Day Five..Really Friday's Blog :)

  We waiting until 9AM to see if we might be able to go out and do our test dives. ARHHH nope waves are still at 4'-6' high. Too high for us to go but the professionals did get to go down to Aquarius and start the systems and get it all turned on for us. They say it is 99% ready and will be ready when we go in on Wednesday.

   In the mean time we got to practice underwater navigation with a compass. It was kind of funny since we did it in the parking lot....with a towel over our head to prevent us from seeing the target.
We did look pretty goofy.

     While we were waiting for the seas to calm down, I got to chat with Mrs. Lisa Pitts' classroom in Duncan Okla.  We used the old standby of Facetime  for me to show the class around the dock where all the equipment is ready to do. They had some really good questions about pressure and saturation. FYI Lisa was a finalist for Oklahoma Teacher of the Year this year..so shout out to her!

     As we wait, we do take to opportunity to get to know each other better. I am finding out so much about ocean life. In turn the scientists love hearing stories about life in fifth grade.They are excited to get to know my class better as well.  Interesting fact.... scientists measure how fish return nutrients back to the ocean by...measuring their pee.... The catch them,put them in ziplock bags for a period of time, measure their urine output and what is in it, then let the fish go. More cool sfun facts are to follow I am sure!

     As I wondered around the base, I did notice a cool painting tucked away in a corner. Mrs. Bartnick would be so happy. She loves the environmentalist painter Robert Wyland. He paints and sculpts ocean themed art. Here is is website....Wyland Website

He painted one for the Aquarius habitat staff based on the famous Cousteau mission.See more about that mission here....  http://time.com/cousteau/

.

Some of his building sized art can be seen here. He is an incredible artist.

In fact, there is a building painted by him in Key Largo just up the road from where I am staying.

Hoping for better day on Tuesday when we get to dive. As you can see, all our gear is on the boat or right  next to the door ready to go.

Guess I will have to get in some scuba time somehow this weekend...

Later!