In 1995 I moved to Boston, MA to study - it had been a very long time since my family had been diving - my parents were still living in Bolivia (one of the two landlocked countries in South America).  The winters were absolutely brutal, and all I could do was dream of the warm Caribbean / Atlantic Oceans. 

My roommate at the time was Justin Hull - he was a very big factor in getting my dad and I back to the Bahamas,  initially to do some spearfishing (Justin, we still talk about you to this day about that - thank you).  Justin is originally from Massachusetts but grew up in South Florida. His father was a yacht broker and ocean man - he spent many years sailing the Bahamas and knows the area very well.  One winter while we were talking about fishing, Justin mentioned that in the Abacos one could rent houses, boats, and still catch an abundance of fish...he also said there were still a lot of sharks (little did we know).

In the summer of 1997 my old man, Justin and I went to Green Turtle Cay for some serious spearfishing.  As a side thought, my father brought his trusted Nikonos V, probably thinking he would take some photos of the speared fish.  What we thought was going to be a laid back trip really became the turning point for my father's passions - it was now an obsession.

For David DiSalvo, the key to water conservation is making the right choices, but it's also about getting the word out. As an environmental public outreach specialist with smidgens of marketing and editing and loads of science writing under his belt, it's easy to see why he's the perfect man for the job, encouraging the world that even small contributions, like reusing towels at hotels, makes a difference. 

While he also writes about energy, public health, healthcare, social marketing, and air quality, we wanted to get his take on the subject of water conservation and cleaning wastewater, as he's worked to spread the message as a marketing specialist and written on the topic for places like his blog, Neuronarrative, which addresses public awareness topics and ideas that intersect with neuroscience and psychology.

Water conservation and clean water is on the way up and that’s due in part to the efforts of David DiSalvo.

He's swum with dolphins, sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles--and that's only the least bit of what makes Carribbean-born author Tobias Buckell so exciting!! Born in Grenada, Tobias grew up in a boat by the sea where he got a first-hand account of marine life, marine biology, the windswept, weather beaten water, and life amidst the ocean.  

So it's no surprise that Tobias made his career in writing about science fiction and the future.  Perhaps that it's fiction is a little difficult to comprehend but as Tobias puts it in the interview below, "The topics I write about are grounded in the history of the area." He continues, My interest in futurism comes from growing up in a more sparse environment and reading tales of the future."

With soon-to-be science fiction classics like Crystal Rain, Raggamuffin, and Sly Mongoose under his belt, a career as a professional blogger (among other things, he writes for the Futurismic, a site for people interested in the future and the effects of science and technology on the present) and a new novel, Arctic Rising, coming soon, looks like we've come to expect great things from Tobias and will continue to do so.

When we first learned of the Blog Your Way to Antarctica Trip contest being conducted by Quark Expeditions, we had no idea our very own guest blogger GrrlScientist was in the running!! And not only is she in the running...but she is in third place!! With your help, that can all change...

And why is Ms. GrrlScientist worthy enough of this escapade? 

Well, besides the fact that she's a great girl and she keeps fish---

"In fact, the first pet I ever kept and bred were fish, and they were wonderful teachers for developing both a sharp eye for detail and a disciplined husbandry technique that was extremely useful later when I started keeping and breeding rare parrots," she said in a previous post for us back in January 2009.

She is also extremely well-qualified.  She has her PhD in Zoology. She's studied whales and seals and has learned how hormones help birds cope with extreme environments, like the Arctic. She's a Scienceblogger of the acclaimed ScienceBlogs series.  She has A LOT going for her. She knows how to deal with adventures and new environments.  And best of all, she always shows her gratitude to people like you! 

If you love water as much as we do...and you have yet to hear all about the wonderful SUSIE program at Oregan State University...you don't know what you're missing!

Two months ago, we interviewed hydrogeologist and Professor of Geosciences Michael E. Campana and somehow we overlooked the amazing stuff his own students are doing! 

The Study of the U.S. Institute for the Environment (SUSIE) is a program for Central American and Caribbean undergraduates that emphasizes all things water, including watersheds, sanitation, citizen stewardship and infrastructure.  

SUSIE recently brought together 22 students from 8 countries to OSU to spend the entire season in mult-disciplinary environmental studies.  In an article by OSU's Powered by Orange, we learned that students like Johara Henriquez, a food technologist who wants to implement cleaner food production in the Dominican Republic, Political science major Jamille Chen from Jamaica, and Panama's Marianne Ricord studying biology and interested in working at the Smithsonian, would have never known about the great things they could be doing (and are doing as we speak) as well as getting their Master's at OSU, if it weren't for the SUSIE program.  The students range in age from 18 to 24 years old. 

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale - long deep breaths.  As I float on the surface and look down I start thinking about how light and relaxed my body feels.  I take a last deep breath, pack my lungs, release the snorkel from my mouth, close my eyes, forget the world above me,  and begin my descent.  You may be thinking this is a story about performance freediving or reaching incredible depths - but it is not.  Below me is a small Nassau Grouper at about 30ft waiting for me to come back down and give me a chin tickle, cheek rub. 

This is a story about how I got into freediving and interacting with sharks.  I do not hold any records - either spear-fishing, static, dynamic or any other freediving disciplines.   What I do love is being in the Ocean and interacting with animals - from small to large.