Peter Landecker Diving at the Aquarium of the Pacific

On Saturday, July 22, 2006, I was invited to dive at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. I had a blast! It was against Aquarium policy to caress the very tame fish while in public view. However, to get into the tank once (out of view of the public), when I was about to do some feeding, there was a ray that was waiting where I wanted to put my foot. The team leader encouraged me to grab the ray and gently shove him/her to the side! I did 5 dives in alternate Aquarium display tanks that afternoon, and had to rinse my gear and take a shower between dives (so as to not risk transmitting diseases between Aquarium tanks). Between the last two dives, I had to hustle since in only 15 minutes I had to take off my gear and place it in a rinse tank, take a shower, put my gear back on, and go to another tank. The best part of the afternoon was when the lead Aquarium Diving Safety Officer Derek met me early in the afternoon and told the team something like "Peter is a great diver, no need to worry about him". The dive team was a little short that day, and for the last two dives, the Aquarium dive team really needed a safety diver for the fellow talking through his mask, so I felt I was doing some good. I had to use the LB Aquarium's diving equipment, so that was different. My weighting on the first dive was about two pounds too light, but subsequent dives were fine. We were using 63 cubic foot tanks, and I did the first three dives on one tank. I probably could have done all 5 dives on one tank, but the Aquarium is quite conservative. I had to log my dives on their PC. At one time, when I was feeding the fish, a big one put his mouth all around my hand, so for a moment, my hand was inside a fish's mouth. It happened so fast. Apparently, the most asked question by the audience that afternoon was "What is that diver carrying?", as they had never seen an underwater video rig before. Even the fish were curious, staring putting their eyeballs literally just in front of the camera port; perhaps they saw their reflection. The kids of all ages were so friendly, waving, and trying to touch me through the thick glass. Eye contact really helped. But there were so many eyes, and so little time. I felt like the entire audience was enchanted by the divers, that we really made their day. Almost everyone was smiling! The dives were over so quickly. I would have liked to have lingered. I took the regulator out of my mouth and blew some bubbles. Then I wanted to show off so I removed my mask. But the Aquarium hood was different from mine, and I had to briefly struggle to get my mask back on. The team leader wondered what I was doing, and was relieved when I returned his OK sign. The black sea bass and sharks were so tame, and came right up to and mostly ignored the divers. I got some great close-up video, especially with the lighting level so good. I was careful to position myself to the side of the diver giving the presentation.

Prior to my first dive, I was in the audience when lead Aquarium Safety Diving Officer Derek Smith was making a presentation from one of the tanks using his audio mask. He introduced me as having been in the first group of volunteer certified Research Divers, as part of a Reef Check California training. Derek had been an observer and instructor on that dive trip to Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands. Derek noted the important unbiased marine environment database work done by organizations such as Reef Check. If you want more information about Reef Check California, click here. If you want more information about the Aquarium of the Pacific, click here.

The first two photos are by Cathy Mueller, the next three are by Mark Bobb, the next four are by Lenore Snodey, and the last two are by Peter Landecker.

Crowd waving at Peter.