Friday Harbor Adventures 

July 30^th, 2024 – All of the REUs and divers woke up bright and early to leave for the ferry to Friday Harbor at 5:45 am. We drove to a local nature preserve to walk around before heading to Lime Kiln. The tide was very low, and the fog rolled over the horizon. But a bunch of marine scientists still enjoyed looking at the shoreline! At Lime Kiln, our scientific dive team was assisting Jason Wood at the Sea Mammal Research Unit to deploy and move hydrophones that were capturing real time acoustics for marine mammals and noise measurements. We went down in two groups: Derek, Ayden, and Ana moved the smaller hydrophone deeper while Larkin, and I untangled the crossed cable wires disrupting the sound on the shallower hydrophone. Then the whole group moved the smaller hydrophone to a shallower, new location. It was very important that we timed the tide correctly and got our work done in a timely manner because the current was only slack for ~40 minutes. 

After the dive, we quickly made our way to the Friday Harbor Research Lab where we watched their summer REUs give their final presentations. Tim Dwyer gave Ayden and I a tour of the facilities including the labs and dive locker! Tim is a Bowdoin alum like me, husband to Megan Cook (2012 NA Scholar), and a teacher at Friday Harbor High School. I even met another Bowdoin graduate working on the Friday Harbor research boats: small world. As we were waiting for the ferry back to Anacortes, the group walked around Friday Harbor. It was a good time to pick up so small gifts to bring home to family and friends! 

The Last Week 

August 1^st, 2024 – The dive team travelled to the WWU Lakewood Boathouse in Bellingham to dive Lake Whatcom. We pulled right up to the lake to unload dive gear, and it was truly a beautiful sight. We had the facilities to ourselves, and the surface water was so warm! It was about 63 degrees until 40 ft and then 42 degrees at depth. The stratification was crazy, but the water was so clear! It looked like the Caribbean. Ayden and I explored the lake and got to a maximum depth of 111 ft which is our deepest dive to date. We also assisted in collecting marine debris from right off the docks. The group found some interesting items including a bike and many pairs of sunglasses. 

Later that afternoon, we dove right off the SPMC beach to look for good spot to outplant our additional abalone. Nate suggested we outplant in an area near the end of the intake pipes. Since it was high tide and the intake pipes are covered in kelp and algae, it took us about 15 minutes to find them. We then followed the pipes to their end, towards the center of the bay and searched for a suitable habitat to place our precious abalone. The end of the intake pipes were close to the channel which has a lot of boat traffic including ferries. It was very important for us to stay at depth and properly place our dive flag float. On our way back to shore we saw a Giant Pacific Octopus hiding in the kelp! I almost touched it while I was detangling our SMB from some kelp because it was camouflaged so well! We were all so excited as it was on our Pacific Northwest bucket list.

August 3^rd, 2024 – The Art Show in Anacortes was a nice way to round out the internship. The local artists really produce beautiful work from wood cravings to clothing to paintings. Some of my favorite pieces were the wood carved bathymetry maps of the Salish Sea and the abstract landscape paintings of the pacific northwest. Brian also took us to see the boat that was used in Pirates of the Caribbean because it was docked near SPMC. We spent the last week soaking up the beautiful WA summer weather.

August 7^th, 2024 – On the Wednesday of our final full week in WA, the REUs gave their final presentations on their summer research projects. It was cool to see their final results and how their projects had developed as I had been hearing updates all summer long. The presentations were followed by an end of summer goodbye potluck. It was a full circle moment as we opened the summer with a potluck as well. It was crazy to remember back on that first day and realize how far we have come in our research, dive abilities, and friendships! Later that night, we did a sunset night dive at the Cabana (one of the location marinas). We took Holly and Will (two of the REUs) as well to snorkel. We saw a huge gorgeous white spotted rose anemone! The bioluminescence was also spectacular; we splashed around in the water for a while at the surface enjoying the sparkles. 

August 9^th, 2024 – All the REUS left SPMC, and it was a sad weekend for Ayden and me because the commons felt so empty without them. Although, we had a couple incredible dives to look forward to over the next couple days! 

Enhancing my Dive Education 

August 8^th, 2024 – As an additional part of our Scientific Dive Training, Derek instructed the group on blue water diving. Blue water diving is a branch of technical diving in which a rig system keeps the dive team together, and it is meant to be used for work in the middle of the ocean. Since this type of diving does not have a bottom and is usually not near reefs, artificial structures, or coastlines, it is very important for the divers to have excellent buoyancy. Derek set up the blue water rig and showed us how it works on land. It is a series of lines that are connected to a main system (wooden panel) with carabiner clips. A thicker line is connected to a buoy on one end, the main system in the middle, and then a light weight on the other end to hold the system in place vertically. The additional lines with the carabiner clips are what keeps the divers together. A group of divers go down and one diver stays at the main system and is the buddy for the other divers. The divers communicate with the main system buddy diver by tugging on their lines. A communication system defining how many tugs means what is predetermined. For example, 1 tug is I’m okay, two tugs is go up, three tugs is go down, and many tugs indicates a problem. For buoyancy control testing, the divers that are not in the middle at the main system were writing an essay on their slates. While writing the essay, buoyancy is not at the forefront of the diver’s mind, so it is easy to start descending or ascending by a ft or two without knowledge. It was the main system diver’s responsibility to make sure each diver was at the appropriate depth. We completed these skills in groups of four and rotated being the main system buddy diver. This was a great test of buoyancy while working, and I have to say my buoyancy is better than I anticipated! It was enjoyable to write an essay, or should I say journal entry, to reflect on my summer of diving while diving! This was our last dive as a complete dive team for the summer. It was bittersweet. 

August 11^th, 2024 – Ayden and I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed to texts saying the Derek could take us to Strawberry Falls. This dive site was on the bucket list for us as we had heard all summer that it has some of the most stunning anemones lining the wall. We had tried going to this location one other time this summer as a dive team, but the currents did not cooperate. Let me just say it did NOT disappoint! This must be my favorite dive of the summer and arguably ever. When you look up from about 60 ft deep you see what looks like a waterfall of small strawberry anemones cascading down the rock face. And if you swim 20 ft to you right then you see white metridium anemones flowing down the rock face. It was stunningly beautiful. If you descend a little deeper to about 80 ft, then there’s a ledge and then a huge drop off that goes down to hundreds of meters. You are quite literally swimming over the deep ocean and looking down into darkness. It is a very intriguing and eerie feeling. As an ocean lover, the deep was calling me. Whereas if I asked my mother what she would think about this experience, she would have been terrified. As we ascended and completed our safety stop at about 15 ft, we were surrounded by gorgeous kelp flowing in just a little bit of current. Every depth had something different. It was a truly amazing dive in every way. 

August 12^th, 2024 – On the foggy morning of my last second to last day in WA, Derek, Ayden, Jeannie (WWU Student), Jason (WWU Student), Alex (from Puget Sound Restoration Fund), and I made our way to Deception Pass. We got there early before the slack to make sure we did not miss our very slim window. We watched small eddies form along the shoreline under the bridge which was a very cool site but slightly nerve racking because we were about to jump into those waters. Derek called the slack and gave us the green light to get into dive gear. Derek even gave us his AAUS flag, so Ayden and I could take pictures! And then we took a giant stride into Deception Pass. I was in awe as I looked up at the bridge towering above me. I was a little nervous descending but as soon as my head went below the surface my anxiety vanished. We stayed very close to the shoreline wall to avoid boat traffic and be able to grab onto the wall in case of excessive current. We saw some very cool tube anemones that I had never seen before as well as rose anemones, white metridium, rock fish, rare nudibranchs, and crabs! Towards the end of our dive, the current started picking up very quickly. We did hold onto the wall for a couple minutes before making our way towards the surface for a very cool kelp forest safety stop. All the divers got back onto the boat giddy from an incredible dive. And then just like that we dove Deception Pass! The legendary dive site that only a handful of divers have been due to the challenging conditions. The slack tide had to be timed perfectly because there is significant current and downwelling at this location. You must be an advanced diver and very cautious of boat traffic. I could not believe that I had just completed my last dive in WA! But it was a phenomenal last dive to have. It was a very full circle moment for me because during our first week, the first outing we did as a group was to Deception Pass. This dive was the perfect way to end my internship and fabulous summer of diving! 

Thank you so much to OWUSS, the AAUS Foundation, and SPMC for this extraordinary internship and the ability to advance my diving skills in one of the most beautiful states. I am so grateful I was able to be part of an impactful biological oceanography research project on abalone out planting and restoration! This research showed me how I can combine my love of ocean field work with diving! A very special thank you to Derek and Nate for being the best advisors I could have asked for all summer. Both are incredible dive instructors that showed me how beautiful cold water diving is. I am so appreciative of all the connections and friends I have made this summer and cannot wait to connect with so many of you again in the future. I am honored to be part of this ocean loving community! 

24 Hours of Abalone 

Hi all! I’m back with some exciting new updates. The primary research project I am working on this summer is abalone restoration with a focus on abalone outplant density dispersal and predation. Larkin, Ana, Ayden, and I are working with Josh Bouma at the Puget Sound Restoration Fund on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, WA. Josh has given us 600 abalone to outplant further North near Shannon Point Marine Center. We are out-planting 527 one year old abalone in 6 PVC tubes with varying densities: 37 count, 75 count, and 150 count. Our pinto abalone also known as Haliotis kamtschatkana are native to WA and endangered. They are a type of sea snail that can grow up to 6.5 inches in length. An outplant site was chosen to give the abalone the highest chance of survival: rocky reef habitat, about 30 ft deep, with significant encrusting coralline algae. The goal was to have two divers go down every hour on the hour for 24 hours to count the number of abalone in each tube as well as identifying any abalone outside the tube. 

July 11^th, 2024 – In preparation for our night abalone data collection dives, our scientific dive class did a 3 am night dive at our abalone outplant site. The dive had to be at 3 am because the currents were above 0.5 knots at every other time while the sun was down. This meant a very early wakeup and a cold entry and exit. Although, we did witness a beautiful sunrise on our drive back to the marina and had a filling breakfast in town after rinsing gear! 

July 12^th, 2024 – Derek, Larkin, Ana, Ayden, and I drove to the Puget Sound Restoration Fund to meet Josh in person and collect our baby abalone! We got to see the abalone hatchery and growth process! Once collected, the abalone must be tagged with very small, numbered bee tags and out-planted within ~48 hours. Eight people spent 7 hours tagging 527 abalone on July 14^th. It was a very tedious process including glueing the 2 mm tags to the 5 mm dancing abalone and measuring their shell size. 

July 15^th, 2024 – The big day!! Derek, Nate, Larkin, Ana, Ayden, and I have spent the last few weeks preparing for our 24-hour adventure. Preparation included picking our dive site, scouting out our tube placement, finalizing our methods, retrieving and tagging the abalone, current monitoring, and meal prep. At 4:30 am, we went down to the lab to pick up our abalone and we headed to Skyline Marina to load the boat. We arrived at the dive site at about 5:30 to find the opposite conditions the forecast predicted: dense fog, moderate breeze, and decent current. We were supposed to begin our tube deployment at 6 am but held off due to conditions until 7:30 am. Then, we were off! Our first abalone count started at 8:45 am. Each hour ~5 to 15 abalone left the tubes with the data plateauing around early evening. We had 9 divers complete these dives, but it was primarily 4 divers: Larkin, Ana, Ayden, and me. We on average did 2 dives followed by 4 hours off, give or take an hour. We also observed MANY predation events on our precious abalone. Amphissa were the primary predator we noticed. Amphissa is a genus of small sea snails. It’s interesting that the Amphissa eat the baby pinto abalone (also a sea snail). It was so cool to catch some of these predation event on camera because Josh mentioned they at the Puget Sound Restoration Fund have never been able to capture one. At around 1 am, the currents started picking up, everyone was exhausted, and we were not seeing major changes in the data. It was decided that we would come back at 10 am on July 16^th to continue counting. We then did 1-2 dives every day until all the abalone had left the tubes. We had been up for 22 hours straight and then were back at it less than 7 hours later! We had a sick set up with two research vessels anchored and tied together, hammocks, a ton of snacks, and people visiting us throughout the day with reinforcements. Our dive site was so beautiful, so we never got sick of it even 48 dives later! The dives averaged around 15 minutes at ~20 ft. It was so rewarding to help complete this diving research project start to finish, and it generated a whole lot of memories. 

Seapens & Friends

July 2^nd, 2024 – Back tracking a little, in early July our scientific dive class started collecting data for a seapen population density project. Katie (WWU student) was spearheading this project as an undergraduate capstone project. We mapped out four 10 by 10 meter squares ~ 2 meters apart with meter tapes in a random location in Burrows Bay, Anacortes, WA. Our goal was to count the total number of juveniles and adults in each quadrat giving us a quantitative population density estimate. So far, we have done 5 dives at our seapen site. This site has proven to be a different location to conduct research with significant current in an unprotected area of Burrows Bay. Our data was unusable on two occasions, but we believe we have sufficient data now! We also did a seapen night dive in which we were on the hunt for phosphorescent seapens. We did not find any, but we did experience the most bioluminescence I have ever seen. Ayden and I spent a good 7 minutes waving in each other’s faces to produce it. Unfortunately, bioluminescence doesn’t come out on camera, but it looked like a star rave. 

July 25^th, 2024 – In addition to the checkout dives, night dives, and data collection dives with habitat structure and quantification, there is a deep dive requirement for the AAUS scientific diving certification. We have done two deep dives so far: one at Turn Island to 60 ft and one at Sares Head to ~100 ft. Our focus was deep dive safety, nitrox mixes, and narcosis symptoms. We completed a worksheet with basic questions about our lives, pop culture, and math calculations to see if any of us experienced symptoms of narcosis at depth. Larkin and I did feel some symptoms of narcosis making us giggle but not disrupting our decision making ability. 

While diving has been my primary focus this summer, I have also had some amazing experiences above water. The Shannon Point in-residence summer crew (REUS, Art students, OWUSS Interns) has taken the WWU van or boat around WA to some awesome views including Deception Pass State Park, Deer Harbor on Orcas Island, Mount Erie, Guemes Island, Mount Baker, Orca watching, and Friday Harbor. Every experience was gorgeous and so memorable, I can’t pick a favorite. On June 18^th, I saw a pod of orcas for the first time!!! And then we saw a lone orca from the beach only about 100 yards offshore not even a week later which was insane. We went to Deception Pass State Park the first week which was an amazing first view to see. On July 27^th, we hiked the Heliotrope Ridge trail to the glacier viewpoint on Mount Baker which was arguably the most jaw droppingly beautiful hike I have ever been on. Friday Harbor was also stunning. I’m a sailor, so the gorgeous sailboats were definitely an eyecatcher for me! I’d like to give a thanks to Brian, Derek, Nate, and Brady (WWU Faculty) who have driven us countless times in the van because none of us had cars (most of us are from the East Coast). 

The REUs also have workshops and lectures every Monday which Ayden and I are gladly participating in as well! These include communications workshops, lab workshops, and snacks and tracks. My favorite workshops so far have been the image analysis and ROV (remotely operated vehicle) workshops. We identified sponges by on microscope analysis including Leucilla nuttingi and Aphrocallistes vastus. Later, electronic ROVs were built out of PVC including wire connections for the motors. Snacks and tracks are one hour lunch discussions in which SPMC faculty or local business people come to talk about their academic and work journeys within marine science. It has been a great place to ask questions about graduate school and finding work opportunities post-grad. Thank you so much to Brian Bingham, the Director of Marine and Coastal Science at SPMC, for organizing these informative sessions! 

July 13^th, 2024 – The REUs, Derek, Ayden, and I loaded the trailer with sea critters to take to a local park for “Kids R Best Fest”: an Anacortes event for families to learn about local businesses and enjoy a nice summers day. Our booth set up was for kids to get to experience and learn about marine life in a hands-on way. We spent a couple hours the day before preparing the animals and our outreach plan. The tanks were organized in terms of habitat or organism: rocky reef, intertidal, crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea stars. The children were primarily ages 3-12 and very interested in touching as many animals as possible. I would say the sea stars and urchins were the top hits! It was so cute to see the children’s faces light up as I placed each animal in their hands. Some of the older children, future marine scientists, even had thoughtful questions.

July 26^th, 2024 – Jay Dimond (SPMC Research Assistant Professor) and Julie Barber (OWUSS NA Scholar in 1999) have also been very welcoming. They hosted Ayden, Angel (REU student), and I for a lovely homecooked meal. Julie made the most delicious salad I have ever had!

I have about 2 weeks left of my internship, and I am determined to make the most of it. I cannot believe how fast my time in WA is going! The Pacific Northwest is so beautiful!! 

Hi everyone!! My name is Teagan Cunningham, and I am honored to be the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society’s 2024 Dr. Lee H. Somers American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Scientific Diving Intern. I will spend my internship gaining my AAUS Scientific Diving certification and learning new ways to combine my love of research with scuba diving!

A little about me… I am from Saddle River, NJ. I graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME in December of 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Earth and Oceanographic Science. I have always had a love for the ocean: growing up going to the Jersey Shore in the summer. After graduation I moved to Key Largo, FL where I obtained my PADI Divemaster certification and started working at Rainbow Reef Dive Center as a dive guide! I began my internship in June of 2024 at the Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes, WA!

The Our World Underwater Scholarship Society’s 50^th Anniversary

May 31^st, 2024 – Prior to the start of my internship, I traveled home to NJ and then to NYC for the 50^th Anniversary celebration of the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society. OWUSS hosted an exciting weekend filled with impactful presentations and dinner events bringing together passionate leaders in the underwater world. Since it was the 50^th anniversary, OWUSS went big having the first Alumni Symposium in which previous scholars and interns of OWUSS presented a little about themselves and the exciting new ocean related work they are doing. Everyone was so welcoming, kind, and truly willing to help the new generation of ocean advocates. I am so grateful to be part of this inspiring group of leaders and ocean enthusiasts. Thank you to OWUSS, the Times Center, New York Yacht Club, and the Explorers Club for a wonderful weekend! After the jam-packed weekend, I stayed in New York to participate in World Ocean’s Week hosted by the Explorer’s Club. This week continued the amazing presentations by ocean leaders around the world including a discussion panel with Dr. Sylvia Earle. These presentations and panels were followed by cocktail hours in which I had the opportunity to meet the influential people I aspire to be like!

Welcome to the Shannon Point Marine Center and Cold-Water Diving!

June 10^th, 2024 – I traveled from NJ to WA! As we started to make our final descent into Seattle, I remember seeing the mountains to my right and immediately was giddy. I had never seen the mountains towering over the water like that. After I collected all my luggage, I hopped on the bus to make the 2-hour ride North to Anacortes, WA. As we pulled into the marina parking lot, one of my advisors Dr. Derek Smith was waiting for me! Derek is the Laboratory Manager and a Research Assistant Professor in Marine and Coastal Science. He was also the President of AAUS from 2020-2021. I then arrived at the Shannon Point Marine Center: my home for the next two months! The Shannon Point Marine Center (SPMC) is the marine and environmental science campus for Western Washington University (WWU).

The first week of my internship was packed with introductions, e-learning, and CPR/ First Aid training. I met my housemates, who would become like my family, 8 Research Education for Undergraduates (REU) students, 2 WWU art students, and Ayden Jacobs: the OWUSS AAUS Mitchell Scientific Diving Research Intern. Captain Nate Schwarck, the Diving and Boating Safety Officer (DSO), and Derek gave us a tour of the facilities including the marine labs and scuba dive locker. All the faculty and staff at Shannon Point were overwhelmingly kind and down to earth. They put together a potluck welcome lunch to get to know each other which was by far my favorite part of my first week. We got to enjoy great food like enchiladas and orzo salad while hearing about the exciting research that’s going to take place this summer. Then it was time to get down to business! Our summer scientific dive team is Derek, Nate, Ayden, Ana Hoffman Sole (REU student), Larkin Garden (REU student), Katie Shaw (WWU student), Torren Lawley (WWU Student), Hannah Allen (WWU student), Jaime Blais (WWU graduate student), and me. During the first week, I began the electronic portion of my scientific dive class to refresh my memory on basic dive skills, safety, and new techniques for additional equipment use underwater. I also completed the e-learning and in-person practical DAN Diving First Aid version 3.0 training including emergency oxygen administration, basic first aid, and CPR.

During the next couple weeks of my internship, we began our in-water training sessions including pool sessions, open water checkouts, rescue skills, and navigation training. We had three 2+ hour pool sessions at the local pool and fitness center to refine our diving skills such as regulator removal, mask removal and clear, buoyancy checks, and gear removal and replace. We also completed the swim test which includes a 400 yd swim in under 12 minutes, 25 yd underwater swim in a single breath, 10-minute tread, and 25 yd swimming tow.

Following the pool sessions, we drove over to do our first couple open water dives at Rosario Beach. On June 25^th, I did my first cold water dive as well as my first shore dive where we were thrown right into the cold, murky, and current filled water of Salish Sea. Thankfully Rosario Beach is in a protected cove, so there was some current but nothing we couldn’t handle. The view was spectacular looking out over the water to see gorgeous snow-covered mountain tops in the distance. This was the real first time (other than from the plane) I had seen mountains so close to the ocean! It was sublime. This insane dive site was where we completed our open water skill checkouts, proving our diving proficiency.

Salish Sea diving is nothing like I have ever done before. I went from the warm 80-degree waters of South Florida to the Pacific Northwest overnight. While it was a shock to trade-in my 2mm shortie wetsuit for an 8mm semi-dry suit, I have embraced all the extra gear, weight, and scientific diving tools to now consider myself a pro. Not really a pro… but getting there!

During the rest of the last week of June, we finished the bulk of our in-water checkouts at Rosario Beach for our scientific diving class specifically focusing on learning new rescue techniques and underwater navigation. The rescue skills included various water exit carries for an unconscious victim, tired diver tows, unconscious diver from depth rescues, unconscious diver at the surface rescues, conscious surface rescue, panicked diver scenarios, and CPR. The one-to-one unconscious victim shoreline exits were particularly difficult resulting in some collapsing, but the victim made it to land where more help was waiting to assist! It was very important for the rescue breaths to be methodically given every 5 seconds during the entire long surface swim to shore without sacrificing speed to give the victim the best chance of survival.

Our navigation and light salvage dives (transporting 10+ lbs. of debris to the surface) included conducting a semi-circle search pattern to find a lift bag which we then used to bring a cinderblock to the surface safely from depth. We then practiced conducting a full circle search with a meter tape. After the search patterns, we completed a large kids puzzle underwater to test our buoyancy and multi-tasking ability. Lastly, we practiced our compass usage and fin kick counting by taking a heading and swimming a reciprocal while accounting for current. This dive was my longest cold-water dive to date with a bottom time of 35 minutes and only my feet got cold!

Our diving education continued beyond underwater skills. Ayden and I assisted Nate in visually inspecting every scuba cylinder in the dive locker (about 30). The inside and outside of scuba cylinders need to be inspected every year to make sure you are breathing out of a properly cared for cylinder. Cracks, bulges, corrosion, cuts, gouges, and paint chips can develop on the inside and outside the cylinder over time due to mishandling. Discussions of various scientific papers focusing on diving safety, regulations, future dive medicine, and hazards were had as well. These papers included recreational, scientific, and commercial diving focusing on limits of recreational and scientific diving. My favorite is the 2012 Dardeau et. al paper titled “The incidence of decompression illness in 10 years of scientific diving.” It was so interesting to see the statistics of recompression therapy and how successful it truly is with it providing a full recovery in 28/33 DCI (decompression illness) cases.

I am so excited for the rest of my internship when we begin to assist in ongoing research projects here in Anacortes!