I
It had been a long day, and I
fell face-first into my bunk,
exhausted. As I started to
close my eyes, the bunkroom
suddenly lit up like an airport
landing strip. Sitting straight up, I
looked directly toward the source
of the light to see a huge tarpon
swim by the viewport window. With
each pass its silvery body reflected
the habitat’s bow light back into
our bunkroom. This spectacle was
amazing, and that window would
become our team’s theater screen for
many more unbelievable shows over
the next several weeks.
That night was June 1, 2014 —
my first night as a resident of the
Aquarius Reef Base underwater
laboratory. Starting that day, I was
tucked away in my new aquatic
home with scientists Andy Shantz,
Adam Zenone, expedition leader
Fabien Cousteau and our two
habitat technicians, Mark “Otter”
Hulsbeck and Ryan LaPete. We
had just completed two weeks of
intensive dive training, and I was
looking forward to finally starting
my job as one of two aquanaut
documentary shooters saturating
with Mission 31.
THE AQUARIUS HABITAT
Located some nine miles off
the coast of Key Largo, Fla.,
in the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary, Aquarius is a
complex underwater structure
that sits at a depth of 63 feet.
The structure is tethered to a
life-support buoy on the surface;
a team of highly trained Florida
International University (FIU)
scientists, including professional
divers and engineers, operate the
habitat from a command center
in Islamorada, Fla. Aquarius is
the only remaining underwater
laboratory in the world, and it is
dedicated to helping scientists
study the ocean and its inhabitants
for extended periods.
Resident aquanauts can spend
days or even weeks underwater
using an advanced diving
technique called saturation diving.
One of the benefits of saturation
diving is that an aquanaut from
Aquarius can remain at depth
outside the habitat for extended
periods with a reduced risk of
decompression sickness. This
is because the diver has already
absorbed the maximum amount
of nitrogen for that depth. In fact,
DIVE SLATE
Fabien Cousteau emerges from Aquarius
Reef Base during a working dive in the
course of his 31-day saturation at 63 feet.
Below: Actor Ian Somerhalder and
Conservation International chief scientist
Greg Stone, Ph.D., join Fabien Cousteau at
Aquarius Reef Base.
14
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FALL 2014
MISSION 31
AN AQUANAUT’S JOURNEY
Text and photos by Kip Evans
17
CORAL RESTORATION
20
SHARK: AN ICON
ON THE RISE
24
DAN MEMBER PROFILE
26
DAN CALENDAR OF EVENTS
EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT
ONLINE VIDEO SERIES
27
TRAVEL SMARTER
