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Our 2006 Official Explorers
Kelsey Carlson of Mountain View and Erik Kreeger of Del Rey Oaks were chosen to represent the aquarium as our Official Explorers for 2006 because of their demonstrated commitment to ocean conservation. This dynamic duo is working with our staff and volunteers during our "Year of Exploring" to help inspire visitors at the aquarium and beyond. We hope their Field Journals will inspire you to set out on some explorations of your own!
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Kelsey
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July: Underwater Explorer Group Adventure
This Sunday I had the pleasure of taking 11 friends on an adventure at the aquarium: Underwater Explorers. We explored the aquarium during the morning, attending various feedings and stamp stations. My friend Danni had never been to the aquarium, so I gave her a tour and took lots of pictures for her. She immigrated here from China two years ago and has a new baby sister, so this was a really spectacular thing for her.
After lunch, we went for an orientation, then out to the water. It was really hot under all our dive-suit layers, but the water still felt cool. My friend Austin enjoyed seeing the diver feed lettuce to some fish. I was thrilled to spot some monkey-faced eels under a rock. My little sister Sadie found 12 hermit crabs skittering across the sand.
All too soon it was over. We got our hot cocoa and left for home, our thoughts clinging to the experience like the salt water clung to our hair. My friend Curran said, “It was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
-Kelsey
You can be an underwater explorer like Kelsey. Find out how!
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Erik
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July: Job Shadow
On July 25, I job shadowed with the people that work in the Water Quality Lab. I chose that lab because of a possible science fair project that I am researching. When I got there at 8 a.m., I went on the morning rounds with Jennifer and Paul. We got a water sample and checked the oxygen saturation percentage and the pH level, which measures acidity. Normal pH for fresh water is 7.0, while it is around 8.0 for salt water. However, the archerfish tank was 8.6, which is very high for fresh water fish! I then got back to the lab and worked with Paul and Eric. Eric is a chemist, and he runs the test on the water samples. We tested for phosphorus levels, nitrate levels, ammonia levels and other things. He showed me a presentation that had to do with why water quality testing is important and different aspects of how and what to measure. Then Roger, the head of Applied Research, came and gave me a tour of the control room. Right now, because of the energy crisis, the aquarium is alternating running three of the six pipes that bring seawater into the aquarium. This complicates operations, but saves a good deal of energy. After lunch, I talked with Sarah, the microbiologist. We mainly talked about how bacteria grow, the optimal living conditions for bacteria and different methods of quantifying bacterial growth. Then Jennifer showed me how to use a meter for measuring how much oxygen is in the water and what the pH is. Unfortunately, by then it was 3 p.m. and time for me to leave. The day really flew by as I had a great time working with all the people in the Water Quality Lab!
-Erik
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Kelsey
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May: Science Under Sail
In May we went on an Aquarium Adventure: Science Under Sail. We rode on the Derek M. Baylis and went out and did science on the bay. We discovered the magic of a little sample of water—filled with copepods, barnacle molts and other tiny creatures. We put out a plankton tow and saw the tow turn from white to green. A cage with chicken in it had been placed in the ocean, and we saw a tie-dyed jumble of starfish before we released them all and re-submerged the cage. A solitary drifting strand of kelp was not all alone. We pulled it out, and a crab the color of kelp skittered out. We hoisted the sail and got to steer the boat, but all too soon it was over. We reached land and disembarked, but the sea was still in our souls.
I wrote a poem about Science Under Sail.
Science
Under sail
On
Monterey Bay
Under sail
Laughter
Monterey Bay
Joy
Laughter
With sea stars
Joy
Of science
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With sea stars
And kelp crabs
Of science
We learned
And kelp crabs
Bite
We learned
By watching
Bite
The opportunity
By watching
You take charge
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-Kelsey
You can go sailing like Kelsey. Find out how!
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Erik
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May: Cooking for Solutions
Do you eat seafood? I do. But do you eat seafood that is sustainable? Sustainable seafood is seafood that is heavily populated, so if you take some out of the ocean, there will still be enough left for the species to survive. Also, sustainable seafood is caught in a manner that does not hurt the environment. Cooking for Solutions was all about making us more aware of what seafood is sustainable. Kelsey and I got to work with the aquarium's head chef, Dory Ford, to make shrimp tacos and halibut brochettes. Both are on the Seafood Watch green list. The green list is a list of fish that are sustainable. The guide also has a yellow list and a red list. The yellow list has fish that are okay, but there are some concerns. The red list contains fish that either are not sustainable or are caught in ways that severely harm the environment so they should not be eaten. If we only eat fish on the green list, we will help the fish levels to balance out in the oceans.
On May 21-22nd I was fortunate enough to participate in the California State Science Fair at USC. My project was on probability and computer-generated random numbers. There were a lot of marine studies projects. One was about how acidification of the ocean affects calcifying marine species. Another talked about how sea anemones can be used as indicators of Global Warming. One project from Monterey County talked about how desalination affects microscopic organisms in Elkhorn Slough. Even though I did not win, I had a blast and I want to try to go again next year.
-Erik
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Erik
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April: Aquarium Adventures Sneak Peek
Hello again! Done any exploring lately? Kelsey and I got to explore the aquarium's tide pool at Aquarium Adventures Sneak Peek weekend. We got to scuba dive in the tide pools and see many creatures such as starfish, crabs and oysters. It was a total blast! It was the first time I ever got to scuba dive or snorkel, but it sure won't be my last. It felt like I was flying over a big city. During the dive, we got to see and even touch many unique sea creatures. My favorite was the oyster. When we saw it, it was feeding. Did you know that the way an oyster feeds is by casting out a bag-like net to catch plankton with it? Imagine if we ate like that!
On the next day, my family went on the Science Under Sail cruise on the Monterey Bay. The first thing we talked about was the aquarium's Seafood Watch program and aquaculture, or fish farming. Some methods, such as abalone farming, are good, while others, such as salmon farming are bad and really mess up the environment. After that, we pulled up some drifting kelp and bat stars. The bat stars were all vividly colored. I then got to test the salinity of the water, which was 35 parts of salt for every 1000 parts of water. Then my sister, some other kids and I got to steer the boat. That was great! As we sailed, we picked up all the trash we found. Since plastic is not biodegradable, it could be eaten as food by fish, which would hurt them. We then turned around and sailed back to the pier. The science experiments and my first time to sail were things I'll never forget.
-Erik
You can go sailing like Erik. Find out how!
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Kelsey
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April: Aquarium Adventures Sneak Peek
This weekend I did a demo of the Underwater Explorers program. We put on massive amounts of fleece under our dry suits. We all flopped down the stairs like live oversized fish and into the water. The cold seeped into our heads, feet and hands yet our bodies stayed warm. We first picked up bat stars of beautiful colors: red, purple, yellow, orange and many more. We combed kelp beds of green lace, found pin cushion-like gumboot chitons, seashell buttons and ribbons of water. Hermit crabs were scuttling through sand city alleys, waves shuttling us forward, backward, and beyond. And then came the time of ending our splendor. We got out of the water to continue our lives. There was hot cocoa, warm water and towels around. I'll never forget such a beautiful time.
-Kelsey
You can be an underwater explorer like Kelsey. Find out how!
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Kelsey
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March: Dia del Niño
¡Feliz Día del Niño! That's "Happy Children's Day" in Spanish. I had a blast this weekend, so I summed it all up in a poem!
Día del niño (Day of the child)
Celebramos con fiestas (We celebrate with festivities)
Felices juntos (Happy together)
Día del niño (Day of the child)
Vengan al aquario (Come to the aquarium)
Amigos del mar (Friends of the sea)
-Kelsey
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Erik
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March: Dia del Niño
Hello all of you explorers! How was it on Dia del Niño? I had a lot of fun. When I got there, Kelsey and I went to work at the Information Desk. There were many people there, more so than at the other events. After that, I worked at the prize wheel. It was fun to watch kids win stickers, plush toy starfish, posters and even four free tickets. Some adults even won prizes. Kelsey and I then worked at the craft room. The Young Women in Science Organization provided the crafts, which were boleros. A bolero is a Hispanic toy where you have a cone and a ball tied to the cone, and you try to get the ball into the cone. But instead of a ball, we used little foam dolphins! The room was packed with people making boleros and having fun. As I was leaving, I saw the line for Diego. It was at least 50 feet long! Diego is really popular.
-Erik
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Kelsey
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February: Shark Days
Hi again! I had fun with all the shark, tuna and ray feedings. On Saturday, the bat ray feeding was packed. I helped pass out squid and shrimp to people, and even got to feed a bat ray out of my hand. Did you feed one too? The bat ray would come up and glide over your hand. I was a bit nervous to have some creature eat out of my hand that I had not ever fed before. Then it just sort of sucked up the squid and left my hand empty.
We also got to go behind the scenes of "Sharks: Myth and Mystery" and feed sharks and rays by throwing pieces of squid and salmon into their mouths. We hung a "target", a piece of plastic with a big red "X", on the side of the tank so that the rays would know where we were feeding them. They would come up to the target and flip over like they were doing a back float.
On Sunday we got to watch the fish in the Outer Bay tank eat breakfast. There was someone on a catwalk above the tank who threw out shimmering clouds of small fish for the tuna to eat. There was also someone who held a pole with lettuce out by a target for the sea turtle.
Erik and I introduced 2 speakers. Manny Ezcura manages the group responsible for sharks in the aquarium as well as the white shark that the aquarium had last year. George Benz studies sharks that live in the artic. There were lots of funny stories like how the shark they tagged was driving around in LA. Well at least the satellite tag that someone picked up was. Let's have fun at Día de los Niños in April.
Happy exploring!
-Kelsey
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Erik
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February: Shark Days
The Shark Days was so much fun! I helped the public feed bat rays and then Kelsey and I fed the Pelagic rays and hammerhead sharks in the Shark Myth and Mystery Exhibit. A female Pelagic Ray took a real interest in my finger when I was cleaning my hands in the tank! I next introduced George Benz and Manny Ezcurra. George Benz did a very funny and interesting presentation on his experiences in the Artic researching Greenland Sharks and the parasites on them. Manny Ezcurra presented the very amazing story about the Aquarium's struggles and triumphs with the Great White shark. I spent time as a docent in the Kelp Lab and stamped passports at the penguin show. The final thing I did on Saturday was work in the craft room, where I heard a story about reef animals and the introduction of sharks from a volcano. It was a very cool story using both fact and fiction, and everyone in the room tried to listen to the story as it was being told. On Sunday, from the top of the Outer Bay exhibit, I watched the tuna being fed. It was quite a frenzy. We almost got splashed! I introduced George Benz and Manny Ezcurra again, and I got to stamp some more passports. It was a really exciting weekend!
-Erik
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Kelsey
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January: Kick-Off Weekend
Hey guys! I had fun at the kickoff weekend. I hope that a lot of you attended and also had fun. On Saturday, I stamped passports most of the day. I also stamped some hands. Passports are booklets where you can collect stamps from different exhibits and events. When you get enough stamps you can win lots of fun prizes. It was really quite thrilling, going from booth to booth and talking with you guys. At the kelp lab, Erik (the other Official Explorer) and I got to tell visitors about the animals in the tanks. There were some snails that had long trunk-like things that they slurped food up through.
On Sunday we introduced an author named Elin Kelsey who wrote Strange New Species: Astonishing Discoveries of Life on Earth (what if she were my mom, then I'd be Kelsey Kelsey). She talked about new species that have been discovered lately. Did you know that there's a jelly that's bigger than my sister and a full grown monkey species that I can hold in my hand?
A really cool thing was that the aquarium invited the Official Explorers and Field Explorers to come for a Youth Group Sleepover. Our group slept on the mezzanine of the Outer Bay. That was really cool because when the lights were turned off, they turned on a veil of bubbles along the glass to create a wall so the fish would know not to swim into it. The bubbles looked like little silver jellyfish, floating up the glass.
At the sleepover, there was a scavenger hunt. Sierra, one of the Field Explorers, my little sister Sadie and I were a team and had a total blast. We got to try out all the activities while talking and goofing off together. Hardly anyone was at the aquarium so the animals were more active. The bat rays in the touch pool were leaping out of the water so you could feel the length of their whole body. Another cool thing was that the octopi were out. They are nocturnal so I'd never seen them out during the day. Sierra taught me to lie down like a starfish under the ring of anchovies that swims around the ceiling.
That event was lots of fun, so I'm sure that Shark Days is also going to be super!! See you there.
-Kelsey
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Erik
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January: Kick-Off Weekend
I had a lot of fun at the Kick Off Weekend! On Saturday, I enjoyed stamping passports at the information booth, working as a docent at the Kelp Lab and watching the penguin feeding. In the Kelp Lab I learned about the skate, a flat-bodied ray. Their egg sac, made of the same material as our fingernails, felt really cool. Then on Sunday, I met many interested kids helping in the craft room. I also got to introduce Elin Kelsey when she spoke about her new book, "Strange New Species: Astonishing Discoveries of Life on Earth." I learned a lot about many different animal species during Elin Kelsey's presentation. I had a blast!
I cannot wait for the other events to happen, especially the last chance to see Jellies: Living Art and "Sharks: Myth and Mystery." I really liked those exhibits and it's too bad they're going. I especially liked the moon jellies and hammerheads. But some other cool exhibits will eventually replace them. I wonder what animals will be in the exhibit.
-Erik
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