Our observation tube’s windows are becoming obscured by large plates of ice crystals (see below) Those crystals are making it difficult for us to observe our birds underwater.
Paul and Jessica went into the water to clean the windows.
Paul, Jessica, and Brendan are discussing the set up for the dive under the ice. Since we are standing over 1500 feet of seawater with ocean currents, there are a number of safety precautions that need to be in place so that a diver doesn’t get trapped under the ice.
Here is Paul suiting up for the dive. He is a wearing a dry suit and is getting very hot, which explains the scowl. (I hope.)
Kozue helps Jessica enter the dive hole.
Here’s Jessica entering the dive hole.
and Paul entering the water (those are Brendan’s feet, who is acting as the dive tender for both divers). The boards are in place to help the divers exit the hole when they are done.
They install a line with blinking safety lights that are set at regular intervals to mark the depth, as well as, the location of the exit hole. You can see Paul holding onto one of these safety lines with the blinking light (the small yellow, flashlight item on the line). I took these shots below from inside the Ob Tube.
Jessica with Jerry’s underwater point-and-shoot camera.
A photo of me in the Ob Tube taken by Jessica, who is in the water.
And a photo of Kozue, also taken from the water by Jessica.
A photo that Kozue took from the Ob Tube of Jessica with a penguin diving behind her. The light area behind Jessica is under the penguin corral.
Our windows are clean! Here’s a shot I took of our birds after the ice was removed.
