On Saturday, I took the one mandatory final I had for Finals Week and skipped all the others (a lucky break after a semester of hard work; three of my professors had policies where the lowest exam score is omitted, and I had A's in those classes, so there was no need to take those finals). Yesterday, I spent the entire day packing the contents of my dorm room into boxes. Today, I packed up my van with most of my university belongings and drove to my first ever Airbnb rental in Homestead, Florida. I'll be relaxing here for a couple weeks while I get the first of two covid-19 vaccine shots and obtain a negative covid test. Afterwards? I'll begin my summer internship with Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo, Florida. There, I have the opportunity to work full-time with 8 dolphins, a veterinarian, and the rest of their staff and volunteers!
IDC is a nonprofit that provides dolphin-assisted therapy for people with special needs, and though they’ve been closed to the public since the pandemic began, I’m lucky to be able to help take care of their dolphins while learning some of the veterinary, animal husbandry, and academic aspects of working with these marine mammals. I hope to keep my blog and social media updated with my experiences at IDC, as well as photos and histories of their dolphins!
Sidenote: animal husbandry is a term used by animal care facilities such as zoos and animal hospitals to mean daily care of animals. This can include feeding, training, entertaining, and breeding. The best zoos and animal hospitals especially apply animal husbandry with the intention of providing their animals the best lives possible in captivity.
Shortly after I got to my Airbnb, another guest arrived. I found out right away that he's a TEC diver! A TEC diver (a.k.a. "technical diver") is someone who dives beyond normal recreational limits; in other words, they descend hundreds of feet deep with advanced SCUBA equipment. This often includes use of multiple tanks, mixtures of compressed gas specialized for breathing at extreme depths, and equipment that recycles the air used. He shared his YouTube channel with me and gave me permission to share media from his channel. So I embedded the first of his videos he shared with me, which he took from his GoPro at the wreck of the USS Oriskany! You can view it below.
The USS Oriskany was a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It belonged to the Essex class of World War II warships, placing it among the largest U.S. warships built in the 20th century. It was 911 feet long and 157 feet wide, requiring massive equipment--8 boilers and 4 engines--for propulsion. It carried up to 3,460 personnel and up to 100 aircraft! It held large firepower with 8 five-inch guns and 14 three-inch guns besides. The video embedded above will show you just how massive the ship is compared to a person! The TEC diver I met today told me that he couldn't see from one end of the ship to the other end in high-visibility, clear blue ocean water.
The USS Oriskany was built in 1944 and commissioned for naval use in 1950. It was used in active service for about 24 years. During that time, it earned high recognition for the accomplishments achieved with it. In the Vietnam war, its planes flew more missions than from any other US Navy Carrier. It was given an honorable retirement after its use, intentionally sunk near Pensacola, FL in 2006 to found an artificial reef: a manmade reef site for an abundance of corals, algae, microorganisms, fish, and other aquatic life to grow and live on. You'll see plenty of algae, barnacles, and fish in this video (including a shark) that appeared there after just 15 years! Its tower currently sits at around 84 feet and its flight deck is at around 146 feet (the recreational diver limit is around 130 feet--in the video, you'll see a TEC diver reach the flight deck which is beyond that recreational limit)!
I intend to keep my blog updated frequently (expecting once or twice a week minimum) with my experiences at IDC, the photos and histories of their 8 resident dolphins, and other cool scuba and education experiences I come across this summer! Please go to my "Blog" page and click the "Subscribe" button at the top to receive email notifications whenever I make new posts, and while you're visiting, please consider stopping by my "Support" page to join my 50-donor campaign and give as low as $1 a month! Your support by reading and donating is a huge help to my career.
"Just keep swimming", consider supporting my blog and career with your readership and $1-a-month donations, and have a great summer, everyone!
-Cole Bot
Sources:
My TEC diver acquaintance's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYgNQZs7nCyz-Gio_TmGVbQ
Information on the USS Oriskany: https://ussoriskanydiver.com/services/uss-oriskany/
Information on the Essex size class the USS Oriskany falls under: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carrier_classes_of_the_United_States_Navy
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