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Hi Steven and hello to your sixth grade class. My name is Bruce Strickrott and I'm one of the four Alvin pilots for this cruise.

To answer your first question ... what's it like to be underwater ... well, that's a fairly open ended question. My first experience seeing life in the ocean underwater was in the Florida Keys snorkeling when I was a teenager.

It was amazing seeing all the fish and marine life and colors. The water was about 85 degrees so that made the swimming very comfortable too. A few years later I was in Hawaii with the US NAVY and that's where I learned to SCUBA dive. I have to say that changed my whole perspective on things. Once you've seen the sights below the ocean's surfaces you're never the same. In one way it led me to my current job as an Alvin Pilot. But maybe what you really want to know is what it's like underwater in Alvin.

Simply put it is truly an amazing experience. It often feels like we are visitors to another world, the first humans to see the places we go to. Other times I feel like I'm being given the chance to look back into the history of our planet. I don't think words can describe the experience but overall I'd say I feel very lucky to get these opportunities.

How long is a typical dive? Most dives start at eight o'clock in the morning, that's when we open our ballast tanks and call 'Alvin Diving' over the radio. On average it takes about an hour or hour and a half to get to the bottom. If we're good about power consumption, and the weather doesn't make us come up early (like my last dive), we can stay on the bottom for from five to six hours. Add in the transit time back to the surface and you get a pretty long day underwater. But it's nice when you get out of the sub and can smell the good food cooking in the galley, especially if its pizza!

Hope you all are enjoying the web-site.

Bruce Strickrott
Alvin pilot

My name is Frank Kardok. I live in Norrwell, Massachusetts and I go to the South Shore Charter School in Hull. I am in sixth grade and I am writing a report on Alvin. Is it very complicated driving the Alvin? What does it feel like being down very deep in Alvin? Do any pets or animals come on board Alvin? Thank you for your time!

Hi Frank,

My name is Anthony Tarantino and I'm an Alvin Pilot. I'm from Medford, MA so it's great to hear from you. I hope the weather is nice back home and you're enjoying the spring. Now let's get to those questions.

Alvin is an electric boat with a lot of complicated systems. There're a lot of electronic parts and a lot of mechanical parts. The first step in becoming a pilot is to learn as much about these parts as you can. The more you know the better pilot you'll become. Piloting takes a little more effort than driving a car because it involves a lot more responsibility. We not only have to maneuver the sub safely, but we also have to monitor life support systems, check our batteries, and try to get samples with our two robotic arms. I'm constantly dealing with one or all of these things during a dive.

As a pilot, I've done about 50 dives in Alvin with my deepest going to approximately 4000 meters in the Gulf of Mexico. The sub is built to withstand the tremendous amount of water pressures present at this depth so the physical feeling inside is really no different from what you'd feel being on the surface of the earth. I can tell you about my first dive though. It was about three years ago at the East Pacific Ridge at 9 degrees North (LAT) 14 degrees West (LON) to a depth of 2500 meters. After the one and a half hour ride down we finally reached the bottom and turned on the lights. The view out my window was amazing. It felt like I had just landed on another planet. When we finally got to our first target I remember seeing lots of large structures that looked like smoke stacks. These are Hydrothermal vents.

There were a lot strange creatures that live there. Most of these creatures are unique and can only be found around these hydrothermal vents because they wouldn't be able to exist any where else. It was pretty cool. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to see the wonders of the deep sea from Alvin at least once in their life.

As for pets, unfortunately we still don't have any on board the Atlantis no matter how many times we've asked for one. Even if there were pets, we don't allow them on Alvin. There's actually a lot of things we don't allow on Alvin for a bunch of different reasons like safety, cleanliness, and lack of space. The sphere that my passengers and I sit in is only six feet wide and we've filled it with the things we need on a dive so there isn't room for much else.

I hope this helps your report. Make sure to say hello for me to all the students at the South Shore Charter School. Perhaps someday you'll be piloting Alvin.

Best Wishes and Smooth Sailing,

Anthony Tarantino
Pilot, DSV2 Alvin

Hi, My name is Brandon and I live in Middletown CT. I found your Dive and Discover site by accident while investigating marine biology and oceanography. I am starting college this summer and plan to transfer to a university to pursue marine biology and oceanography, and am very interested in following this expedition while you are on it. If anyone onboard has any ideas as far as courses that I should take along my school journey, and where I can learn more, please feel free to email me.

Hi Brandon, thanks for your interest in our expedition. I can't recommend any specific classes for you to take, most oceanographers I know have not followed a prescribed path to get to where they are, however I can tell you that it is important to have a strong background in all the sciences (not just biology), and don't underestimate the importance of good writing and speaking skills.

I personally majored in biology and minored in marine sciences while in college, and this fall will be starting graduate work in biological oceanography. However, I also know people who were English majors in college and are now pursuing careers in marine geology, so you just have to find what you are interested in and pursue it. Definitely talk to your advisor about which classes offered at your school would be best for you to take in regards to your interests.

Kate Buckman

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