National Aquarium

For the past several years, I have been a member of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). Each year they hold a Transportation Conference in the Spring and since I have been on the Planning Committee for this Conference, I usually try to attend.

Last year, due to the demands of the Honolulu project, I was not able to get free to go. It was even more demanding this year, but since I am one of the Sub-Committee Chairs for this year's conference and am the Conference Chair for next year, I decided I had to go regardless.

Also, since this year's conference was held in Baltimore, I figured it would be a great opportunity to take Lauri and then spend a couple of days visiting with the Lunts, Rachel's in-laws.

We flew to Baltimore on Monday, but my meetings did not start until Tuesday evening. Tuesday during the day, Lauri and I went down to the Harbor and visited the National Aquarium.

It is the glass-walled building behind the old Coast Guard Buoy Tender.

This Zebra Shark is in the first exhibit along with lots of various rays and a Hawksbill Turtle.

A Southern Stingray.



Some of Nemo's Friends.

And, of course, Nemo himself!


A Saddleback Butterflyfish


Several very interesting and venemous Scorpionfish






A Turkeyfish (Scorpionfish)


Then, of course, we went to the Dolphin Show! Not quite like Seaworld, but fun to watch nonetheless. Stayed out of the Splash Zone this time.



The most fun part of the place, though was the "4-D Immersion Theater"! Worth the price of the admission in my book!


A couple of views of the City across the Harbor from the Aquarium.

Announcements!

We could not be more excited!!

March 24, 2009

Manhattan

Roof-top Water Tanks

Nearly every older building, and quite a few newer ones, has at least one wooden water tank on the roof. One of those things about Manhattan that make the skyline so interesting. Far more than just the skyscrapers. Mid-Town Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, March 23, 2009. f/8.2, 1/33 second, ISO 50.

Close-up view showing detail of the wooden water tanks. Mid-Town Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, March 24, 2009. f/8.2, 1/134 second, ISO 50.

The Big Apple

So here I am back in the Big Apple. It is freezing - again! At least this time I was prepared for it. I brought a warm coat. It is 15 degrees below normal and even though it is clear and not stormy, it is downright frigid, with the wind howling through all these tall buildings.

Speaking of tall buildings, here is the Empire State Building from my hotel room.

I am not sure what building this is, but it is pretty cool looking with the gold top and the clocks on all four sides.

I am in lower Manhattan. This is looking north toward upper Manhattan. Most older buildings have old wooden water tanks on the roof. You can see a couple of new metal ones, but for the most part, they are wooden. Rather than boost water pressures for the entire system to force water to the tops of all these tall buildings, they just put these tanks up and let them provide the water pressure for the building. The system pressure only has to be enough to get the water up to the tank.



Madison Square Garden from the front of my hotel.

And from across Seventh Avenue at West 32nd Street at night. Madison Square Garden sits on top of Penn Station, the main rail/subway station in lower Manhattan.

Monday night from my hotel room.


Tonight, the observation deck is lit up in red.

Alternobaric Vertigo - Don't Dive if You Are Congested

"In underwater diving, alternobaric vertigo is dizziness resulting from unequal pressures being exerted between the ears due to one Eustachian tube being less patent than the other.

"It is due to unequal increase in middle ear pressures on ascent, is usually mild, and most often cleared by further ascent. When the pressures in both ears reach ambient levels, the stimulus for the dizziness stops. Although most often mild, the vertigo can persist until the diver reaches the surface.

"Alternobaric vertigo is most pronounced when the diver is in the vertical position; the spinning is towards the ear with the higher pressure and tends to develop when the pressures differ by 60 cm of water or more. Ear clearing may be a remedy."

Last week, I had the flu. The runny nose and cough had cleared up, but people have told me a couple of times the past several days that I sounded more congested. Apparently that was the case. I didn't have a problem equalizing on descent on the dives today, but had lots of trouble on the ascents.

As I stepped up onto the boat after the first dive, I was really dizzy and immediately extremely nauseous. I assumed it was seasickness since the water was really rough with 8 to 10 foot swells and the boat was pitching all over the place. I got my gear off and made it to the rail before I lost it. Nothing much came up though because my stomach was empty. I immediately felt better, but was a little queasy just from the thought of it all.

We did the surface interval back at the dock due to the conditions.

The second dive was much the same, except the dizzyness and nausea hit when I got to twenty feet during my safety stop. I was OK until I turned and looked up. That caused the world to spin and I had to decide whether to vomit through my regulator or blow through the safety stop.

My stomach made the decision for me - twice. Now I have to get my regulator serviced to get the pineapple out of it. Yuck.

March 14, 2009 Dives - Airplane Ledge & Mahi

On Saturday, March 14, 2009, I dove with Jim Reynolds and Jo (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts. We did two dives, Airplane Ledge, a 110 foot deep dive on an airplane that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and the Mahi, a 95 foot deep dive on a Ship that was sunk as an artificial reef.

As we were leaving the harbor, there was a pod of about 20 Spinner dolphins that surrounded the boat and travelled along with us for a little way. By the time I got my camera out of the wash tank, I pretty much missed the action. I tried to judge when one would surface and could not with the time lag in the camera. I could see them very clearly underwater, so I took a photo hoping that would turn out. It didn't. You can see the shadow, but not like it was live.

Spinner Dolphin

The sea was pretty rough. Big swells and the boat was pitching and rolling like crazy as we prepared for the first dive. A couple of divers were already feeling seasick when we got moored, so they hustled them right into the water.

I dove with Jim. Jo was the divemaster for our group. Three of the divers had cameras. There were 8 divers and one "guide."

Jim and I were the second pair in the water. We congregated at the mooring line until all of the group was there and then descended. The site consists of a deep coral reef at about 80 feet. It forms a ledge, hence the name, and falls off to about 105 feet where the airplane wreck, or what is left of it rests. It has been dragged out to deeper water several times by big storms and they have gone and found it and drug it back. All that is left is the wings and they are in pretty bad shape.

The mooring line is anchored to the edge of the reef ledge, so we dropped down to there and then headed over to the wreck. The wing was full of Hawaiian Squirrelfish.

Hawaiian Squirrelfish

There was a Potter's Angelfish. I managed finally to get a photo of the angelfish.

Potter's Angelfish

Back on the ledge again, I ran into a huge Yellowmargin Moray Eel peeking out of his hole and a Day Octopus that had just finished off a clam.

Yellowmargin Moray Eel

Day Octopus

I came across a hole under a ledge. I could see a Moray back in the hole so I took a photo. It didn't turn out real well, because it is not totally in focus, but it wound up being two morays - an Undulated Moray Eel and a Yellow Margin Moray Eel.

Undulated & Yellowmargin Moray Eels

As we were heading back to the mooring line, we came across a large Cauliflower Coral that was clear full of little Hawaiian Squirrelfish and a Pebble Collector Urchin.

Hawaiian Squirrelfish

Pebble Collector Urchin

As I stepped up onto the boat after the first dive, I was really dizzy and immediately extremely nauseous. I assumed it was seasickness since the water was really rough with 8 to 10 foot swells and the boat was pitching all over the place. I got my gear off and made it to the rail before I lost it. Nothing much came up though because my stomach was empty. I immediately felt better, but was a little queasy just from the thought of it all. I was pretty surprised by that turn of event because I have never been seasick before, even in really rough seas, but I was a little rushed this morning and didn't eat breakfast, so. . . .

We did the surface interval back at the dock due to the conditions.

The second dive was on the Mahi.

We dropped down and swam over the middle of the ship. There was a big group of Spotted Eagle Rays heading off into the blue as we got over the wreck. I took a photo of them, but they were too far away and all you can see is blue. I did get this photo of some of the divers headed over the ship.

Divers on the Mahi

After a little swim around the wreck, we came back onto the deck at midship. There were two Thompson's Surgeonfish. Their normal color is blue, but they can change to dark brown instantly. When I framed this photo, they both were blue, but you can see one of them changed in the time it took the photo to take. Pretty amazing!

Sleek Unicornfish

I didn't feel real good all through this dive. I figured it was just a residual from the seasickness, even though I have always heard that seasickness goes away as soon as you are in the water. As I started to ascend, I came across these two Desirable Nudibranchs. I tried to get several photos, but my batteries were nearly exhausted and the camera kept shutting off. I also was feeling a little nauseous, so I settled for this one photo.

Desirable Nudibranchs

The dizzyness and nausea hit me really strong when I got to twenty feet during my safety stop. I was OK until I turned and looked up. That caused the world to spin and I had to decide whether to vomit through my regulator or blow through the safety stop. After two deep dives, I really didn't want to blow through the stop and I had read some during the week about what to do underwater if you just couldn't avoid it.

My stomach made the decision for me - twice. Now I have to get my regulator serviced to get the pineapple out of it, since all I ate during the surface interval was a couple of pieces of pineapple.

It turns out, I was experiencing "alternobaric vertigo." That happens on ascent when your ears don't equalize the same. Some residual effects of having a cold/flu last week. The moral of the story is - no diving if you have been or are congested!

Lots of folks were seasick after the second dive. One poor guy was vomiting as soon as he hit the surface, even before he got onto the boat. They didn't waste any time in heading back to the dock.

Fireworks

So, I was sitting at the desk reading when all of a sudden I could hear fireworks going off outside my room. I grabbed the camera and this is what I captured.
It was from a barge being dragged around by a boat right in front of the hotel at 9:00 pm.

Struck Down by the Flu

I guess I have been lucky. For the past couple of years I have pretty much avoided all the flu and colds and theings that have gone around.

My luck pretty much ran out yesterday!

I woke up with a stuffy nose and a little bit of a sore throat. Things got progressively worse as the day wore on and by noon I had the stomach flu along with the aches and pains normally associated with influenza. By the time I got to the hotel, I was very nauseous and spent a miserable night.

The nausea has pretty much gone away, but the rest remains today. Needless to say, that put an end to my plans for diving today. I was planning to do the 3-tank afternoon/evening/night dive, but. . . .

The Great "Mega-Storm" of 2009

I was asked by my colleague Paul Bakas to come to New York City to help him with a Design-Build workshop for his client on the East Side Access project. Before I left home, I checked the weather for New York, but only looked at what it had been over the past week rather than at the forecast. I brought my sport coat, and I am glad I did, but I landed at JFK about 3 hours before all the local airports were closed down with the largest snowstorm of the last 20 years.

I managed to get to downtown on the train and check into the hotel and even go to my favorite korean restaurant in Manhattan for dinner and got back to the hotel as the first snowflakes started falling. It pretty much snowed all night until about 7:00 this morning. It was 21º this morning and has been in the low 20s all day and is quite windy with the windchill at about 8º. It has also snowed off-and-on all day - about 10" total. It is 16º right now with windchill of 3º - expected to be 11º tonight.

Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me on this trip to New York City. I would have liked to get some photos of the City with all the snow as well as photos of the Empire State Building from my hotel window. It is just a block away and so pretty at night. Last night is was lit up on top with white lights. Tonight, it is orange. I did get these two poor quality photos with my cell phone.