil trash heap in the ocean wants her to throw it in the water like lots of other people do, while the sea animals are telling her not to. You get to cheer and help her make the right decision. Did you know there really is a raft of trash floating in the Pacific Ocean? It’s now larger than the state of Texas. We can all help by picking up trash whenever you see it. This way it won't end up in the ocean and contribute to that island of trash making it the size of the U.S.A.
The Banana Slug String Band played several times and they were really silly. They have written and recorded lots of music for children and families, about ocean life and what we can do to help take care of it. But they don’t just sing, they act out their songs in silly ways and try to get everyone in the audience involved. I had a great time laughing and singing to their music.
Nancy Raven, another singer and songwriter about the ocean, was performing outside on the Great Tidepool Deck, singing songs and getting lots of younger kids dancing and playing with some of the coolest instruments I have ever seen. One was a kelp shaker. She picks up pieces of dried kelp on the beach; fills them with sand and shells; plugs the bottom with a piece of drift wood; and, then seals them with some type of varnish and paints faces on them. I want to try making one. The other instrument was called a whale phone. When you play it with a bow, it sounds just like the song whales sing.
My fellow Explorer Sierra was on a family vacation and Eduardo had hurt his foot and couldn’t be there, so Simon one of the Aquarium’s Field Explorer’s was there working with me that day. Simon and I spent a big part of the day handing out Seafood Watch Cards. It was wonderful to see that most people knew what a Seafood Watch card was, and lots of people had them and were using them! I think Seafood Watch cards are one of the best souvenirs that the aquarium gives everyone who visits. It’s a way to help the ocean every time you order seafood, by making smarter choices. I carry one in my wallet. If you don’t have one, or aren’t sure what they are, go to this link to get more information.
I’m glad the aquarium has picked a day to celebrate our wonderful oceans around the world that give us so much.
If you've ever been to a river, then you've probably seen small waterfalls. Three feet high, pouring over the rocks. Now imagine that multiplied by over forty. Burney falls was my first waterfall that enormous. It was very different from the small river waterfalls in a lot of ways that I could see. It was much colder, with snow literally melting into the river that the falls poured from. For another thing, there were many smaller, misty waterfalls sprouting from each side that came from the rock, not the river; springs! Even seventy feet away, I could feel the spray. I read in a pamphlet that a hundred million gallons cascade over the falls each day!
Something that surprised me was the life there. The ice cold water was perfect for many plants and moss, all clamoring to grow on land as close as possible to the falls. Several darting creatures that looked like bats were really Black Swifts, birds that travel about 130 miles from the coast to live in the damp cliffs of Burney Falls. Mule deer also thrived in the area, and upriver I saw clumps of daisy-like flowers growing in the middle of the fast river current. Apparently the wildlife found the noise and cold of the falls the perfect place to be. President Roosevelt rightly proclaimed it "the eighth wonder of the world", and I agree with him.
Why is being able to count fish important?
Many marine biologists believe that large ocean fish populations have declined by as much as 90% in the last 50 years. In many areas of the world, certain species of fish have been almost wiped out due to overfishing, habitat damage, excessive bycatch and poor aquaculture practices. This is causing a collapse in ecosystems (for example, by damaging the food chain) and throwing thousands of people out of work as fish factories open, and then go bust. Scientist, fisherman and governments need to work together to find out how many fish are in our oceans. They can then work together to determine the right number of fish to catch, so fish populations remain strong; fishermen and their families can make a living and people of the world can be fed with this tasty source of protein.
I love to educate people about saving our seas. When I got the flier for Science Fair, I felt this was a great chance to educate a lot of kids at my school. I had seen an experiment on counting fish populations in a book called Awesome Ocean Science by Cindy Littlefield (check it out from the library—it's full of fun experiments). As you can imagine, it's impossible to count fish one by one, so scientists have devised a way to count them in smaller groups and get a pretty close estimate. This book described an experiment for kids like you and me to learn and test how scientists count fish populations!
Scientist go catch a net full of fish in an area; tag each one and then throw them back. Later the scientists come back to the same spot and catch some additional batches of fish, counting all the fish caught, and looking for the tagged ones in the group. Using mathematics they can then estimate the total size of the fish population for that area.
I did my experiment twice: once with dried beans, and once with toothpicks as my "fish". You put a bunch of "fish" in a container...don't count them ahead of time. Mix up your "fish" and shake out a group through a hole in the top. This is your first catch. Tag them all and then put them back in the container. Mix them up again and shake out another group (about the same size as the first). This time count all the "fish" and the number of tagged ones. Divide the number of fish in a batch by the number of tagged fish. Then multiply that number by the first sample, to get an estimate of the size of the total population. We repeated this process ten times, then eliminated our highest and lowest numbers, and added up the rest and divided by eight (total number of samples) to get an estimate of our total population in the container. Then we counted the number of "fish" in the container to see how close we were. It worked pretty well: our estimate was within 10% of the total population.
When I did my display board, I wanted to tell kids and parents more than just about the experiment. I wanted them to know why it is important, and hopefully inspire them to take action to help our oceans. I ordered 200 Seafood Watch cards from the Seafood Watch Program and included them on my display board. The first day of the Science Fair only a few cards were taken, and I was really disappointed that people didn't seem interested. But on the second day, a few students got really excited about what they could do to help and they started telling others... every Seafood Watch card was taken by the end of the day. Now I see them everywhere...posted on bulletin boards, as bookmarks, in people backpacks. It's not the award I received for my science fair project that makes me happiest—it's seeing kids reading their Seafood Watch cards at recess and asking me which salmon or cod can they still eat; and, it's seeing kids giving cards to teachers, and parents, and helping them to understand that everyone can help make a difference. You can make a difference too!!!
Hi All! I had a GREAT time at Cooking for Solutions! It turned out to be one of the most exciting 24 hours of my life! We went to the gala on Friday night, where the food was incredible! My favorite dish was a panna cotta on top of a tres leches cake, or three milks cake! Yum!! I met the very dedicated and silly, Too Hot Tamales, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, who were the celebrity guest chefs at the event, because of their commitment to taking care of our oceans by only using sustainable seafood in their restaurants. However, the most thrilling part of the night was meeting Julie Packard, the Founder and Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and my heroine. Her passion and vision has inspired millions of people, worldwide to start taking care of our precious oceans.
On Saturday, I helped Dory Ford, the Executive Chef of the Portola Cafe, to do a kids seafood cooking demo. We cooked a wonderful wild Alaskan salmon with a great tropical salsa (I've made it at home since then)! We also cooked crab cakes, which I got to shape and sprinkle with bread crumbs. The samples went so fast, I never did get to taste them. During my fellow explorer Sierra's cooking demo, I tasted the best salmon salad (think tuna salad) ever. I had three little sample plates! Then came one of the most exciting parts of my day: A live interview on radio station KGO with Gene Burns—it was amazing! It was my first time doing anything like that, so I was a little bit nervous. I found that once I started talking about the program and my interest in the ocean, my words flowed freely. I was interviewed along with Jennifer Dianto, the leader for the aquarium's Seafood Watch program. She is so supportive of the role kids can play in helping educate their parents, friends and teachers...it was really special to spend time with her.
The whole event was so exciting because I had the chance to meet so many people from all around the country who are doing different things, but all working towards the same goal of helping to save our seas. There was a film crew working on a documentary called Oceans 2048. This documentary is about how if we don't change the way we are fishing and thinking about our oceans, they will be completely fished out by the year 2048. Kids Safe Seafood, a super nice group from Maryland was there sharing information about eating fish that's not only good for the environment, but also good for you. There were people from aquaculture farms (sustainable ones) and regular organic farms, environmental organizations, and of course Seafood Watch, handing out information and educating people. Wow!! It was just amazing to see their energy and excitement, and the best part is that they all believe that kids can help make a difference—how cool is that!
As the day was winding down, I grabbed a stack of Seafood Watch Cards and took off exploring the aquarium. I went over to Wild About Otters to pass out these cards, and was delighted to spend some watching the four African spotted necked otters playing. What a day.....Cooking for Solutions was full of great adventures, food, and new friends.
Bon Giorno! That's Italian for hello. Have you ever imagined yourself flying over the Atlantic Ocean to a place 5,000 miles from home? Well, that was me over spring break. My family and I went to Italy! Good food, awesome landmarks, and best of all—the ocean. My favorite place we visited was Cinque Terra, or "five lands." These are five villages along the west coast of Italy that have no cars and are linked only by walking trails or train. We hiked along the dusty trails staring out to the open sea, wondering what mysteries lay ahead. Each village has something special, whether it's a secret castle or rocky point. I'll always remember sitting in Vernazza, at the base of a castle watching the sunset over a sparkling ocean.
I also loved Venice, Queen of the Sea! As you can imagine, this was right up my alley. The only way around Venice is by boat or on foot! We rode a gondola in the narrow canals. The skinny gondola barely fit! I've always heard that Venice is sinking. Well, actually, its not. The water is rising due to climate change! Venice was home to many great people like Vivaldi, my favorite composer, and Marco Polo the great explorer (did you know that he actually brought pasta back to Italy from China). Venice is also home to the BEST gelato in the whole world! I loved Italy.
If you ever get to go exploring to a different country, here are some tips I found helpful:
A smile goes a long way.
Try to learn a few words from that language, people love it.
If someone starts talking to you in a different language-laugh and smile, shrug your shoulders and tell them you only speak a little bit of their language. Hand - gestures are very useful. It's like playing charades.
Most important, have fun and be up for new adventures! Remember what a famous resident of Monterey said, "You don't take a trip, a trip takes you." John Steinback
Hola! I had a wonderful time at the Día del Niño celebration. It was a beautiful day on the Monterey Bay, and lots of kids and families turned out at the aquarium to celebrate. There was haunting ancient music from Mexico being played on conch shells, a craft room full of activity and a prize wheel where everyone won something (watching the faces of kids when they won was so fun!). Also, there was a wonderful singer and storyteller named José Luis Orozco who played out on the deck and had people of all ages singing and dancing. I loved working at the event booth, meeting new people, and asking kids "what was their favorite animal at the aquarium?" I never did see the giraffe that one little boy told me about. :-) It makes me so happy to see people, especially families, having fun and smiling as they explore the aquarium.
Hello! I hope everyone was able to come to El Día del Niño on April
15th. It was an incredible event based on the traditional Mexican
holiday that honors children.
It was the best day I've had since I started the Official Explorer
program. I was proud of myself because I spoke in front of an audience
for the first time in my life! I greeted the crowd gathered for the
announcement of comic strip competition winners. Several middle and
high school students created amazing comics about ocean conservation.
Later, I twice had the privilege of welcoming everyone to the
aquarium and introducing the San Jose High School Mariachi Band.
During the rest of the day I passed out stickers and chocolates to
hundreds of children who stopped by the Information Booth.
I finally had an opportunity to see the new Wild About Otters exhibit
about freshwater otters and thought it was awesome! The small-clawed
Asian otters looked like beavers and the spotted-necked African otters
were so playful. I'll be working on May 19th at the Cooking for
Solutions event. Please come and say hello to me at the Information
Booth.
-Eduardo
Abril: Día del Niño
¡Hola! Espero que todos vinieron al Día del Niño el 15 de abril. Fue
un evento increíble que fue dedicado a una celebración tradicional de
Méjico para dar honor a los niños.
Para mí, fue el mejor día que he tenido desde que empecé a trabajar
como un Explorador Oficial para el Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Estube orgulloso de mi mismo porque era la primera vez que hablé en
público en frente de un grupo grande. Primero, les dí la bienvenida
al grupo que se juntó para el anuncio de los ganadores de la
competencia de caricaturas. Algunos estudiantes de unas escuelas
secundarias crearon caricaturas maravillosas sobre la conservación del
mar. Luego, dos veces, tuve el privilegio de introducir el grupo
juvenil Mariachi del San Jose High School. Durante el resto del día,
trabajé en el Puesto de Información donde regale "stickers" y
chocolates a cientos de niños.
Por fin, tuve la oportunidad de mirar la nueva exhibición de las nutrias
de agua dulce "Wild About Otters". ¡Que fenomenal! Las
nutrias de garras pequeñas de Asia se parecen a los castores y las
nutrias de cuellos manchados de Africa eran muy juguetones. Trabajaré
el 19 de mayo en el evento "Cooking for Solutions." Por favor,
vénganse y salúdenme en el Puesto de Información. ¡Hasta pronto!
The six mile Sobranes hike is wondrous—it's more like four hikes instead of one. It starts out as a very loose forest with small trees, a stream that loops around many times, and some flowers and grasses on the ground. It turns into a redwood forest, with giants towering upward and thick trunks. There isn't a lot of light, but the ground abounds with redwood sorrel, a plant that looks somewhat like a clover, but it's edible! Suddenly, you come out of the forest to see rolling hills that have meadows with flowers more wild and beautiful the further you go. You reach the top, and when you begin the decent it has taller grasses and fewer flowers, so that it is a little like the first section. All these have different animals, and probably thousands of plant species. In six miles, there are many different communities. I noticed that the redwoods grew in a circle of about six trees with one in the middle. There were countless lizards on the meadow section. It always seemed like I was about to step on one, because not moving they were perfectly camouflaged, and they waited until the last moment to scurry into the grass. The top has a perfect view of the ocean. There is almost solid white near the coast, and then it suddenly becomes blue. The rocks near shore are the only ones close enough to upset the water.
All this beauty was missing the roar of cars and planes, the crowds of people, and the trash of millions of food wrappers. It is nature, almost unchanged except for the trail. These places have a beauty no parade or amusement park has; the beauty of nature unblemished.
This exhibit got me very exited, because otters are my favorite animal of all time. I even want to become a marine biologist who works with otters. The river otters turned out very different from what I expected. I expected them to be very similar to sea otters. The river otters are actually very different from their saltwater cousin, the sea otter. I can't believe how much time they spend on land; they're even born on land! Their fur is much thinner than a sea otter, which has the thickest fur in the world. The other animals in their habitat were also very amazing. My personal favorite of these was the archerfish, a fish that can squirt a stream of water into the air to get its prey: insects!
Wild About Otters also showed some sad things. It had an information plaque for each of the otters, and at the bottom of each one had a status. Almost every one of them said threatened, endangered, or other sad things that showed that there aren't many more otters left. It seems like most of the otters will turn out okay if we help them by not polluting their water. They can't see their prey through dirty, polluted water. The otters are getting more help from all sorts of people, everywhere. Even if you don't live near them, then you can still help by keeping water near you clean. All water is connected, and the otters need everyone to help keep their water clean.
March: Colorado River Otters and Some Otterly Delightful Books
Hi all, and welcome to the aquarium's new Wild About Otters exhibit! I can hardly wait to come and see the exhibit myself. We have river otters here in Colorado. There is an interesting story behind them, and I'd like to share it with you. In the 1700s river otters were thriving in the mountain rivers throughout Colorado. They played and frolicked the days away, safe from harm, except of course from their natural enemies. Then, in the 1830's to 1840's trappers and hunters came in and killed most of the otter population for their beautiful fur, to sell and trade. The last river otter seen in Colorado was in 1906. Luckily, in 1976 the Colorado Division of Wildlife started an otter reintroduction program, bringing five groups of otters back to various rivers in Colorado. They were on the endangered species list for quite sometime until they started to thrived again. Our Colorado river otters are now on the threatened list (which is a better than endangered) and are protected. I love having otters here, they make our rivers happy.
I also love to read about otters. Two of my favorite books about otters are:
The Adventures of Phokey The Sea Otter, by Marianne Riedman (they have this at the aquarium bookstore)
Lootas, Little Wave Eater, by Clare Hodgson Meeker.
Phokey is about an orphaned sea otter who is very curious. He loves to explore, and chase sea lions. His adventures include getting caught in a lobster trap and being transported by marine biologists to different areas several times, only to find his way back to Catalina Island. Lootas is about a little otter who is orphaned in Alaska, and rescued. He is brought to the Seattle Aquarium where a team works hard to help him survive. I love this book because it's about how they care for baby otters. I hope you might have the chance to read both these books about real otters. Have an otterly delightful time at Wild About Otters!
Hi all! As some of you know, I live in Colorado. I can’t go tide pooling
here, but I can do lots of other fun outdoor activities and sports like
hiking, biking and skiing. My favorite is snowshoeing. Imagine
this...You are alone in the woods with only your parents. Deep, clean,
powdery snow is all around you. Small ice crystals sparkle on the tall
evergreens surrounding you. The only sounds are a small breeze, a
glider, and the crunch, crunch, crunch of your snowshoes as you blaze
the trail. That's exactly how it is. Along with the magic, there is lots
to discover and explore.
Two weeks ago, I went snowshoeing up at Brainard Lake (10,345 ft above
sea level) with my mom, dad, and aunt. As always, it was really neat,
and we had beautiful views of the Continental Divide. On this trip we
discovered a snow fort that campers had stayed in the night before.
Crawling through the endless twists and turns wondering what the next
dig-out would be was awesome. The snow fort was actually like a small
snow house. There was a bonfire room full of black ashes from last
nights fire. There was even a dining room (we could tell by the little
remains of breakfast)! There were two different tunnel entrances. I
think that must be in case of a cave in, you have another way out. I
hope to camp in a fort like that some day.
Snowshoeing isn’t always easy. In fact, it’can be a lot of work because
it’s in the mountains, so there is a constant uphill slope. Even when
you are coming back down hills it can be tricky, because you can get
going faster than your snow shoes and trip over them...splat...and then
you are buried in snow. However, the beauty around you takes your mind
off your aching legs. One thing that keeps me going is looking forward
to my families legendary “Mid-way Snowball Fight." We have a turn around
point on the trail, perfect for a snowball fight. Snowballs fly
everywhere and you really have to watch out. It’s a great treat, and
then there is always the hot chocolate at the end! I think snowshoeing
is definitely a great sport, and I hope you have a chance to get out and
try it!
Hi, I am Ayla Besemer. I had a great time at Shark Days, and I learned lots of things, too. Sharks are amazing animals. Did you know there are 365 species of sharks (one for each day of the year)? They are not as ferocious as many people make them out to be. More people are killed by falling coconuts than sharks each year.
There were several speakers at Shark Days, two of which I got to introduce. I first introduced Manny Ezcurra, the Associate Curator of Elasmobranches. He is in charge of the team that cares for all the sharks, rays, tuna, turtles, and molas at the aquarium. He talked about how much research the aquarium did before they captured their first white shark, and also how much they learned while their two different sharks were on display. You wouldn't believe the number of people involved, from local fisherman in Southern California to the divers who cleaned their exhibit at the aquarium. Which brings me to the next speaker, Brianne Berlin. She is a Dive Safety Officer, and gets to go diving with all the sharks at the aquarium (and other fish too). She told us that there are always at least two divers in the water when diving with the sharks, one who is cleaning or feeding and the other who is keeping a close eye on all the sharks to keep everyone safe. She brought equipment the divers use, the coolest was a chain mesh suit that weighs 22 pounds and prevents a shark bite from puncturing the skin. Wow...can you imagine wearing that?
I especially enjoyed working in the Event Booth meeting lots of people, and walking around the aquarium handing out Seafood Watch cards. I'm really excited about helping our oceans through helping people understand what seafood to eat and how to handle their trash. This is just my first of many adventures...I can hardly wait to share more of them with you.
I'd like to start out by telling those of you who don't know that Shark Days is a special event weekend at the aquarium. It was my first event weekend as an Official Explorer, so I was pretty nervous. As it turned out, the hardest part was waiting for it to happen. Once I was actually busy doing things, I didn't remember how nervous I was. It's amazing how if you care about something, then how easy it is to speak up about the thing you care about; in my case, the ocean.
I learned a lot from an auditorium show called Project White Shark. The speaker talked about the two white sharks that the aquarium has had on exhibit. I had never given it too much thought, but before seeing that auditorium show, if someone had asked me to compare the two great white sharks, I would have assumed that they were very different. In some ways they were, but in lots of ways such as how much they ate, how long they stayed, and other things, they were amazingly similar. One thing that really surprised me also was that the aquarium had been studying great white sharks for a very long time before the first great white shark ever came to the aquarium at all. If you ever watch this show, then don't just wait for the part where you get to see the sharks in the aquarium, because the research that the aquarium did beforehand is both remarkable and amazing. If you've ever had any questions about the white shark, then this will answer most of them, just like it answered these ones of mine and many others that I had.
Hi, my name is Eduardo Rocha and I was chosen as an Official Explorer
for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. During Shark Days I got to meet last
year's Explorers when they passed the torch to me and the other new
Explorers. I felt proud and happy to be given this opportunity.
Many people were here to celebrate Shark Days on February 24-25. There
were scientists teaching people about sharks (the great white shark in
particular). I learned some interesting facts about sharks. For
instance, did you know there are 365 species of sharks in the world?
One for each day of the year.
I feel excited to be working at all the special events coming up. This
year, maybe I'll meet you when I work at the Event Booth. Please stop
by and say hello. I will be here again on April 15 during the Day of
the Child celebration. Don't worry if you only speak Spanish, I speak
Spanish too!
-Eduardo
Febrero: La Celebración de los Tiburones
Hola, me llamo Eduardo Rocha y yo fui escogido como un Explorador
Oficial del Monterey Bay Aquarium. Ayer, durante la Celebración de
los Tiburones, tuve la oportunidad de conocer a los Exploradores del
año pasado. Ellos nos dieron una gran bienvenida a mí y a los otros dos
Exploradores. Me sentí orgulloso y feliz de que el acuario me había
dado esta oportunidad.
Muchas personas vinieron a celebrar durante este evento. Había
científicos enseñando a la gente sobre los tiburones—en particular
sobre el tiburón blanco. Aprendí algunos datos interesantes de los
tiburones. Por ejemplo, ¿sabías que hay 365 especies de tiburones en
el mundo? Uno por cada día del año.
Me siento entusiasmado de trabajar en todos los eventos especiales este
año. A lo mejor, te veo en el próximo evento. Por favor ven a
saludarme. Voy a estar el 15 de abril durante la celebración del "Día
del Niño". No te preocupes si solo hablas español, porque yo hablo
también. ¡Nos vemos!
February: The Carmel Lagoon at Carmel River State Beach
Kayaking! It's amazing, the way that you can fly across the water, escape from the noise and everyone else (except the other person in your kayak.) It's almost magic when the kayak is going down the Carmel Lagoon. That was me a few Saturdays ago.
It looked nothing like Elkhorn Slough, even though they are both salt water mixed with fresh water. Directly over a small hill of sand was the ocean. In the main body of water (the one that could be seen from the road), the kelp was hidden beneath only a few feet of water; water that looked like fresh water. Further on, it took on the form of a river, with plants that might be expected to be illustrated in a book, but looked beautiful being seen in real life. Birds included egrets, geese and many other unfamiliar wonders. The special thing was the quietness. There was no guide, no factory on the horizon, just nature. The noise was the birds taking to the air from the water, the dip of the paddles that my mother and I held. It wasn't perfectly still, or calm, but it went beyond the simple word peaceful. It was a truly amazing experience that no one can truly understand unless they take the paddle themselves, and let their soul take to the air from the water like the birds there.
For those of you who love the ocean like I do, I wanted to tell you about a great summer camp I went too. It’s called Junior Sea Camp, and it was a one week sleep away camp on Catalina Island. WOW — an entire week full of sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, rock climbing, cooking, sailing, and studying in 3 marine labs—in other words, an entire week outside by the ocean. When you live inland, like I do, this is a very special treat.
What do robots, survival suits, and Styrofoam cups have in common?
Have you ever wanted to see the otter feeding up close, prepare a penguin's food, clean the Splash Zone touch pool, give a bat ray breakfast, or feed the fish in the Monterey Habitat exhibit? Well, Morning Rounds is the aquarium Adventure for you! It is just like being a real aquarist in the morning. 
Run, don’t walk, and get yourself signed up for 
When you dive underwater in the aquarium’s Great Tide Pool, you find yourself in a whole different world. Your heavy air tank suddenly becomes as light as a feather, the hubbub of the aquarium fades into nothing but a whisper over the waves, and you feel as if you are in a magical world with no one other than the animals that call this extraordinary place home. Wow—what an experience!
Hello! I hope everyone was able to come to El Día del Niño on April
15th. It was an incredible event based on the traditional Mexican
holiday that honors children.
¡Hola! Espero que todos vinieron al Día del Niño el 15 de abril. Fue
un evento increíble que fue dedicado a una celebración tradicional de
Méjico para dar honor a los niños.
Hi, my name is Eduardo Rocha and I was chosen as an Official Explorer
for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. During Shark Days I got to meet last
year's Explorers when they passed the torch to me and the other new
Explorers. I felt proud and happy to be given this opportunity.
Many people were here to celebrate Shark Days on February 24-25. There
were scientists teaching people about sharks (the great white shark in
particular). I learned some interesting facts about sharks. For
instance, did you know there are 365 species of sharks in the world?
One for each day of the year.
I feel excited to be working at all the special events coming up. This
year, maybe I'll meet you when I work at the Event Booth. Please stop
by and say hello. I will be here again on April 15 during the Day of
the Child celebration. Don't worry if you only speak Spanish, I speak
Spanish too!