Posts from the Sea TURTLE teen diving program will continue, but at the same time New England Aquarium staff and volunteers are their regular spring expedition to the Bahamas. This is that team's first post, written by Andrea.

After spending two hours sitting on the plane in Boston before it finally took off, I am happy to report that the Aquarium staff arrived at the Coral Reef ready to start the Spring 2011 Bahamas Collection Trip.

New England Aquarium staffers Deana, Dan, Barbara and Kate getting the rental car after finally arriving in Miami.

Even though we are not setting sail until Friday there is a lot that needs to get done to prepare the boat for the trip. The wells which will house the fish we catch needed to be scrubbed down. The gravel in the filters needed to be dumped and replaced with fresh gravel. We are climbing in tanks and working in the “lazerette”, which is a compartment underneath the front of the boat where the life support system is housed. It is hard, dirty work but no one is complaining because pretty soon we are going to be in the Bahamas collecting beautiful fish. It also doesn’t hurt that it is sunny and 85 degrees out, and we heard it might snow this week in Boston (sorry everybody).



 We even had a visit from a friend. Jacki, who participated in last year’s SEA TURTLE program and who is now going to the University of Miami, stopped by to say hi and help us out. She helped us make catch bag by sewing vinyl bags to the bottom of modified Tupperware sandwich containers. 


We have some interesting neighbors here at Jones Boat Yard. There is a cargo ship loading various items to be sent to Haiti. Our other neighbor is the Iroquois which belongs to Red Sox owner John Henry. The Iroquois is also our neighbor back in Boston too, as it is often berthed at Rowes Wharf just minutes away from the Aquarium during the summer.



Well it’s off to bed to rest up for another day as we continue to get the boat ready.

-Andrea
Read more of Andrea's posts on the Aquarium's penguin blog.