Adventures of Ed the Bear

Ed and Abby visit SANCCOB.

2012-01-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

Today, Abby took me to visit a place called SANCCOB which means The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. SANCCOB is a seabird rehabilitation centre where they look after injured and sick seabirds.

This is me and Abby arriving at SANCCOB where we were meet by a lady called Margaret who showed us around.

If the seabirds are well enough they are returned back to the ocean. Sometimes the bird is too ill or injured and would not be able to sure without help. When this happen the bird remains at SANCCOB so it can be cared for. More about that in a minute.

There are all sorts of sea birds here including cormorant, gulls and even penguins – yes penguins here in South Africa! I thought penguins only lived in places where there is ice and snow but Abby explained that wasn’t so. Some penguins also live and nest on the beach near here.

Margaret took us both on a special tour including places where visitors don't usually go. This is one of the volunteers feeding some sick penguins.

We also met a gull that was brought in by a family who had hand-raised him and now he was too much for them to handle. Baby birds imprint on their parents, its how they know who they are and learn from their parents until they are old enough to look after themselves.

Unfortunately when people hand rear birds the baby bird might imprints on them instead. This means if this bird were to be released into the wild it would be very confused about how to behave and how to get on with other gulls. It may also pester people knowing they are a source of food, which can be dangerous. This gull will have to stay at SANCCOB because he can't be released. Althought people are trying to help, when people find young birds they should take them to a special centre like SANCCOB where they can be looked after and not get imprinted on people. With luck, they will be released back into the wild one day.

Another volunteer, Jenny, allowed us to get up close during the feeding of "Home Pen". This is where they look after the birds that can't be released back into the wild. While people cannot go near the birds that the centre plans to release, these birds can be seen and help educate the public. People pay to go on the tours and this helps to pay for the running of the centre.

Here, Jenny is feeding Baby, a cormorant, who is also a resident in home pen.

Later Nola, the vet at SANCCOB, invited us to look at some blood samples from the penguins under the microscope.

They check the penguins' blood every week to check on their progress to make sure they're getting better. This is one way of making sure when they can release them back into the wild as soon as possible.

Margaret said that there was a terrible oil spill in 2000 when an iron ore tanker MV Treasure sank between Robben Island and Dassen Island. It released 1,300 tons of fuel oil and thousands of sea birds were polluted by the oil. SANCCOB played a big part in the rescue, cleaning and releasing of many marine birds. Great job! It must have been a terrible sight.

A big thank you to eevryone who showed me around and letting us get close up to many of the birds.
Abby said she would take me to Boulder beach were a large colony of penguins live and nest.

These African Penguins make their nests on the beach or in old burrows.

Both parents take it in turns sitting on their two eggs and it takes about 40 days until they hatch.

I loved seeing the penguins

You can find out more about the great work they do at SANCCOB by visiting their website at http://www.sanccob.co.za/?m=1

We have had such a busy and exciting day.

See you all soon

Bye for now
Ed the Bear and Abby

Grotto Bay

2012-01-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

Today Abby took me to have a look at the rock pools in Grotto Bay. All of a sudden it got very foggy as a sea mist came in so we didn't get to see much of a view.

There were many fascinating plants growing on the rocks at the top of the beach. As you may remember, my beach back home has rare shingle plants growing on it (it’s a rare habitat called vegetated shingle) so I was very interested to see what plants we could find at Grotto Bay.

This is a succulent and looks a bit like the English stone crop that grows on my beach back home.

We were going to explore the rock pool but Abby said it would not be safe to go too far out onto the rocks.

I explored some pools close to the beach. There were a few small sea snails

I did get to do a bit of rock climbing.

We saw the shapes of a group of cormorants on a rock surrounded by mist.

We were both disappointed that it was so misty and so we decided to go back.

Come back soon to find out where Abby takes me next.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear and Abby

Ed arrives safely in South Africa

2012-01-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

Yes you guessed it, I’m here in South Africa with Abby, well in the area known as Western Cape to be exact. I've never been to Africa before so I am very excited. As you can see on the map below, Africa is South of the UK.

Abby has been travelling the world too. Abby works in an aquarium here in Cape Town but she is also travelling to aquariums around the world to meet some of the amazing people who work in these aquariums and other places of research. She has her own weblog where she plans to tell everyone about the fantastic work these people do to educate people and help protect the oceans.

Abby has made a quick detour from her trip to Alaska to come back and show me around before she continues onto the US. You can follow Abby's adventures at http://abbysaquariumadventures.blogspot.com/

Abby showed me where we were on a map and then she showed me some of the places she hoped to take me to while I was here.

I can't wait to have a look around

Bye for now Ed the Bear and Abby

Scooter returns to the wild

2012-01-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

I have just had some fantastic news from the USA. Scooter the rescued sea turtle I meet when I visited the sea turtle hospital has been released back into the ocean. This is me below with Sanctuary Sam, Richie Moretti who founded the turtle hospital and of course Scooter the turtle.

You can find out more about my trip back in May 2010
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2010/05/marathon-turtle-hospital.html

This is Scooter on the day of his release, with Richie.

Scooter was released with the help of Tom Wilmers, Wildlife Biologist for Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges. Scooter became everyone’s favorite sea turtle over the three years he was at The Turtle Hospital.

Scooter came into the hospital a tiny lost hatchling and grew to a 32-pound young adult, a size that allowed him to be released into local waters.

That really was great news and made me so happy I could skip and dance. Good luck Scooter, enjoy the ocean. But keep an eye out for fishing nets and plastic litter.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Another Year Another Adventure

2012-01-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

In 2010 I travelled across the USA in the safe hands of NOAA staff who have helped me to understand some of the dangers that the oceans face and why. I also meet some amazing animals and made many new frineds too.

But I hear that the dangers to oceans are just as bad in other parts of the world as well. So after sharing my adventures with children and schools in theh UK last year, I am travelling again to find out more about these dangers.

First stop will be Cape Town in South Africa where I will be cared for by Abby the Aquarist and Heide. You can see a picture of Abby below.

Abby is an aquarist who works with the animals in an aquarium. She feeds them, trains them and makes sure that they get everything that they need. Abby is also going to take me to lots of other fascinating places too.

I can't wait.

I had better start packing.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Next stop South Africa

2011-12-20T07:15:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

As you know I have spent most of this year visiting schools and events here in the UK to share my experiences travelling throughout the USA in 2009 and 2010. I had some great experiences, saw some amazing wildlife and met some very interesting people too. I made new friends and discovered how many people are helping to protect the oceans.

Sadly, I have also seen first hand the terrible damage to the oceans from marine debris, climate change and how it is affecting food chains, killing corals and much more. I also found out about the terrible threat of ocean acidification to animals with hard shells.

I found out something that is also very scary - this is happening all over the world! So I have planned to continue my travels to find out more about these threats to oceans and all life on earth. Just the thought of it makes me shiver.

So in January 2012 I will be traveling to South Africa.

Until them, I want to wish all my friends (and friends I have yet to meet) around the world a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Bye for Now

Ed the Bear

WhaleFest comes to Brighton

2011-11-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

I helped out at the WhaleFest event yesterday on the Sea watch Foundation Stand and it was fantastic. WhaleFest is the largest of its kind in Europe.

You may remember I met Dylan Walker, one of the organisers of WhaleFest at the Spring Watch Event I took my display to. Dylan had the display next to ours.

http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2011/06/spring-watch-festival-brighton.html

There were many stands about whales, whale watching and education and conservation.

There were life sized inflatable’s like the bottlenose dolphin my buddy Steve uses – but these were much bigger.

I came eye to eye with a inflatable blue whale, the largest animal to have lived on the earth. Its heart is the size of a small car, its weighs the same as 40 elephants and the largest blood vessel is large enough for a child to swim through. Wow that enormous.

I got the chance to see large whales when I travelled around the USA in 2010. Including a whale watching trip, you can see more on the link below.
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/search/label/Channel%20Islands%20National%20Marine%20Sanctuary

There were guest speakers and celebrities such as Mark Carwardine a zoologist author and whale expert. I listened to his fascinating talk.

Here he is signing some of his books

There were films to watch, experts to talk to and much more. Sea Watch Foundation had a live link to report dolphin and whale sightings around the UK when they happened.

These children helped in a rescue demonstration and found out how British Divers Marine Life Rescue work to rescue stranded whales, dolphins and seals.

I volunteered to keep an eye on the stand and talk to people so that the Sea watch People could have a look around.

Great news is, WhaleFest will be back next year. You can follow this link to find out more about WhaleFest and keep an eye out for news of next years event.

http://www.planetwhale.com/WhaleFest

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Wisdom the albatross

2011-10-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Sorry I have not sent any updates lately but I am busy planning my next adventure. However I have received some great news that I just had to share with you all.

I have had some great news from my buddy Fred the Monkey and Ron Hirschi. You may remember the terrible tsunami back in March and the damage it did to the Hawaiian Islands and its wildlife. Especially the Laysan Albatross who have already suffered so much due to marine debris.

At that time many seabirds were killed, but Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird on the planet, survived. Wisdom is a Laysan Albatross estimated to be 60 years old.

Fred sent me some fantastic news. Not only did Wisdom survive but her chick has successfully fledged and now soars over the ocean.

You can see two really nice photographs of Wisdom with her chick on Fred and Ron’s weblog.

http://soaronhirschi.blogspot.com/2011/10/wisdom-with-her-chick-2011.html

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Is it a bird, is it a plane...?

2011-08-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

I was walking along the banks of the river adur today and saw the most extraordinary sight. I saw a shape coming from the distance.

First I thought is it a bird...is it a plane... its...well actually it was sort of both.

As it came nearer I saw that it was a man in a microlight a bit like a hang glider with an engine. Flying alongside him were a flock of geese.

I found out later that this was part of the airshow at Shoreham. This was Christian Moullec who has been training barnacle geese to follow his microlight. They are orphaned chicks that have been raised from chicks who imprinted on Christian and the microlights.

This is what baby geese usually do with their mother. Christian hopes to use what he learns to help rare geese (such as the white fronted geese) to migrate to new area starting new colonies in other areas.

I thought this was really amazing.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Exploring local beaches

2011-08-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I have been exploring our local beaches with my buddy Steve. As you know I have visited some amazing places in my travels, coral reefs, ship wrecks and many different coastlines in the in the US and Hawaiian Islands.
But I did not realise just how much wildlife we can find on our own beaches here in the UK. As you know my local beach is covered in a rare habitat called vegetated shingle but this only grows above the high tide line. There is very little beach exposed at low tide, so I have not seen much seashore life. However, this year I have seen some amazing marine life on other local UK beaches.

So here is some of the wildlife I experienced this year with my buddy Steve.

These are some of the seabirds I saw on Kingston beach, not far from the nature reserve, in a small bay inside Shoreham harbour.

This is a little egret, it stalks along the edge of the incoming tide catching small sea creatures in its long sharp beak.

We also saw this sandwich tern resting on the sandy mud

In the river, we saw this cormorant catch and eventually eat this eel.

I never thought it would manage it and the eel put up a fight but eventually the cormorant gulped it down.

These ringed plovers were on the vegetated shingle

There are other fascinating animals on Kingston Beach, inside the harbour.

This is a shore crab

This chalk is poking through the pebbles

I was amazed to find these piddock shells that burrow into the soft chalk to hide from predators.

This is a sea anemone, closed up because it has been uncovered by the tide

These sea defences provide places where animals can live

Here you can see some dog whelk eggs. The white shell behind is an adult dog whelk. They are predators, they eat mussels by drilling a hole through their shell. You can see where a dog whelk has drilled a hole into the mussel shell in the picture. The dog whelk has a special tongue with teeth for drilling.

The snakelock anemone is living in a pool at the bottom of the defence. This anemone cannot close up when exposed by the tide and the stings on its tentacles may hurt. You can recognise it by the purple tips. The tentacles are green because they have an algae living inside them - just like coral.

This clam lives in the sand, it burrows using its foot and feeds from the tubes

It was good to know that we have such fascinating wildlife living on your local beaches. Why not visit your local beach and see what you can find. You can leave me a message and tell me about what you have seen.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Earthquake in the Channel

2011-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I am back in England now. The strangest thing happened today - we had an earthquake in the English Channel and you could feel it on my local beach at Shoreham.

As you know I found out about earthquakes when I was in the USA and I even sat on a post above the San Andreas Fault where two of the earths plates meet. That all sounds a bit complicated, so you can find out more on the link below.

http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

The earthquake in the English Channel was very small and just caused some very minor shaking - most people did not even notice it. Luckily we are a long way from a major fault line because that is where big earthquakes can happen.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

School Visit to teach about Oceans

2011-06-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Today I had a really fun and interesting day teaching children at Peter Gladwin Primary School all about the amazing oceans. The children found out about my special beach with rare vegetated shingle and fascinating animal visitors. They also learned a lot about the ocean and about the dangers marine animals face from pollution and plastic debris.

Some of the children learned about the plight of the Laysan albatross that I met in the Hawaiian Islands. They found out that the parents accidentally feed plastic litter to their chicks as well as food because they can't tell the difference.

The children really enjoyed my visit and had their photograph taken with me. They were very concerned about the threats to ocean wildlife and came up with loads of ideas about how they could help.

Two of the children made me and my buddy Steve (school children call him Mr Savage) a special thank you card which they gave us at the end of the day on behalf of all the children.

It was really nice.

They also made us both badges. I am wearing mine. It says 'Fantastic Bear Well Done'.

I hope I get the chance to visit them again another time.

I'm off to America again tomorrow to visit the NABS Youth Summit. I think I had better finish packing and have an early night.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

Adur World Oceans Day

2011-06-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I am the Adur World Oceans Day Event. This year it has joined with the Environment Festival so there are displays about the environment and also stands where people are selling environmentally friendly products.

My buddy Steve brought his dolphin display and pictures showing dolphins and seals that have been seen locally.

We also brought along a display about my travels and global conservation issue.

There were lots of children visiting the exhibition and they enjoyed finding out about my travels and many were concerned to find out about marine debris, pollution and many other ocean problems.

This included the ocean acidification demonstration which created a lot of interest, especially with adult visitors.

The Friends of Shoreham Beach had a wonderful display about Shoreham Beach, the plants and also did some great art activities with the children.

I had a quick look around at the displays. I saw interesting fish in this tank.

I thought this girl was very brave touching the edible crab - look at the size of its pincers.

It was a very busy day but lots of fun.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Happy World Oceans Day

2011-06-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

Today is World Oceans Day, a day to celebrate the oceans. I will be at the Adur World Oceans Day event again this year, on Saturday

Happy World Oceans Day

Ed the Bear

Spring Watch Festival Brighton

2011-06-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

I am here with my buddy Steve at the Spring Watch Festival in Stanmar Park Brighton.

We have brought along a display about my adventures and a display about local dolphin and seal sightings.

My display tells the story of my adventures so far, why I have been travelling, amazing wildlife and people I have meet and how we can all help the oceans.

My display also included a strandline object quiz and a demonstration explaining ocean acidification.

We were in a special area of the festival called the marine zone. We were inside a special tent, which was good as it soon started to rain.

On one side of us was a display by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Their display told people lots of things about marine wildlife around our coasts and included an actual beach

Above the beach was a cliff with model seabirds.

To the other side of us was a display by Planet Whale. They had an inflatable pilot whale.

The people running the stand had really cool whale hats. I wish I had one of those.

We spoke to lots of people. Even though it was raining, lots of people still came to the festival. I thought I would have a look around to see what else was going on at the festival.

I checked the map to see where I needed to go. I thought I would go and have a look at the birds of prey.

The birds of prey were amazing and looked beautiful and also a bit dangerous for a little bear like me.

This is a barn owl

and this is a hawk

This is a baby hawk which the man was hand rearing.

I thought I would watch the demonstration where they allow the birds to fly. I watched the hawks first and they were really fast.

Then this big bird was brought out into the arena.

The bird then flew and pounced on a lure - a pretend rabbit which is its natural food.

I thought the rabbit looked a bit too much like me and I was worried the bird might mistake me for its dinner so I went to look at some of the other exhibits.

Next I saw the llamas

They were very cute and looked a bit like camels without a hump.

We have lots of bees on Shoreham Beach because of the shingle plants, so I wanted to find out more about honey bees.The Brighton Bee Keepers were doing a demonstration.

This is a hive, you can see the honeycomb

Here are lots of honey bees in a special hive with a glass window where you can see all the bees inside.

I then went back to our displays and found they were very busy with lots of people asking about ocean acidification, having a go at my quiz, looking at the pictures of where I had travelled and also looking at my buddy Steve's dolphin model.

Wow! what an amazing day. I meet lots of people and I also met one of the children who came to my course back in January. You can see the course on the link below

http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaching-children-about-oceans.html

I am feeling rather tired now and a bit hungry. I should have asked the bees for some honey.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

5 year Celebration of the Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve

2011-05-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Well, I can't believe that the nature reserve has been proetcting Shoreham Beach for 5 years now. As you know there is a display all about Shoreham Beach, including my adventures, in the Marlipins Museum in Shoreham.

The Friends of Shoreham Beach organised a special 5 year celebration of the Nature Reserve and I was lucky enought to be invited. Everyone who has helped to set up and support the nature reserve was intited, including my buddy Steve. The celebration was held in teh same room that where we had our display set up.

It was a very joyous evening and great for everyone involved to get together for a celebration.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

Teaching children about the vegetated shingle on Shoreham Beach

2011-05-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hi all

While I have been here in the UK I have been helping out on the Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve.

As you know, my local beach is part of the nature reserve. One of my favourite plants, Sea Kale, is now in flower.

This plant is called bitter sweet. This is a small plant, they grow much bigger. This plant is also called woody nightshade, related to deadly night shade.

The berries are poisonous.

Today we worked with a school group who were learning about the nature reserve. They did a transect survey of the shingle plant communities.

This means they measured a straight line from the top of the beach down to the high tide mark. They then divided this straight line into 1 metre squares and recorded the different plants they found.

They used special identification sheets so that they could recognise the different plants.

Later we recorded the different animals that we could see.

I saw this herring gull trying to break open a seashell. It kept flying up into the sky and then dropping the seashell to break it so the gull could eat the animal inside.

We saw birds visiting the plants as well. We also saw lots of lizards that were enjoying the sunshine.

My buddy Steve has been studying the bees that visit the special vegetated shingle plants. The bees pollinate the flowers so they are very important. The children helped to record the bees we saw.

This is a two banded bumble bee on the sea kale flowers.

This is a honey bee on the sea kale

This is a red tailed bumble bee visiting a yellow horned poppy flower.

This red tailed bumble bee is visiting the thrift

There many other insects on the plants

This woolly caterpillar will grow into a beautiful garden tiger moth

We saw these two beetles as well.

There were also many spiders, some in webs others like this zebra spider runs along the ground. It is a type of jumping spider which can also jump from plant to plant.

We saw lots of different animals and of course the most important thing about the vegetated shingle is that it is a rare habitat both in the UK and worldwide. I am really lucky to live near such as special beach.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

School children learn about the Adventures of Ed the Bear.

2011-05-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Me and my buddy Steve taught some more children about the oceans and the amazing wildlife that lives there. We also spoke about the dangers to ocean habitats and the marine wildlife caused by marine debris and climate change. We explained why I started my travels, the conservation problems I have investigated, the amazing wildlife and people I have encountered along the way and perhaps most important how we can all help reduce our impact on the oceans and the environment.

Before we started I played the short video clip made by Ken Stewart and some of the youths from the Tennessee Aquatic Project. You can watch this on youtube, see link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T7v3Vf0zrw&feature=related

As usual we started off with a quick quiz to find out what the children already knew about the ocean.

The children then did an activity that shows how all the oceans are linked together.

We then discussed the things that prevent marine animals from moving from one ocean to another such as not enough shelter, sea temperature, too far and other suggestions.

While sight is the most important sense for humans, this is not always true for other animals. In the sea it is often murky or gloomy and so for many sea animals sound is most important.

So we did a quiz which included a wide range of different sounds which included whales, seals, seabirds, snapping shrimp and blue striped grunt fish. Other sounds included a boat propeller, an undersea earthquake and the sound of waves on the seashore.

The children had to chose which sound was made by which sound source. Some where easy to work pout while others were a bit more tricky.

The children found out about Shoreham Beach and how my worries about global issues damaging this beach led to my travels.

They also found out a bit about the rare habitat that covers much of this beach called vegetated shingle.

The children learned about many of the animals I encountered on my travels such as these cute sea otters.

They also found out about some of the people I had met during my travels such as the youths at the NABs Youth Summit.

We then discussed marine litter and asked the children to think about what objects make up marine litter and where it comes from.

I also showed the children what I had found our about marine debris and litter during my travels.

This ended with my experiences with Fred the Monkey and what I had learned from him about the terrible plight of the Laysan Albatross who live in the Hawaiian Islands.

The children took part in a special activity that helps to demonstrate the dangers the albatross face. The children were divided into groups of three. Two of the children would play the role of albatross parents one child would play the role of their chick.

We laid down a series of small cards on the floor. Each card had a picture of either food or an item of marine litter. The pictures were face down so they could not see what the cards were.

Then one at a time, the parent albatross (children) collect a card to see what they have taken back to feed their chick.

When they have collected a card they write down on a sheet what item they have collected.

The children carried on until they each had 10 items. The children then added up the amount of food items and the amount of litter items.

This group was lucky, they feed their chick 9 squid and only one piece of plastic litter

This group were lucky. Most of the other groups had 4 or more pieces of plastic, some of them had collected large plastic items such as a tooth brush or a disposable lighter.

The children were also asked if they were surprised at the type of litter items that the albatross parents collected, and of course they were surprised. So was I when Fred told me.

The children also learned about global warming and climate change. As part of this the children learned about ocean acidification. This is caused because because the oceans are absorbing too much carbon dioxide from the air. This is causing the oceans to become acidic which is disastrous to all animals with hard calcium carbonate shells such as crabs, shellfish and corals.

This is already making it difficult for sea creatures to build there shells. Soon we might start to see shells dissolving. To help the child understand this we did an experiment.

Earlier in the day we put a sea shell in a weak acid (vinegar - quite safe as we use it to cock and put on our chips).

We looked at the seashell ever hour and recorded any changes and by the end of the day the seashell had already half dissolved. This is really scary.

We then spoke about how we all have an impact on the oceans (even me and my buddy Steve). But we discussed that we can all help the oceans by reducing the impact that we have on the oceans. The children made a list of all the things they felt they could do to help and then sighed a pledge to me - Ed the Bear.

At the end of the day we gave all the children a special certificate as they had all worked so hard.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Ed the Bear at the Marlipins Museum

2011-05-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I have been really busy helping with a temporary display at the Marlipins Museum in Shoreham. This display is all about Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve.

There are lots of pictures and information about the special plants and the wildlife that visits the flowers.

This cabinet has lots of shells and other fascinating objects that are washed up onto the beach at high tide.

Sadly, litter and marine debris gets washed up on our beach as well. This display tells people all about marine litter and how long it takes to breakdown in the environment. Some of it takes a very long time - especially plastic.

There is also a display about my adventures too called from Shoreham Beach to the Pacific Ocean.

Here are some of the animals I have encountered and some of the people I have meet on my travels.

The display also tells people about some of the global problems that affect the oceans and may even be a danger here at Shoreham. The display also shows how people are helping the ocean and how we can all help the ocean too.

Below you can see some of the posters that local school children have made about litter on Shoreham Beach

The Marlipins is a very special museum with displays all about the local history of the town, the beach, the harbour and maritime history too. As you may remember, I am very interested in maritime history. Many ships were built here in the past, some carried goods while others fought in sea battles.

Our exhibition will be here until the end of May.

Bye for now, Ed

Sea Mammal News from places I have visited

2011-04-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Here is some news updates from places I visited last year.

News from Tenerife
I have just heard that the fish farm I reported on in Tenerife has just closed up. The fish in the fish farm attracted the local dolphins who spent most of the day swimming round and round the fish pens, even though they could not catch the fish.

I have heard that the fish farm closed because of financial reasons, rather than to help the dolphins. Fish farming can be a good thing because it helps to reduce the amount of fish caught from the sea. But sometimes they can be damaging to marine life.

This is a link to an earlier blog message when I visited Tenerife and saw the fish farm
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2010/08/whales-dolphins-and-fiesta.html

News from Farallon Islands USA
A female humpback whale become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines which made it difficult to swim and stay afloat - whales need to breath air. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body and tail. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate Bridge) and radioed an environmental group for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and the only way to save the whale was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as if she were thanking them. The whale seemed to know that the people were trying to help her.

Here is a weblink to when I visited the Gulf of Farallon NOAA marine sanctuary. Don't forget the weblog will be in reverse, the oldest entries first so scroll down to the bottom of the page
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Twinkle the Seal

2011-04-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all

A seal named Twinkle, by his rescuers, has been visiting the coast and river near my local beach here at Shoreham in the UK.

The seal is a common seal which was rescued many miles away on 13/6/10 on the east coast of England. It was released by the RSPCA (rescuers) on the east coast on 18/8/10.

The seal is a male yearling, was first seen in Sussex at Cuckmere River in November 2010 and has been travelling between the River Cuckmere, River Ouse and River Adur.

The River Adur is very near my local beach. This seal can be identified by an orange number tag 61940 on its hind flipper. The rescuers put the tag on the seal so they could identify the seal and would know if it got into trouble again.

It has been great fun watching this seal, especially when it is laying out on the muddy river bank at low tide. It looks really cute.

Sadly, many common seals are endangered around the UK. If you want to know more about this seal, click on the link below http://sussexmarinejottings.blogspot.com/

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Earth Hour Celebration and beyond

2011-03-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I hope you all had a great Earth Hour celebration. The last couple of weeks I have been sending e-mails and telling everybody about Earth Hour.

I received lots of messages from people to say that they would be supporting Earth Hour which is fantastic.
For Earth Hour, I met up with my sister Bella. We turned everything electrical off that wasn't essential, all the lights, computer, TV etc.

Then we played board games. It was a bit tricky seeing in the dark, but it all added to the fun.

Now that Earth Hour is over is that the end. No, all those things you turned off because you didn't need them you can check and turn off every day.

That doesn't mean you can't use the TV or computer at all. It just means that when you are not using it, it should be turned off, saving energy and money too.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear and Bella

What is Earth Hour?

2011-03-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Hi all

Earth Hour is a global movement that encourages individuals, businesses and governments around the world to take positive actions for the environment, and celebrating their commitment to the planet by switching off their lights for one hour. This year, Earth Hour will be held on Saturday March 26 between 8.30PM and 9.30PM.

During this hour, people will be encouraged to turn off their lights and all non-essential electrical appliances. By raising awareness in this way we hope that this will be the first step to making a commitment that will go beyond the hour by making small but long term changes.

As you know I have been travelling the world’s oceans investigating and teaching about global issues such as climate change and ocean acidification. I have visited coral reefs that are dying because the seas are becoming warmer and discovered how it is also affecting marine food webs.

Ocean acidification is caused as the oceans have absorbed increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. This has upset the ocean chemistry causing oceans to become more acidic. This rise in acidity means the oceans cannot holds as much calcium carbonate, which is the building blocks of corals, crab shells and seashells. In some oceans these animals are already struggling to build their shells, but if it continues to rise we will start to see these animals’ shells beginning to dissolve.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. One year later it had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries and territories participating.

So why not join me during Earth Hour by turning off all unnecessary lights as lights will switch off around the globe.

You can find out more about Earth Hour by clicking on the link http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx
which will take you to the Earth Hour website.
Bye for now

Ed the Bear

News from the Hawaiian Islands

2011-03-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I have just heard from Ron Hirshi and Fred the Monkey about the damage that the Tsunami have done to the beaches and wildlife in the Hawaiian Islands, including many places I visted when I was staying with Ron and Fred.

Ron and Fred have written about this on their own weblog called Project Soar. I could not say it better, so here is the link including news about a 60 year old Laysan Albatross called Wisdom who survived the Tsunami

http://soaronhirschi.blogspot.com/2011/03/wisdom-returnsmanao-akamai.html

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Tsunami disaster

2011-03-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hello

I am sure you have all heard about the terrible Earthquake in the ocean near Japan. This is a terrible disaster, the worst of the damage coming from a huge wave which is called a Tsunami. This was caused because the earthquake was underwater.

You may remember that when I was in the Hawaiian Islands in February last year there was an earthquake in Chile which was also terrible. This also caused a tsunami rushed across the ocean towards the Hawaiian islands. Everyone was evacuated to safety, including myself and sanctuary Sam. We took shelter in a 12 story building with other volunteers who had come to take part in the annual whale watch.

Lucky for us the wave lost much of its energy and did not cause any damage in Hawaii. This time, the tsunami did reach Hawaii and did cause some damage. Its not clear at the moment how much damage.

This time the wave was larger (because the earthquake was nearer to Hawaii) and not only reached the Hawaiian Islands it continued on to the West Coast mainland of the US. I have made lots of frinds in my travels thrught this area and I hope they are all safe.

More news soon

Ed

Brighton Science Festival Fun

2011-02-19T07:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all

Here I am at the Brighton Science Festival.

I am here with my buddy Steve with our One World One Ocean display. Last year my sister Bella brought along a display because I was in the USA. This time I have been able to come in person.

The display explains all about my adventures, this includes the following information.

Why is Ed the Bear travelling?

The display starts of by explaining that I have been travelling since I discovered that my local beach (home to UK and globally rare vegetated shingle habitat) is in danger from global issues such as climate change. I decides to travel to other seas and oceans to help me understand these global problems, how they might affect my local beach and what could be done about it.

Ocean Biodiversity

On the way I encountered some amazing wildlife both locally and globally. I have seen majestic whales and albatross, playful sea otters, rare monk seal, turtles and much more. With my purpose built diving bell, I have dived on stunning coral reefs and ship wrecks.

Threats to ocean

Our display also shows some of the many threats I have found out about, many of them are affected by our modern living, such as climate change that may cause sea level rise, extreme weather conditions, killing coral reefs and disrupting food chains (latter even around the UK). I found out about ocean acidification, which may threaten many hard bodies many invertebrates, marine debris etc.

Helping the oceans
Our display also show some of the people I have visited that are doing things to help protect the oceans. Ron Hirshi and Fred the Monkey who help clean beaches of dangerous plastic and educate people about the dangers to wildlife. I visited a turtle hospital where they rescue sea turtles and return them to the ocean. I helped with an oil spill and visited a laboratory where they are growing corals to replaces a nearby damaged reef.

The display also tells people about the Black Scuba Diver Youth Summit I visited and the new friend Lisa I made. This is me receiving a special certificate at the Youth Summit.

Living more sustainably
We all have an impact on the environment and the oceans. But its important to know that by doing things slightly different we can reduce our impact on the oceans. Our display encourages children (and adults) to think about how they could do things differently to live more sustainably and have less impact on the oceans and the environment. They make a list and sign a pledge to me, Ed the Bear.

Ocean Acidification Experiment
One of the most scary things I have found out about during my travels is ocean acidification. The increase in carbon dioxide in the air means more carbon dioxide in the oceans. When too much carbon dioxide is in the ocean it creates a weak acid. This make the oceans more acidic and makes it difficult for animals such as corals, crabs and sea snails to build their hard calcium carbonate shells.

The experiment we set up shows what will happen if the oceans become too acidic - animals with hard shells will dissolve. We used three jars. One had freshwater, one had half freshwater and half weak acid (vinegar) and one jar had just vinegar. We put a seashell in each jar. The one in freshwater stayed the same. The shells in both the other two jars started to dissolve. This is what will happen in the oceans. Most people we spoke to had not heard of ocean acidification.

A chap called Colin helped us as well. He has done lots of diving like me and brought along some beautiful pictures of the ocean wildlife he had seen.

The Friends of Shoreham Beach brought along their display about Shoreham Beach, the fascinating plants and animals that live there.

They also had a marine litter display showing some of the litter washed up on Shoreham Beach and how long each item takes to biodegrade.

They also had a colouring activity about marine litter which was also popular.

There was also an exhibit about local marine life and the strandline objects washed up on the beach.

They also had a great activity for the children making a rock pool in a bottle.

To stop litter getting into the oceans we need to dispose of it responsibly. Much of it is reusable so it is important to recycle what we can.

As I walked around the other exhibits I saw this display explaining how the items that are collected for recycling are separated into different materials.

This is a working model showing how this is done.

There were also lots of other great scientific demonstrations going on.

This is a giant millipede.

There were excited children and adults everywhere and being a little bear I decided to go back up to my display before I was accidentally trodden on.

It was a great day. Lots of adults and children asking lots of questions about the oceans and about the threats to oceans.

I am only at the science festival on the 19th February, but the festival continues for another couple of weeks, so if you live in Sussex (UK) then you might like to go along. Here is the website to check out what is yet to come.

http://www.brightonscience.com/2011/

Bye for now, Ed

Teaching children about the oceans

2011-01-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

Hi all

Today I made some new friends while helping my buddy Steve to teach children about the ocean. I took my sister Bella along as well. She has her own adventures and weblog.

These children were as passionate about the ocean as I am and when they found out how the ocean is in danger, they were pleased to find out that there were things they could do to help.

Steve explained that I have been travelling the oceans to find out more about global issues since I found out that my local beach was in danger from climate change. We started the session with a quick yes or no quiz to find out what the children already knew.

We then asked the children to draw a line between different points on a map. The only rule was they could not cross any land.

When they had finished the children realised that all the seas and oceans and linked together forming one big ocean. This one big ocean joins us all together.

We then asked the children if all sea animals could travel from one ocean to another. They said no. We then asked them what might stop animals doing this. The children suggested things like water temperature, depth, salinity, land and hiding places. We then asked if there were any animals that could travel from one ocean to another and the children decided that whales could. Wow they had already learned loads about the oceans and the course had only just started.

We then did a quiz about sound. For many land animals, sight is their most important sense. But underwater it might be dark and murky so many animals communicate using sounds, even some fish.

To explore the world of underwater sounds, the children did a sound quiz. These sounds included humpback whales, bearded seals, herring gull, striped grunt fish, snapping shrimps, undersea earthquake and a ships propellers. The children had to decide which sound was which.

I also told the children a bit about the beach where I live and the special plants that grow there which make a special habitat called vegetated shingle. The plants are also home to many birds, insects and even lizards.

They also found out about some of the other characters I had met on my travels, such as Fred the Happy Face Monkey. If you have been following my travels you will know I met Fred and his buddy Ron Hirshi in Marrowstone Islands and travelled with them to Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands. Can you see the beautiful sea turtle coming up on the beach behind us.

I learned a lot about marine debris and the Laysan Albatross who suffer terribly because of this litter. The children will find out more about that later.

We discussed what kind of objects make up marine debris asked the children to suggest how marine debris might end up in the ocean. They looked at some pictures of some of the places I had visited where marine debris was a big problem. They come up with many ideas; people leave it on the beach, it comes from boats, activities like fishing and some gets blown into rivers and washed down to the sea. We then discussed how this could harm wildlife.

To help them understand the problem of marine debris better we looked at the Laysan Albatross. Steve has devised a species activity which replicates the problem these albatross face.

In this activity the children work in small groups of 3. Each group will be a Laysan albatross family living on the Hawaiian Islands where they nest. Laysan albatross have one chick.

Each parent bird will take it in turns to collect food for their chick, represented by the many cards on the floor. Face down, the cards will either be food items of plastic litter. However, like the albatross, you will not know if it is food or plastic litter that you are taking back.

Each group recorded the items collected for their chick. These ranged from squid to plastic items such as bottle tops, plastic toys, disposable lighter and many other objects.

This group is lucky and seem to have only collected squid

The child then have to add up how many food items and how many plastic debris items they collected for their chick. If only a small amount of plastic is eaten, the chick could regurgitate it. The children were asked if they thought their chick had survived. We then discussed that the problem is even more complex. Some chicks swallow lead paint chips which are poisonous, making them weaker and more at risk from dying from swallowing plastic debris.

The children were asked if they were surprised by the type of objects that made up this plastic marine litter that the albatross accidentally fed to their chicks. They said they were. I was surprised too when I first found out from Fred the Monkey.

After looking at some more of the amazing animals I saw on my travels, we then did some activities about climate change and the damage that this is doing to the oceans. Climate change is causing the polar ice to melt, which will cause sea level rise on land but may also damage the ocean currents that create our weather and climate. The children also found out how climate change is killing corals and disrupting food webs - even around the UK.

All of these are very scary. However there are many people I meet on my travels who are helping the oceans.

In the Mote Laboratory they are growing corals in special tanks which will be used to help repair a damaged coral reef. NOAA, with whom I spent many months last year, look after 14 marine sanctuaries set up to protect the marine habitat and the animals that live there. And of course Ron Hirshi and Fred the Monkey who are doing really important work raising awareness of plastic litter, including the tiny bits of plastic that float in the ocean and helping to keep their local beach clean from plastic.

I also visited a hospital where they rescue sea turtles. This is me and sanctuary Sam with Scooter a rescued turtle. We also told the children about other people I had meet who are helping the ocean too.

We all contribute towards climate change because of modern living (even me and Steve!). But there are lots of ways that we can do things differently that will help the environment. We asked the children to think about things that they could do to reduce the impact they have on the oceans.

They came up with lots of good ideas. We can turn of computers and lights when they are not being used.

We can make sure we recycle all we can and dispose of things properly if they can't be recycled.
Water is very valuable, we need to make sure we don't waste this valuable resource.

One of the children, called Joe, came up with a very good way to describe what we should do. He said we need to use these things more wisely.

The children made a list of the things they plan to do to help reduce their impact on the oceans and then they signed a pledge to me, Ed the Bear, to do their best to follow their list.

The children were really excited that they could do something to help the ocean.

It was a very fun time

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

Catch up on my Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

2011-01-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hi all

You may remember back in May last year that I visited the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. However, there were a lot of problems at the time including the terrible oil spill and so I did not get the chance to include this trip on my blog

Below are a series of pictures of my visit. Fred and I would be travelling out with some of the staff on the research vessel Manta where they would be using a remote controlled vehicle to take photographs of marine life.

I would not get the chance to use by diving bell in the sanctuary but I did help them check some equipment in a pool.

Here I am checking out the underwater camera equipment from my own submersible.

Sanctuary Sam, keeps an eye on things from the surface of a pool, while I explore below with my submersible.

In a swimming pool, I help the researchers make sure the camera gear used for monitoring is ready for action.

Here I am signing in for my research trip on board the R/V Manta.

Sam and I get settled in to our bunkroom on board the R/V Manta.

I check out the view from the pilot house with Sam.

Here I am checking on a dive tank on board the R/V Manta. Hard hats and life jackets are required gear when working on deck.

Sam and I get a chance to try out the controls of the remote controlled vehicle (ROV)

It sure was fun. I really enjoyed my trip on the Manta.

Still planning my trips for this year, I hope to be on my way soon.

Bye for now

All About Bears

2011-01-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hi all

I am planning my travels and adventures for this year. My buddy Steve has been ill with the flu and then a chest infection so we are a bit behind in our plans

I did watch some television and saw a very interesting programme about my wild cousins the black bear. If you have ever wondered what bears where like, you must watch this programme. This is the link to the first of three programmes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x9yfv/The_Bear_Family_and_Me_Spring/

I hope you enjoy finding out about my wild cousins

Bye for now, Ed

Ed the Bear wishes you all a happy Christmas

2010-12-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all

Wishing you a happy Christmas and a happy and healthy 2011. I am also wishing for a healthier ocean in 2011 too.

Here I am in the snow, dreaming of some of the warmer places I have visited this year.

I hope you will continue to follow my travels in 2011 and learn with me about some of the amazing marine life and how we can all help the oceans

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

See you in 2011

More from the Aquarius Live Broadcast

2010-10-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have not had the chance to watch every day but is has been great to catch some of the live broadcasts.

The children had some great question and some of the schools sent in artwork.

This was part of a great art section of each broadcasts.

I watched the live programme where the TAP Youth took part and asked some great questions of the aquanauts.

During the broadcast they encouraged people to take a pledge to help the oceans. This is similar to the pledge that I am asking people to make too. Read the list above and see how you can help the oceans. Have you made your pledge yet? I know Captain Cousteau, mentioned above was an inspiration to my buddy Steve when he was younger.

One of the great thing about these live broadcasts was the way they really captured the sense of mystery and excitement of ocean science. The ocean really is an exciting place.

I have really enjoyed this programme.

Bye for now, Ed

Aquarius live broadcast, If Reefs Could Talk

2010-10-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

I have been watching the live broadcast from Aquarius, Wow it is an amazing place. Scientists called aquanauts live on the Aquarius habitat for several weeks at a time and they are studying the nearby reef.

The air in the undersea habitat is at the same pressure as the surrounding ocean so they can live there quite happily.

It is also this air pressure that stops the water coming into the habitat through the moon pool, the entrance for the divers into the surrounding water.

Today is the day for my question. At the beginning of the programme they gave me a shout out and showed a picture of me on the screen behind the person hosting the live broadcast.

The host is reading out my question for the scientist to answer

My question was.

“While I was travelling in the US earlier this year investigating global environmental issues with NOAA I learned about a very scary problem called ocean acidification. Is the reef near "Aquarius" showing any signs of damage from acid oceans”?

Bye for now, Ed

Aquarius undersea laboratory

2010-10-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I have been invited to take part in a live broadcast from the Aquarius habitat which is on the seabed 9 miles from the Florida Keys. You will probably member I visited Florida a few times on my travels. I came very close when I was at the NABS Youth Summit earlier this year. We were due to dive near the Aquarius and look in through the window, but sadly it was too stormy so we changed to another safer dive site.

Ken Stewart, who I met at the Youth Summit, is also working with this NOAA project with the National Association of Black Scuba Divers and the Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans program. African-American schools and Latino public schools will be taking part. In fact all the shows will be broadcast in English and Spanish. It was Ken who invited me to join in with one of the live broadcasts.

During these live broadcasts, schools who are watching can send in questions and have them answered live during the broadcast. Ken has invited me to send in a question too.

Scientists on the Aquarius

Isn't It Bonkers

2010-09-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Well I have been very busy since I have been back in the UK preparing for a special event called “Isn’t it Bonkers” which we took part in yesterday. The aim of this event was mainly is to raise awareness of global issues, highlight the crazy things we do that waste resources and show people how we can all do small thinks to reduce our impact on the environment. When I heard about it I knew we had to take part as this is definitely my kind of event.

This is the display we took

1. What’s important about Shoreham Beach, focusing on the rare vegetated shingle habitat and the wildlife that it supports. It also mentions how Shoreham Beach (my local beach) may also be threatened by climate change (which is the reason for my travels - to investigate global issues)

2. One World One Ocean – my message about how we all rely on the oceans every day.

3. Some pictures from my travels – where I met a nesting turtle with Fred the Happy Face Monkey, Scooter a rescued turtle, my visit to the youth summit and dives on a reef, a ship wreck and with dolphins using my diving bell.

4. Some pictures from my travels – a selection of marine wildlife I had the privilege to see first hand.

5. How we are all contributing to the damage of the beautiful oceans and threatening marine wildlife. This inlcuded marine litter, sea temperature rise killing corals and disrupting food chains (latter even in the UK), oil pollution, and acid oceans (caused by oceans absorbing too much carbon dioxide from the air)

6. How can I help – looks at simple ways that we can reduce our impact on the marine environment.

We also gave out a sheet about global issues linked to the last two panels. Side one included info about global issues. On the second side, children (and parents) made a list of all the things they do which might impact on the environment. They then made a list of how they could do things differently and then signed a pledge to me (at the bottom) to promise they would do the things they had listed. The aim is that they pin their pledge on the wall so they can see it everyday.

Seashore quiz

This was a fun quiz about our local beaches. We chose a selection of objects from the beach, each had a label, and a picture of me saying “guess what I am”.

The answer was on the reverse side, plus a picture if necessary – e.g. for the cuttlefish bone, included what a cuttlefish looks like.

We also had an acid oceans experiment, using a seashell placed in a jar of clear vinegar, to show the affects that a weak acid can have on sea creatures.

PowerPoint

My buddy Steve put together a special PowerPoint, a celebration of the oceans and highlighting global issues. The presentation started on Shoreham Beach and then looked at global locations. Steve demonstrated this talk once early afternoon and then left it running in a loop.

We spoke to lots of people about the oceans and my adventures. I think people visiting the exhibit and the other stands at the event learned a lot of important stuff.

It was a busy day, but it was lots of fun talking to all those people.

Bye for, now

Good Bye to Tenerife

2010-08-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Just a last quick look at the spectacular scenery before I return back to England tomorrow.

These are the stunning cliffs of Los Gigantes. They look very different from up here rather than in a small boat with the cliffs towering above me. I have learned so much here about this beautiful island, the indigenous wildlife and also how fragile these ecosystems can be. I even learned some yoga which I hope to continue.

Bye for now, Ed

Watching Garden Wildlife

2010-08-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hi all

While there are many great places on the island to visit, my holiday was coming to an end so I decided to have a nice relaxing weekend.

I sat on the balcony and kept an eye out for birds as they visited the garden

First to arrive was a blue tit. It looks a bit like the blue tit I see back home but the colours seem brighter and this one has a black line on its chest (like a great tit). These blue tits are endemic which means they are only found on Tenerife and neighbouring islands.

Then I spotted a kestrel on the telephone wire. It was having a good look around in search of prey which could be a small mouse or a lizard. Like the blue tit, this is also an endemic species of kestrel.

After a while the kestrel took flight and landed on the telephone wire further down the road.

When animals like these are only found on a few small islands, they can easily become endangered, like the wonderful Nee Nee (Hawaiian Goose) which I saw while on the Hawaiian Islands with Fred the Happy Face Monkey and Ron Hirshi. Either natural, or more often human activities, can reduce the numbers of a particular endemic species and their numbers can become so low they cannot recover and may become extinct.

After all that bird watching I decide to have a snack and then a peaceful doze in the garden.

In the afternoon I have a look for other animals too. I spot a movement on one of the rocks. When I looked closer I could see it was a lizard sunbathing.

There are lots of spiders in the garden, this one plant is full of spider webs

I also came across this spider. It had made its web across the path, so I decided to go the other way, just in case!

This grasshopper locked like a dead leaf until I got up close

I decided to end the day with a bit of tree climbing

There is nothing like a spot of tree climbing

Bye for now, Ed

The impressive Mount Teide and the fascinating National Park

2010-08-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all

A nice sunny morning

We spent the morning relaxing on the beach because later today we would be taking a trip to see mount Teide. I have been looking forward to taking a closer look at mount Teide and today’s the day. The Canary Islands were formed in a similar was as the Hawaiian Islands, by volcanoes, So I was really excited. Teide is the highest point in Spanish territory and is the third biggest volcano in the world. It looks peaceful but Teide is still an active volcano which last erupted in 1909 and is expected to erupt again one day.

The journey to Teide was amazing too. We passed thorough a huge pine forest. I discovered that these clever tress collect the moisture on to their pine shaped leaves which then drips to the ground and waters the tree. As we travel higher the road twists and turns and soon we are driving through a volcanic landscape and soon we see Teide.

We stop and get out and have a walk around and there is Teide in all its splendor. We are walking in the Caldara formed 170,000 years ago following a huge volcanic eruption. Not only is Teide and the area surrounding it a National Park, but it is also a World Heritage site because its so important.

We look down at a vast area below (which we had previously driven past).

It was breathtaking and not just because we were so high up. It was a strange eerie landscape which could have been on another planet.

I noticed a large green rock. It must have been from a rock like this that the green pebble I found on San Yuan Beach must but have come from.

I noticed a strange plant, like a giant feather. An information board said it was called Tajinaste rojo.

Soon the sun is setting. Althought we are in full sun at this height, down on the coast it will be getting dark soon, so we head off back down the mountain. As we drive down, the neighbouring islands can been seen above the clouds.

Its was a beautiful sight

As we continue down the mountain we drive through the cloud layer and as we get down toward the coast it is already dark. As we arrive back at Xena's I spot a gecko on the wall. Geckos are great animals to have living around the house because the eat mosquitoes

It was a very exciting day, but very tiring. Time for bed.

Bye for now, Ed zzz

Ed on Yoga

2010-08-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Yesterday evening, Xena invited me to another of her Yoga classes. I listened to Xena talking to her students about yoga and this is what I understood from what she was saying. There seem to be many reasons for practicing yoga and different people do it for different reasons. Practicing the postures, the breathing exercises and meditation makes you healthier in body, mind and spirit.

Xena, Sharon and me

I think it’s a bit like the oceans. For the oceans to be healthy everything needs to be in good conditions and working properly. All the habitats in the ocean need to be healthy for the oceans to be functioning properly. The oceans create our climate, provide us with freshwater through the water cycle and many other things which take place to give us a healthy planet.

Xena's class

Yoga seems to be similar. Our bodies, human and bears, need lots of things to keep them healthy and all our body organs (such as our heart, kidney, liver) and other processes in our bodies must be working properly for us to be in perfect health.. Breathing properly and having a good body posture helps the rest of our body work more effectively. It is easy to get into bad habits, both what we eat and how we sit, that can make our bodies unhealthier.

Meditation is a good way to relax and reduce stress. It’s also a good way to reflect on who we are (as individuals, whether human or bear) and what we do and how we get on and affect the world around us. It also appears that although people do yoga together, the meaning of yoga is quite individual to each person.

This time I found it a little bit easier and could have a go at the postures on my own. It was very physical, even though we were not moving very much, but at the same time it was also very calming. I will certainly try to carry on some of these postures when I get back home.

Thanks Xena

I was amazed this morning to find an island which seemed to appear from nowhere. This was La Gomera.

When the conditions are right the island dominates the view from the balcony. On others days, the island is not visible.

This is why I had not seen it before.

Today I had a nice relaxing day at the Oasis Swimming Pool.

That evening, I volunteered to water the garden, while everyone else was out.

Afterwards I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the beautiful sunset

Bye for now, Ed

An unexpected discovery on the beach at San Juan

2010-08-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

We went down to the small beach inside the harbour at San Juan for a paddle and a relaxing lay down on the sand.

While I was there I saw something moving as if it was being blown along by the breeze. I watched as it moved jerkily along the sand. I got down on all four paws for a closer look and I was surprised to see that the little white objects was being carried by an ant.

An ant on the beach, I was surprised. I watched the ant as it carried what appeared to be a small piece of seaweed along the sand and up the wall of the jetty.

Here I noticed other ants travelling to and from the sandy beach. The ant carrying the seaweed disappeared into a hole in the wall, above the high tide level.

Wow these ants must forage for food on the beach at low tide and return to their home above the water level before high tide.

Power from the Sun

2010-08-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Today I met one of Xena and Steve's friends who is hoping to work on a new solar power project. This new technology is called photovoltaics. This is where the suns energy is turned into power electricity and it is nearly always sunny in Tenerife. The project sounded fascinating. This kind of energy is called renewable energy.

It is generated by the suns rays and so does not contribute to climate change. This can then be used to power all the normal things electricity is used for. We don't have enough sun back in the UK but we do have lots of wind and a new offshore wind farm is planned near where I live. In the same way, wind will be used to generate electricty. I wishes him luck with the solar project on Tenerife

Bye for now, Ed

Drinking water, tree climbing and Yoga

2010-08-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Today I realised just how valuable freshwater is. I guess we are all so used to just turning on the tap and we have as much water as we need. This water is purified for people to be able to drink. In Tenerife there are no permanent running water like the River Adur back home.

Most of the fresh water comes from the heart of the volcano - Teide where melting snow has filtered through the rock. I didn’t even know that it ever snowed on Tenerife - it seems so hot. Steve said that Teide is so high that it snows on the peak of Teide in the winter. There are pipes that supply water that is suitable for drinking but not all water is pure enough for people to drink. I thought volcanoes were full of hot molten larva but Steve told me that the water can build up in special porous rocks called an aquifer. Pipes can be seen taking water around the island.

About 400 years ago there were many springs, streams and waterfalls on Tenerife. In recent years a big increase in tourism has meant more water has been extracted from the aquifer to provide for tourists and now there are virtually no streams or waterfalls on Tenerife that do not run dry during Summer.

There are a few places on the island where local people can fill their plastic bottles with drinking water for free. That’s exactly what we did today. I headed off up the mountains with Xena and Sharon to collect drinking water that would last for a couple of weeks.

It really made me think about how valuable water is – with out water there would be no like on earth. How luck I am to live in a country where water is plentiful, even during very hot weather when water is less plentiful, we still have plenty to drink. But I can’t help wondering if global warming might change all that. Back in the UK water is often wasted. Some people even leave the tap running while they clean their teeth.

After breakfast - brunch we went for a walk along the coast behind Alcala village.

Xena once lived in Alcala. When Steve and Sharon stayed with Xena the village was much smaller and quieter. We had a leisurely walk, lunar came to. We found some unusual shaped seats which although made from concrete, they were very comfortable. We carried on walking, but it was soon very hot so we sheltered beneath some palm trees. I soon got fidgety and started climbing the palm trees. TheIr bark makes it very easy to get a handhold.

I looked out to sea and watched a pirate ship pass by. Luckily it was a replica, full of tourists, not the real thing. We walked a little further and then went back to Xena’s house for ice cream and siesta.

Xena teaches Yoga several times a week and she was teaching a lesson today. I asked if I could go with her to watch as I had never done any yoga before. When we got there I was feeling a bit shy, so although Xena invited me to take part, I said I would watch. Xena has a small group of regular students who seemed a nice cheery bunch. The ladies who had come along seemed to have a lot of fun, but it also looked hard work, especially in this hot weather.

When the class had finished, Xena said she would show me some of the Yoga positions. My tummy kept getting in the way (a bit like my buddy Steve - don't tell him I said that) so Xena helped me get into some of the positions.

This position is called "Sun Salutation"

In the end I managed to do a few on my own.

This position is called "Downward Dog"

That evening it was card night, Xena and a small group of friends get together every Thursday. They take it in turns to host the evening. One of the players, Neville, helps run the Los Gigantes Dive Centre. Steve also knows Neville from previous trips to Tenerife. Neville said it was a shame that I had not brought my dive bubble he would have taken me out to sea the stingrays which they hand feed. That would have been very exciting!

Soon they were ready to play cards. I didn't want to get in the way so I made my excuses and went off to bed.

Bye for now, Ed

Whales, dolphins and Fiesta

2010-08-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all

We all woke refreshed and headed off to a small seaside village called Los Gigantes, named after spectacular sea cliffs. The cliffs are one of my buddy Steve's favourite views on the island. Xena helps out with one of the whale and dolphin watch boats moored in the harbour at Los Gigantes. Xena was working today. She dropped us off in the town and said she would meet us later. I was really excited as Steve said we would all be going out on the glass bottom boat to see dolphins and pilot whales. I have not seen pilot whales before so I was really looking forward to this. We met up with Xena and we were soon settled down and ready to go.

I found somewhere out of the way while they readied the boat and we were soon on our way.

As we headed out to sea, waves broke against the bow spraying us with sea water. I was disappointed however to see some marine litter floating past, including a white plastic bag. As we continued on we all got wetter and wetter, but was a hot day and it helped to keep us cool. I looked towards the shore.

Towering above the island was Teide – it looked spectacular.

Steve pointed out a bird skimming low over the waves. He told me it was a Cory’s Shearwater.

Steve said they feed and catch food for their young out at sea and return to the nest at night. The adults call to their chicks – which sounds like cackling witches.

All of a sudden two pilot whales surfaced on the left side of the boat. The boat captain slowed the boat being careful not to get too close when suddenly two whales surfaced right next to the boat.

These whales were amazing to see. After taking a breath they dived, but the water was very clear and you could see them swimming beneath the water.

The whales surfaced, swam alongside the boat and then dived again. There were several other pilot whales a short way off.

The pilot whales were beautiful and graceful. It was a privilege to see them close up.

A large whale swam past, and spouted as it breathed out before taking in fresh air before diving again

After we had enjoyed watching the whales for a while, we slowly turned and headed back towards the shore. However the tour wasn’t over yet. We were heading for a bay called Masca where we would anchor and people could get of the boat and swim.

On the way we eat Tortilla (Spanish omelet) and drank Sangria. I watched the dark line of cliffs in the distance get higher as we got closer.

Soon the cliffs were towering above the boat and made me feel very tiny. Sharon and Amber went for a swim but I stayed on the boat with Steve. The water here was very deep and I did not have my diving bubble.

I sat and admitted the view of these stunning cliffs.

When everyone was back on board he headed back to the marina. On the way back we stopped at some fish farm where they farm two species of local fish for the restaurants on the island.

I thought this was a great idea, farming fish instead of catching from the wild – because many fish species have been over fished. However, my buddy Steve told me that the fish farms can be harmful. He said that a lot of fish waste in one area and uneaten food can be a big problem as it upsets the water chemistry. A diver buddy of Steve’s had told him that the area around the fish farms has become polluted and not much lives their now.

Steve was about to say something else when I interrupted him. I had seen a dolphin surface next to one of the enclosures. I pointed excitedly to the dolphin but Steve seemed less pleased.

This is another reason the boats stop here – to see the dolphins. Steve told me the dolphins were attracted by the fish. When the fish farms were first set up, the dolphin learned to leap into the enclosures to catch the fish.

Now the dolphins swim round and round the fish farm continuously and the fish get very stressed at these large predators being so close.

Steve said that when he had visited in previous years the boats had to head out to see to find the dolphins, just like we had done to see the pilot whales. When the boat reached the dolphins they were often inquisitive and playful. They would swim over to the boat, leaping and splashing or riding the bow wave at the front of the boat. Even I could see that the dolphins had no interest in us being there.

They just swam round and round, even a mother dolphin with a calf. I felt sad for these dolphins and how their live had changed. I was glad when the boat turned and headed off to the marina.

When the trip was over we went back to Xena’s house. I had a shower to get the salt out of my fur. We had a meal and then slept. But the day wasn’t over yet. It was a local Fiesta (festival) at Alcala and tonight there would be a big fire work display. Xena drove us up the mountain a short way, over looking the village of Alcala and watched a breath taking firework display.

Bye for now, Ed

Arriving at Tenerife in the Canary Islands

2010-08-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all

It has been a busy few months, with my tour of the US and helping out with National Whale and Dolphinn Watch on my local beach on my return to the UK. My buddy Steve said I needed a rest.

So he is taking me on holiday to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa. I asked Steve if we would see any canaries in the Canary Islands. Steve said that there are wild canaries, but the islands were actually named after a special breed of dog. Steve said they were once known to the ancient Romans as the Fortunate Islands, the Canary Islands were named after the large dogs (Canes) found living on the islands.

Steve also said that Tenerife is one of 7 of the Canary Island group which are off the west coast of Africa.

We left just after lunch so we would get to Gatwick airport in plenty of time. I took some honey sandwiches for the flight and after watching the clouds go by I had a snack I had a sleep for most of the trip.

As we neared Tenerife the crew woke me up and said we were preparing for landing. We flew along the west coast and I was treated to a spectacular view of Teide, the volcano that gave birth to Tenerife many years ago. Teide is the highest peak in Spanish territory, an active but dormant volcano. Tenerife is also the third largest volcanic island in the world, second to Hawaii. This reminded me of the active volcano I saw on my visit to the Hawaiian Islands.

Just before we came into land we flew through what the captain said was turbulence (caused when winds travelling at different speeds meet). The plane kept dropping a short distance. like a roller coaster (it was a bit scary!) and my tummy felt a bit uncomfortable - I wished I had not eaten that extra sandwich. Luckily it wasn't long before we were safely on the ground. Steve was travelling with his wife Sharon and daughter Amber (who is 14). Steve said we would be staying with their very special friend Xena who lives on Tenerife.

Xena met us at the airport and after hugs all round we headed off to Xena's house. We stopped off at the supermarket for some supplies, but I stayed in the car and had a doze. We were soon on our way again and it wasn't long before we arrived at Xena's house.

As we went through the door we were instantly greeted by her dog Lunar who seemed very excited.

Lunar is now an elderly dog, but Steve and his family have known her when she was much younger. It was very hot still. Everyone sat and talked but my eyes were soon getting heavy and I began to fall asleep.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch

2010-08-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I'm back in time to help my buddy Steve run the local watch site for National Whale and Dolphin Watch Week, which runs from 7th-15th August 2010.

Steve is the Sussex regional coordinator and he works with a group of volunteers to monitor sea mammals locally and raise awareness of these amazing animals.

Members of the public are invited to take part in National Whale and Dolphin Watch, either by helping the trained observers on manned watches or by performing their own timed watches and sending in sightings.
I was really surprised to find out that 28 different species of whale and dolphin have been recorded around the UK and 13 species are seen on a regular basis.

This event is an opportunity for everyone to become involved in the research which goes into understanding these magnificent creatures. This is the 9th year this event has taken place. The results of the watch provide a snapshot of the distribution of whales, dolphins and porpoises around the British Isles and are helping inform scientific debate on any change in the range and distribution of species.

We ran the Sussex manned watch site at Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve starting at 10.00am was a bit windy at first but the sun came out later.

Many people came along and helped out during the day. The number of people visiting the beach increased with the sun.

We also had a display stand about local dolphin sightings and a whale and dolphin identification quiz for children, but some adults also had a go – and not surprisingly the children often got more right.

I helped with the display, which also included some pictures about my global travels.

We didn't see any dolphins or whales on the day which was a bit disappointing –especially after my experiences in the US, but I was pleased to help out, as Shoreham is his local beach. Also, this is scientific research. Steve and the rest of the people at Sea Watch Foundation are concerned about the falling numbers of bottlenose dolphins arond the UK, which is the species we normally see off Sussex.

There are 34 other regional groups around the UK taking part in this event. I was invited to visit some of these other sites during the week, but I felt this would be too tiring as I have only just returned to the UK. However, Bella my sister has travelled up to Cardigan Bay in Wales to help out in my place.

Bye for now, Ed

Back in the UK

2010-08-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Well I'm back in the UK and planning to take a bit of a rest to gather together all the information I gathered in my stay with NOAA and travels around the National Marine sanctuaries. So I may have some last minute posts to add. I have had a great time and learned lots of stuff about the oceans, met some fascinating wildlife and also met some fun and friendly people too.

I enjoyed every bit of my journey, but I particularly enjoyed meeting everyone at the National Association of Black Scuba Divers and YES is the Youth Education Summit. A few months ago Ken Stewart and some of the TAP (Tennessee aquatic Project) Youths made a special message about my adventures.

It is now available for everyone to see and I have included the links below. There are two versions, I hope you enjoy them. I feel very proud that they have made this video clip about my travels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGcI11k7t5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5PjxPVdoGA

Many thanks to everyone who have helped me in my travels, everyone at NOAA, The NAB Youth Summit, my new buddy Sanctuary Sam and of course Ron Hirshi and Fred the Monkey as well as Methea Sapp.

I have just returned in time to help out my buddy Steve with the local watch site for National Whale and Dolphin Watch. Then he is taking me for a holiday with him and his family to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands for a rest. However, from what I have heard I think I am going to be learning new things during my visit as well.

Bye for now, Ed

Whale watching at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

2010-07-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It’s me Ed, joined by Sanctuary Sam, about to begin an ocean adventure from Santa Barbara, along the coast of Southern California in the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel and a marine protected area, know as, the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

Today Sam and I will be joining volunteer naturalist from the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps (above) and the crew of the whale watch boat Condor Express (above) in search of marine life in the Channel and the Sanctuary.

Before the boat even leaves the dock we learned from the naturalist giving the passengers a pre-trip talk, there’s a possibility we might see whales today, which of course made Sam and I very happy! As we listen, he explains that whales are not just the large ones we often see pictures of and read about, like the Humpbacks and Blue Whales. There are also mid-size whales, like beaked whales, and smaller ones, like dolphin and porpoise, all of which are whales which scientist call cetaceans (si-ta’-shans).
As you know my buddy Steve studies our local dolphins and whales back in the UK.

The group of islands we’ll be traveling close to are, the Northern Channel Islands, sometimes referred to as the Galapagos of California. Not only will we be in the waters of the Channel Islands Natural Marine Sanctuary but we may travel through a corner of a Marine Protected Area (MPA). No fishing is allowed in the Marine Protect Areas, so the marine life will have the chance to increase in numbers in a protected healthy environment. Sam and I agreed that there should be more places like this.

We were told one of the reasons the Santa Barbara Channel is compared to the famous Galapagos is because a great variety of marine life lives in these waters. This is a transition zone, or separation area, where cold waters from the north and warmer southern waters mix in this partly enclosed basin, called a channel. It’s also a boundary area, where many marine species from the north and south meet, some overlapping.

WHY THESE WATERS ARE GOOD FOR WHALES
The captain talked about upwelling being common here, where seasonal winds move the warmer surface water away, with few nutrients, after which colder water, rich in nutrients, rises to the surface to take its place. This rising cold water contains many nutrients, including very small marine animals called, plankton. (You may remember I helped with some plankton studies at Monteray Bay). The krill, small shrimp like animals, feed on the plankton which are plentiful here in the late spring, summer and early fall. This is why such an abundance of marine life lives or comes to feed in these waters. Sam and I are really looking forward to going out to sea, because if there’s all this food in these waters, we should have a good chance to see lots of marine life.

RUBBISH
The boat backs away from the dock, moving out into the channel, we’re really getting excited. As it picks-up speed, we notice a little pitching and rolling, but we’re old hands at riding boats and we have our sea legs!
We go only a short distance when a naturalist sees a large cluster of balloons floating in the water. The captain slows the boat and turns to the right and a member of the crew moves quickly to get a boat hook, a long pole with a hook at the end. When the boat is close enough the crew member hooks the balloons, lifting them out of the water. The captain doesn’t say anything to the passengers, but Sam and I know getting trash out of the ocean is very important because fish and sea birds can mistake many types of trash for food and which could cause them serious injury or even death.

No sooner had we picked up speed than I noticed from the wheelhouse, where the captain steers the boat, something is splashing in the water and moving toward us. It’s kind of hard to see, so one of the naturalists picks me up and I now see everyone’s looking at a small pod of Common Dolphins.

Both Sam and I have seen Common Dolphin before, so we’re feeling pretty smart right now, but we’re not sure if they’re the long or short beak variety? They weren’t the only Dolphin’s we saw, a little later that day, we saw a small pod of Pacific While Sided Dolphins.

We also came very close to a raft of Sea Lions lying motionless at the surface, with there flipper in the air.

The captain tells all the passengers, this is called thermo-regulating, when they put their flippers, which have lots of blood vessels in them, into the air to either, warm or cool their bodies. Because the ocean water temperature is a chilly 55 degrees and it’s an overcast today, Sam and I are thinking, they’re trying to warm up?. As you might suspect Sam is pretty happy to see some of his kind, out here in the open ocean and sends a bark their way!

Soon after watching the Sea Lions, one of the crew members sees what he calls a spout, or blow (photo) which Sam and I have seen before, but mostly coming from small whales, like dolphins and porpoise, whose spouts are hard to see.

This blow looked to us like it could be coming from a bigger whale? The blow is a little bit like, when I go outside on a cold morning and I can see my breath in the air. It’s the warm air from inside my lungs meeting colder air outside. Basically, the same thing happens with whales! The whales makes their blow when they breathe out, which is called exhaling, for them, as well as Sam, myself and all mammals. There it is, I get my first close up look at the black back of a Humpback Whale swimming on the surface.

You may remember I saw some humpback whales in the distance when in the Hawaiian Islands.

The captain slows the boat down and skillfully turns it so we’re moving the same direction and speed as the whale. He’s very careful to keep his distance from the whale, which I already knew about, because it’s a regulation in Marine Mammal Protection Act, which we learned about on another trip. Whales can come close, to pay us a visit, but the whale watching boats has to keep its distance, being no closer than 100 yards away. The Humpback is moving closer and the captain says it’s a “friendly”!

We found out that nobody knows for sure if Humpbacks get their name because of the hump on their back, or because just before they dive they bend their bodies making a hump in the middle near their fin on their back, called a dorsal fin? Funny how things happen just as we’re talking about this the Humpback curls its body, raises its tail into the air, called flukes, into the air and silently slip beneath the surface.

The whale was close enough that we could see scars on its back and I asked one of the naturalist why it had so many scars? We were told Humpback’s sometimes fight with other males, so females Humpbacks will notice them. The scars are from old cuts, when barnacles on the flukes of a male, scratch the body of another.

In this specie of whale, know as a baleen whale, the female is usually larger than the male and can be as long as 50’ and weigh as much as 30-40 tons. Sam, a naturalist and I, all watch this Humpback close to us, when, out of the corner of my eye I see another Humpback has jumped almost entirely out of the water turns slightly and comes crashing down with a giant splash.

Wow, that was really exciting

I tell the naturalist I’ve heard of this whale behavior before, it’s called breaching. Sam is looking off in the distances and sees another Humpback doing a special movements. The captain calls movement a pec (pectoral) fin slaps

and another whale is side rolling and we notice one Humpback lifts a pectoral fin in the air and hold it there for a few seconds, like its waving to us, so I decide to wave back.

Passengers are saying, uuh and ayah, and cheering these acrobatic movements and I must say it’s very amazing!

Wow! Sam and I are getting pretty good at noticing blows and while I’m watching a blow in another direction a Humpback surfaces right next to boat and I can tell it’s a female, which I know because, it quite large and she has almost no scars on her body. This time I could see bumps on top of her head. These little bumps are places where individual hairs comes out of her head. One of our naturalist friends explains that Sam and I, just like whales, are mammals, have hair or fur, breath air, are warm blooded, give birth to live young and give milk to their babies.

I never expected to be so close to these giant animals. It made my hair stand on end and it gave me a feeling of just how special these animals are and how much they depend on all of us, to take good care of the oceans, so they can increase their numbers and live a long life.

As we move even further West, I noticed a spouts coming from whales all around the boat, but one I’m looking at seems taller than the rest. The captain and crew are noticeably excited and the Condor Express begins to move toward the spout I’d just been looking at, to the right side of the boat. I’m pretty proud that I was the first to notice this spout, which is now directly in front of us. Someone said it’s at 12 o’clock, which a member of the Condor Express’s crew explains is like looking down at the hands of a wristwatch. When both hands are together at the twelve, it’s 12 o’clock, or what would be the bow or front of the boat, when giving directions. When the big hand, or minute hand, is pointing to 12, the small hand on 3, the whale would be directly off the right side If it’s at ……………… Hey, I’m no rookie any more, I know how this works, as I stand a little taller, feeling proud of myself.

The captain’s voice blares over the loud speaker saying he’s positive he’s seeing a Blue Whale and mentions they’re the largest animal to ever live on the planet, even larger than the biggest dinosaurs. He says it looks like an adult and could be as long as 85’ and weight more than our boat and all the passengers, as much as 100 tons. One of the other captains, there are two aboard, now at the wheel, tells us the Blue Whale, while the largest critter, in the world, eats some of the smallest animals in the ocean, called krill which I know about, because I have been listening carefully and making notes. There are millions of them just in the area around the ship, imagine how many there must be in all the world oceans?

Our new captain is looking at the krill below the boat on his sonar, which is a special electronic device that sends sounds waves to the bottom. In this case the sound waves are bouncing off the krill. He lets Sam and I take a look at his screen, which like a computer screen. At 300’ below the boat, a light green colored band or line appears on his screen. That’s how he knows the depth at which the large whale, while the largest critter, in the world, eats some of the smallest animals in the ocean, called krill which I know about, because I have been listening carefully and making notes. There are millions of them just in the area around the ship, imagine how many there must be in all the world oceans? Our new captain is looking at the krill below the boat on his sonar, which is a special electronic device that sends sounds waves to the bottom. In this case the sound waves are bouncing off the krill. He lets Sam and I take a look at his screen, which like a computer screen. At 300’ below the boat, a light green colored band or line appears on his screen. That’s how he knows the depth at which the large school of krill are swimming at.

He says, this means we probably won’t see any Blue’s feeding on the surface today, which happens when the krill are near the surface. While it’s overcast today, and krill are more likely to be on, or near, the surface in low light conditions, that isn’t the case today.

The relief captain says Blue Whales need thousands of calories everyday during their feeding season, which here in the Santa Barbara Channel, can be as long as from four or five months, from June to October. Because of the upwelling, which we already talked about, there are millions of krill here and its one of the best places to see Blue Whales year after year, anywhere in the world. According to the captain, there are only 10,000 Blue Whales left in the world and there were estimated to be as many as 350,000, before the days of whaling began. Did you know some people hunted whales before they were protected?

Sam and I have heard about endangered species before this trip, but I didn’t know the Blue Whale was one of them and so few of them remain! It definitely makes me sad, but when I return home I’m going to tell all the children I visit, the teachers and other people, how important it is to protect these beautiful animals. The captain says, the good news is, they’re making a slow recovery!

We watched these two giants for almost an hour swimming, diving, swimming on their sides and perhaps even eating krill, although it was hard to see if that was happening today? Lucky for Sam and I, we were able to watch all his from the fly bridge where we had a good view.

Not only did we have a better view of the whales, we were able to overhear the captain, a crew member and a naturalist talking about some problems the Blue Whales are having. I didn’t know about some of the them, so my ears perked up and they mentioned about how big ships, like the container ship we’d seen earlier today, just two years ago had accidentally hit a Blue Whale and it died. From what they were saying, I guess this happened several other times that season and they think most of these Blues died from these ship strikes.

Another problem is, it seems Blue Whales only eat one kind of food, and that’s krill, the tiny shrimp like animals. I guess in some places, like the Antarctic they’re netting them and drying them out and making a protein powder being used as a food supplement.

I couldn’t hear everything but it sounded like they said, if krill are over-fished, it could make it hard for Blue Whales to get enough to eat to be healthy to make a comeback.

The naturalist on the fly bridge says the difficult part about this is, Blue Whales only eat one kind of food the ocean provides which is krill. This is different from the Humpback Whale we saw earlier, who eats krill, sardines, anchovies sardines red crabs, squid in fact, any ocean animals they can “schools up” to form bait balls, so they can eat hundred or thousands in one gulp.

All this talk about problems the Blue Whales face was hard to hear. It made Sam and I think that all of us need to do our part to make sure our oceans and the marine life in it is an important issue that one of us forget!

I must have looked kind of sad or just thinking about what they were talking about, but the naturalist on the fly bridge turned to me and said it was to bad some of these things taking place but if we all do our part , we can make a difference, healing the ocean increasing its abundance so all marine animals are healthy and abundant.

Sam and I feel energized and are ready to talk to our friends, write letter and send emails, especially to those who make decisions about the oceans and all its special animals. One of the naturalist says she likes the saying: Think globally, act locally, because there’s so much we can do at home, right in our own towns.

While we were talking to the crew and naturalist the Condor Express has been heading back to Santa Barbara and both Sam and I feel very lucky to have spent the day on the with the crew and naturalist and to learned about marine life in the Santa Barbara Channel and at Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and especially to see so many large marine mammals.

As the boat pulls up to the dock we say good-bye to the crew, people we met during the day and to the naturalist for taking us along and for all information they shared with us!. We know they love what they do, as much as we do!

All three naturalist gave Sam and I each a hug and we all hope we can see each other again!

For Sam and I, while it’s the end of this trip, we’ll continue to explore other oceans of the world, to enjoy their beauty and learn how all of us, as citizens of the world, can work together to, identify problems in our marine environment, make everyone of aware of changes taking place, and how we can all help to correct them.

All this fresh sea air has made me hungry and a little tired. I think I will have a snack and a little nap

Bye for now, Ed and Sam

Day 5: Final day of the Youth Summit, but still time for a dive

2010-06-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Today is the last day of the Youth Summit. Unfortunately the plan had been for the last dive of the week to be at a underwater sea laboratory called the Aquarius .The Aquarius is run by NOAA and NURF.

Aquarius is in 60 feet of water and is protected, you can not drive a boat or fish within 5 hundred yards of Aquarius. You also have to have special permission to dive there. We had permission but mother nature would not cooperate. The waves were 6 feet, too high for the Youth divers. So we went to a very popular reef called Molasses Reef. Under normal circumstances this is a great dive, with visibility 70 to 80 feet , every kind of marine animal you could think of is there. Again Mother Nature was not as kind as this day. Molasses Reef the visibility was way down to 20, 25 feet. We made the best of it and dove. I went down in my diving bubble and Ken Stewart filmed some video footage. I will add it too my blog later.

After the dive everyone had the afternoon off so they could get ready for the Banquet.

The Youth Summit always ends with a closing banquet so the youths can be presented with different awards.

Jessica Silk was awarded Female Diver of the Summit. Seen here with Ken Stewart, Dan Orr CEO of Divers Alert Network and Cathy Sakas of NOAA.

Martin Lampkin awarded Male Diver of the Summit with Ken Stewart, Dan Orr CEO and Cathy Sakas.

Evan Mann receives his Master Diver certification with Ken Stewart, Dan Orr CEO and Cathy Sakas.

Guess what, I got a certificate too, for being an outstanding marine Environmentalist.

Here I am receiving my certificate from Lisa

I did not expect that, I was speechless which is very unusual for me. We had quite an honor Dan Orr CEO of Divers Alert Network{DAN} was our guest speaker.

A group from Africa

During the week Ken was told there were a group of folk from South Africa , who where invited to the banquet, including a Representative of the South African Government {Ratanang Maremane}

Ratanang Maremane

There was a great excited buzz in the air. But eventually it was time for everyone to go off to bed ready for an early start back home. I had an amazing time at the youth summit and made lots of friends and they all looked after me. I must give a special thanks to Lisa who took great care over the last couple of days - you may have noticed Lisa in many of the pics of me.

The Youth Summit Banquet Group 2010

It will be sad to leave but I also must be on my way. Next stop for me and Sam is the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

Bye for now, Ed

Day 4: Coral reef diving, exploring an Indian village, alligator wrestling and airboat ride

2010-06-24T02:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Another fun packed day of very different experiences; diving, a visit to a Miccosukee Indian village, alligator wrestling (luckily this was an activity we watched and did not have to participate in) and an airboat ride. Mario wrote a great blog that sums up the day perfectly. So just sit back and enjoy.

Mario's Blog
Today I started off heading toward Bache bay to scuba dive in the coral. It was about an hour ride out to our dive spot.

Due to the windy weather and turbulent winds we had to choose another spot. Bache had an average depth of 10-13 feet. The visibility was low but the dive was still enjoyable.

I dived about 29 minutes on my first dive, but the adventure didn’t stop there! We navigated our way to another dive spot called the shrimp boat. A nurse shark lived here but neither my friends or I was able to spot it. The surge continued its turbidity in this dive as well. The shrimp boat wreck could be found just off the anchor line of the boat. This dive was shortened because of the lack of remaining air in our tanks(we dived two areas with one tank). The coral reefs found in both of these areas were very colorful and abundant. To abstain from causing harm to the reefs I had to stay a good distance above the reefs.

The following photographs of undersea life were taken by the NAB Youth, I think they did a great job, Ed

Beautiful coral and sea fans

Brain coral

More coral

Sea fans

French angelfish

Two French angelfish

More corals

A small grouper lurking

Lobsters on the shrimp boat site

After diving and getting some lunch, we headed over to the Miccosukee village to learn about the heritage and history of the Miccosukee Indians.

Our tour of their village started off with our guide starting a fire the traditional Miccosukee way! We all sat around in a Chickee as our guide set up a pyramid of cut wood and our guide started a breeze to incite the embers.

It wasn’t long before we were being warmed, not only the growing fire but the passionate past and the current struggle of the Miccosukee Indians to remember to not only remember their ways but to pass it along for the centuries to come. Miccosukee women spent most of the village teaching the daughters and cooking the animals hunted by their husbands and the growing sons.

Miccosukee women with different things to sell

The Miccosukee people use sewing machines to sew fabric

Miccosukee hand made dolls

Me with Sam and Lisa by a beautiful totem pole

I was shown the unique way in which a canoe was crafted, if done right, it would last over 25 years.

Miccosukee canoe

A conch shell was wedged and driven into a tree until the tree split in half. Afterwards the center of the tree was burned to make it easier to carve.

It would usually take an average of six months to finish, but if done right, it was worth the time and effort. This same skill was set upon carving toys for the little boys and girls of the village; I was shown a toy boat and a training boy for young boys.

The girls of the village didn’t get off easy though! We were shown many patterns unique to the tribe. These were done by hand in the older times of the village. The triangles represented the water and there were bird designs as well. We were also shown the crops native to the land and the crops that were brought by the Spanish.

Me and Lisa

We finally made our way the alligator show. Here the alligator wrestler performed feats that defied logic and our wildest imaginations.

We were shown the ancient way in which the Miccosukee Indians captured the alligators and took them back to the village. The wrestler straddled the 250 lb. alligator and grabbed the mouth and placed it between his chin and chest, simulating a way to free the hands and tie up the alligator.

The wrestler also opened the jaws containing 80 teeth and placed his hand in the alligator’s mouth. He withdrew his hand with a split second to spare as the jaws snapped shut with a pressure so great, it’s thump was heard throughout the stadium. He continued to do this trick three more times! Finally the wrestler performed a trick called the face-off., meaning that if there was one false move the alligator would snap his face off,.

We all trembled on the edge of our seats in anticipation as the alligator wrestler placed his face and hand into the gaping jaws of the beast. The stadium erupted as the audience clapped and took pictures of the amazing feat.

Finally, my trip ended with an airboat ride.

Putting cotton wool balls in our ears

The boat was able to reach speeds of 35 mph! As we ripped through the water, glimpses of the beautiful view flashed through my eyes.

Thanks to the cotton balls in my ears, I was able suppress the sound of the boat.

As I headed home I reminisced on the fascinating memories I had made an the change that occurred within in me as I added to my knowledge, but most of all my experiences and the wisdom it wold provide me in the future.

Wow, another amazing day and all the more enjoyable being with my new friends. I enjoyed the diving and seeing all the beautiful coral and fish. The visit to the Miccosukee was also very special. As you know I have also visited other Indian villages on my tour, in particular the Port Gamble S’klallam Tribal Reservation (Washington State) with friends Ron Hirshi and Fred the Monkey and also Taholah in the Quinault Indian Nation during my trip to the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The crocodile wrestling was fascinating but a bit scary. The airboat ride was amazing skimming over the water, I'm glad they gave us ear plugs because the airboats are really noisy.

Bye for now, a very tired Ed.

Day 3, Martime history, Gold and African-American history

2010-06-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hi

Another early start and a busy day ahead. Today we are off to visit a marine heritage museum. As you know I am fascinated by maritime history. My home town back in Shoreham in the UK, has a lot of connections to maritime history. It has been a very important port town for hundreds of years. It has also been important as a ship building town, for hundreds of tears until recent history. Ships built here were for many uses such as trade, Man O War ships which fought in many famous sea battles and vessels that protected the south coast from pirates. These are some of the last vessels made in the town, back in the late 18.00's

So as you can imagine, I was really pleased to find out where today’s destination would be.

We departed Florida City for the 3 hour ride down to Key West , which I visited last time very quickly on my last day. (The Southern most point of the US.90 miles south of Key West is the island of Cuba). However this time I would get to visit the Mel Fisher Museum.

Mel Fisher was a treasure hunter who spent most of his adult life looking for the Spanish galleon Atocha. This is the most famous of a fleet of Spanish ships that sank in 1622 off the Florida Keys while carrying copper, silver, gold, tobacco, gems, jewels, jewelry and indigo from Spanish ports at Cartagena, Colombia.

Here I am with Lisa next to a replica of the Atocha.

Tim Runyon, Jerald Jones, Lisa and me with a cannon from the Atocha

Mel Fisher finally locates the ship in the nineteen eighties. He then establishes a museum to house some of the artifacts from the wreck.

A gold spoon from the Atocha. To date they have recovered almost four hundred million dollars in silver, gold, and other precious metals.

Mel Fisher divided the bounty up between the state of Florida and his investors. The rest is in the Museum.

He also started the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, a not-for-profit organisation set up with the aim of accumulating and disseminating information; providing educational services to the public on maritime and colonial activity in the New World and preserving maritime culture resources.

I toured the museum with the NABS/YES and we also got to see what the public doesn't see. A behind the scenes tour of the Heritage Society with archaeologist Corey Malcom.

Corey showed me a page out of his daily log. He told us about how the artifacts are treated when they are recovered form the ocean floor.

This is the electrostatic process used to remove debris from artifacts. Metals like iron and copper take many years to remove the debris from them, precious metals like gold and silver only take a few days.

We left Mel Fisher and walked over to NOAA welcome center called Eco-Discovery center. I had been here before, but I did not tell anyone and enjoyed my second visit here too.

Me and Lisa (you may have noticed that Lisa has been giving me a lot of extra special care).

Jessica studying some fish

We toured the center then we went over to an African Cemetery located on Higgs Beach in KW. The cemetery has a story all by itself. We were very fortunate to have Ms Norma Jean Sawyer give us the history of the cemetery.

We left the cemetery and went shopping and we ended our evening at Mallory Square.

Some of my friends wrote up some of my blog entry for me, I hope you enjoy what they have written.

Chanel McFollins- Ed the Bear with Team Le-mon

Today was my third day with the NABS/YES program. Luckily, it was dry day because my fur takes long to dry! It was a beautiful day, the weather was great: strong winds, no rain, and mild temperatures. After eating breakfast, we started off on the journey to Key Largo, passing several other keys long the way, such as Key Conch, Key Torch, and Key Pigeon.

Our destination, the Mel Fisher Museum, was reached finally and we received a special behind the scenes tour from archaeologist Corey Malcolm.

He showed us the art of salvaging artifacts from the ocean on land, and how to carefully preserve them, and appreciate their value.

This process can take several years, for example, two cannons he believes may have been Christopher Columbus’ has taken nine years to completely clean. After presenting him with a certificate of appreciation, we continued on to the Eco Discovery Center where we ate delicious sandwiches and watched an interesting film showing how the ocean is not only valuable for its beauty and food, but also helps a young woman to mature with the environment.

We then went to the Memorial Ceremony on Higgs beach to learn and appreciate the African who were abducted and tried to be forced into slavery, but were saved ad brought to Florida for protection. It taught us to be grateful for their trials and tribulations, and make your life the best it can be. Next came shopping!! We were able to walk around and experience life on Key West before meeting at Hard Rock Café for dinner, which was yummy.

After eating, we needed to work off that food somehow… I sure did, so we walked around Mallory Square, browsing and listening to the talented musicians, while also viewing the Disney Wonder. What a great day! I can’t wait to hit the cave for some sleep.

Ashley Hilbert Yellow Group Le-moon

Hello everyone it’s Ed the bear here and today we took a long road trip on the bus down to the southern most point of Florida. We saw a lot of things while in the keys!

We first went to the Mel Fisher Museum we got a behind the seen tour and we also toured the actual museum.

More gold from the Atocha, this time a gold cup.

Gold bars

Here I am lifting a gold bar

Once we left there we had our tasty subs for lunch. We then headed over to a memorial sight for African Americans that were almost slaves but were intercepted before that occurred.

We learned a lot about Africa American history while there. Once we were done with that we went shopping in the keys everyone got some cool souvenirs to take home with them. We then eat at he Hard Rock Café. We also got cookies for desert while there. It general it was a very eventful and fun filled day. I really enjoyed my self!

Jeremiah
Well to start it off, my name is Jeremiah, I’m with the lemon group and I’m blogging about what we did today (June 23,2010). Today I learned a little more about African-American history. One thing that stuck out to me was how the African-Americans were treated differently in Florida than in other parts of America during the 1900’s.

I learned that our ancestors were treated with care and giving shelter and hospitalized in Florida while in other states, we were being shipped to the United States to be slaves and treated harshly.

I also learned about shipwrecks. At first I was skeptical about shipwrecks and their importance in our history. Shipwrecks are like missing pieces of a puzzle. When we find them, we can connect them to a story that would make us have a better understanding of our history. I didn’t think that shipwrecks were interesting until today at the museum. What really got me interesting in shipwrecks were pirates and what they left for us to discover underwater. What really astonished me were the weapons and treasures left behind by pirates. A lot of pirate ships had large canons that varied sizes from eight feet to about eleven feet. Well I’m keeping this short and brief. Those were the main focuses of my interest today.

Wow what an amazing day. We did not get back to Florida City till well after midnight , so we were all very tired. Ed

Day 2: At the Bahia Honda National Park.

2010-06-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Well its day 2 with my friends here at the NAB Youth Summit. Today was a day on the beach at the Bahia Honda National Park.

But as I am sure you can guess from my earlier posts, a day on the beach with the NAB Youth Summit is no ordinary day on the beach. As well as enjoying the sun sea and sand, the NAB Youth helped with a community service project of cleaning up the beach. So me and Sam helped out too.

You never know what might be washed up on the beach, including objects that can be harmful or dangerous.

So before we started we were all issues with protective gloves.

Then we were then all given instruction as to what we would be doing.

Cleaning the beach

My new friend Octavia Shaw has written a blog entry for me about the day.

Today was no ordinary day at the beach for me, Ed the Bear. With all the exciting things going on I have enjoyed some relaxing time in between, sitting under the shade or wetting my fur in the cool waters of the Bahia Honda Beach. Today, however, I decided to give back to this wonderful local community by helping pick up trash on the beach.

Now this probably doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to you, but that probably because you don’t know the wonderful things you can find and see on the beach. I don’t really mind it if I have to pick up a little Styrofoam or plastic here and there when I can also pick up seashells, sponges, sea grapes, and who knows what along the way. And luckily for me Bahia Honda is pretty clean; especially when compared to some of the other places I’ve previously volunteered to clean up. So there wasn’t much work to be done other than small pieces of plastic here and there and a long dirty rope.

Sam picking up a plastic bottle

Bahia Honda beach is very special because it is the birthplace of a very special sea creature known as the sea turtle. Every mating season sea turtles come to the surface of Bahia Honda Beach and make a nest in the sand for their eggs. I was very lucky to come upon one of these nests. Of course the nests are fenced off just a little so the public doesn’t get too close and accidentally step on a poor fetal sea turtle.

Turtle egg, which must have been dug up or washed out of the sand where it was laid

All this talk about cleaning reminds me of a very serious problem my friend Dr. Runyan was talking about earlier today. I’m talking about the British Petroleum Oil spill in the Gulf, if you hadn’t already guessed. This is a very serious problem; if that oil gets caught in the loop current it could be taken all the way to key west and even further, thus destroying many of the underwater ecosystems we have come to know and love. My friend, Cathy Sakas, was telling me this morning about how she found a balloon that had drifted to Georgia from Ohio! If you think that’s far imagine what could happen if that oil got into the Atlantic ocean! It could flow all the way down to England or Sweden! So it is important that they find a way to fix this problem before it spreads too far.

-Octavia Shaw

Here is some of the trash we collected from the beach

Mary Silk also wrote this blog entry about the day.

So today was an overall wonderful day. We were able to help the environment while enjoying the wonderful Florida Keys. We went to Bahia Honda National Park that was voted the best beach twice.

The park ranger came and talked to us and told us that they keep the beach as natural as possible, which answered the question why there was a bunch of seaweed washed up on the beach. It reeked of dead fish in some places but could not take away the beauty of the beach. After we all did a thorough sweep of the beach for any trash we had lunch. Afterwards Dr. Tim Runyon talked a little on the terrible oil spill in the Gulf.

Mrs. Cathy Sakas then took over and helped us identify some of the things we saw washed up on the beach such as: Sargasso seaweed, single celled algae, multi-celled algae, red algae, and brown algae.

Sam with some of the shells we found

Then we got free time to explore. Some of us went snorkeling and saw a lot of the things Mrs. Sakas taught us as well as other things like a huge sand dollar that wasn’t completely flat and bleached. It was an amazing snorkel and its really cool when you know what your looking at.

-Mary Silk

We all had a great day We felt really good about helping to keep the beach clean and we learned lots of new stuff too.

Bye for now, Ed

Day 1 A morning of experiments at Amy Slate Resort

2010-06-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I have already made lots of friends at the NABS Youth Summit and I am looking forward to learning lots of great stuff with them over the next few days. As I will be working with the youths and we will be learning things together, I have decided that it would be great to ask the youths to write some of my blog entries for me.

We made an early start, departing the hotel where we were staying and drove 20 miles to Amy Slate Resort. We were greeted by the staff of the resort and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary staff.

During the morning we would be undertaking activities at five different stations. At one station we would learn about the salinity by collecting water samples, oxygen dissolved in seawater, a weather station, collecting water samples from deeper water (without getting wet) and measuring how cloudy the weather is.

SALINITY STATION

Students collect water from the Gulf of Mexico side of Key Largo to determine the salinity of the water. They place water drops on the plate of their refractometers and peer through the eyepiece to read the scale inside to determine the percentage of salt contained in the water. Ocean water is typically 35 parts of salt to 1000 parts of freshwater usually recorded as 35 ppt. Freshwater of course registers at zero. The higher the salinity, the more buoyant swimmers and divers will be.

DISSOLVED OXYGEN STATION

This is the dissolved oxygen station

Disolved Oxygen Station, me. Chanel, Octavia, L Whitney

Hi my name is Ed Bear and I’ve got a riddle for you.

If five fish are swimming and two of them drown. How many fish are left? If you’ve heard this riddle before and answered “Five, because a fish can’t drown.” I hate to say it but you’re wrong. Fish can drown. You’re probably wondering how because fish breathe water, don’t they? Well no they don’t. They breathe oxygen, dissolved oxygen to be exact and if there’s no dissolved oxygen that poor fish will drown.

In Key Largo I was given the chance to learn how they measure dissolved oxygen. In order to measure dissolved oxygen you take a small glass vial filled with a special chemical that turns blue when it touches water with oxygen in it. You place the vial in a plastic tube that looks sort of like s syringe. Place the tube in the water and push down on the vial to break the seal.

This is kind of hard for me to do because bears don’t have opposable thumbs but you should have no problem. The water will then come rushing into the vial and start changing color.

The bluer the solution, the more oxygen present in the water. As you may imagine the water at Key Largo was a deep blue with dissolved oxygen measuring at about 4 parts per million (ppm). Giving the fish enough oxygen to breathe comfortably and not drown.

This entry was written by Octavia Shaw

WEATHER STATION

Weather Station – At the weather station students read air and water temperatures, wind speed or velocity, the barometric pressure and the level of humidity or the amount of moisture the air is holding. Weather data is important to record when doing any kind of field work since weather influences and affects everything we do and all organisms on our Ocean Planet.

Ed Bear here, in Florida they are constantly looking out for changes in the weather to ensure they are prepared for future weather disasters. We were able to calculate the percentage of clouds in the sky by imagining all the clouds pushed together in the sky and determining how much of the sky they will occupy. We felt that the percentage of the clouds were about 45%. We also had a chance to measure the wind with an anemometer. This device is a tall cylindrical tube that has two holes on one side (one close to the top and one close to the bottom). This gave us fairly precise measurement of how much wind is blowing. Last but not least we measured the direction of the wind using a compass. Turns out we found the wind to be blowing east. You can learn so much with the weather.

This entry was written by L’Whitney Gowans

SECCI DISK STATION
Every time you go to the Keys, you ALWAYS learn something new. Especially when you learn some new crazy name about a tool used for visibility or depth. That tool is the secci disk.

It is a black and white plastic disk that is connected to a measuring tape (just as simple as it sounds). To start the calculations, we lowered it down into the clear water and watched as it was harder to see as it decended into the unknown. I, Ed bear, however could see that the “unknown” was actually some bare substrate on some rocks and covered in algae. Measuring the visibility from the disk was actually harder then looking into that “unknown”. (You may remember I watched some students using this last time I was here)

How you measured it was, you had to find out how far the disk was from the water, subtract that from the actual depth (using the secci disk of course), and finally you have successfully accomplished your task. I bet I would have learned more at the station if I wasn’t whisked away to the next but what I did get out of it was this; don’t underestimate the power of a plane plastic disk. It could just be the scientific fact that could solve a disaster.

This entry was written by Jessica Silk (SCUBAnaut)

NISKIN TUBES STATION

Niskin Tubes. Ashley, Evan,Kwadjo, Terrance, Massai, Teaon

Hello everyone this is Ed bear, and I’m enjoying the sun shine state in the Florida Keys with NABS/YES. Today we learned about a variety of subjects having to do with Water quality testing methods NOAA uses in there Marine Sanctuary. One of those methods was the Niskin bottle; I used it to retrieve water from depth to be tested. The device is spring loaded and so when it reaches the right depth, you use a small weight to set off the release of the closing system, by sending it down the retrieval line.

The container then closes and traps about a litre of water inside and can then be hauled back to the surface. The Niskin bottle can be used on a boat or from shore making it versatile and it appears to be made from sturdy replaceable materials making it a perfect tool for a range of environments. In a real life testing situation you would then take that water and test it at the other stations. I worked hard to get the system to function
correctly, and eventually I was able to increase my skill and take a sample from the dock water where we practiced. I learned many skills to day the Niskin bottle was one of the trickiest

This entry was written by Wadjo Tillman

Today at the youth summit we had a blast! The day was organized by different learning stations. We learned about dissolved oxygen, water salinity, and secchi disk. In the lab about dissolved oxygen we leaned the importance of having it in the water, and the way that the levels are measured. The water salinity station, which was taught by Mrs. Cathy Sakas, was also very interesting. We learned the scale that is use to measure the amount of salt in the water, and how to read the information that we collected using the Refractometer. One of the last stations that we went to was the secchi disk, which is used to measure the clarity of the water. It’s very simple; all you do is lower the disk into the water until you can’t see it anymore. Then you record the depth to where you could no longer see the disk. Then look at the scale that is provided to see find the clarity of the water. Over all we had a great day and learned a lot. I can’t wait to see what we get to do tomorrow.

This entry was written by Bresha
Wow we found out so any things about the ocean and much of the equipmemt was quite tricky for a bear with such little paws, so it was great to have help from my new friends. And that was just the morning! Ed

An afternoon of snorkelling

2010-06-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all

After the NABS/YES youth went through their 5 stations, we all went snorkeling. They were all too excited to write a blog on this, as this was the youths first chance for snorkeling, but I think the pictures speak for themselves.

We went out on the boat, Amoray Diver.

Sanctuary Sam helped to drive the boat. (He did quite well, at least we didn't hit anything).

I got the chance to go out with them with my underwater diving bubble. Matthew Taylor from NOAA took care of me much of the time.

Me and Matthew

Here I am with Matthew and the YES Youths, they look like they are having great fun!

As you can see, the water was a lot more cloudy than when I was here last, I felt like a living secchi disk

I was glad Matthew was keeping an eye on me as I was a bit worried I might get lost and no one would be able to find me.

We didn't use any diving weights this time so could easily pop back up to the surface, Matthew as well if he was holding on - weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

This is me on the coral reef with Ashley

Here I am with the the YES Youths.

Here I am back on the surface with Ashley and Kwadjo.

Eventually it was time to go, the snorkeling trip finished our day. It was such fun and great to have the company of my new friends.

I'm feeling a bit peckish after all this excitement. Time for a honey and banana sandwich and off to bed. I here it will be another busy day tomorrow. Ed

Ed arrives at NABS YES and makes some new friends.

2010-06-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Well here I am at the NABS Youth Summit. Something I have learned over the last few months is that everything does not always go to plan and this has been no exception.

Cathy Sakas from NOAA had car trouble, so we arrived late for the registration. Meanwhile, Ken was having problems of his own. Ken had planned to pick some people up from Miami Airport but their plane was late – so Ken and these inbound travelers were unavoidably late for the registration. This meant I did not get to meet everyone that night.

However I did get to meet quite a few people. They were really jolly, friendly and really welcoming.

Here are some of the fun people I met on the first night.

Here I am meeting L Whitney Gowans...

...and this is Matthew Edwards

This is Octavia Shaw...

...and this is Terrance Adams

Sam and I met Lis, Spencer and Alexis

Here I am with Jessica Silk, she leant me her sun glasses - do you think they make me look cool!

This me with Ken Stewart, I was really looking forward to meeting him and shaking him by the paw.

This is me and Sam with two of the YES chaperones. I guess they are here to make sure we don't get into any trouble or up to any mischief.

It was great to met everyone and they are so friendly and welcoming. Very tiring though for such a little bear so I had to make my excuses and go off to bed. I know there is lots planned for tomorrow. I hope I won't be too excited to sleep...............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On my way to NABS YES

2010-06-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Next stop will be the NABS YES at Florida. NABS stands for National Association of Black Scuba Divers and YES is the Youth Education Summit.

I have enjoyed the different sites I have visited here in the US more than words can say (but if you have read my earlier blogs you should at least have some idea). Even so, I have been particularly excited about the chance to visit and take part in the Youth Summit since I first heard about the project earlier in the year.

I am looking forward to meeting Ken Stewart who has been making a short video clip about my adventures. Ken is the Programme Director (and co-founder) of the Tennessee Aquatic Project (TAP).

TAP is a program that helps at risk and inner city youth, aged 8 to 18 year, to connect to diving and the ocean. Even more importantly, TAP provides a complete approach to personal development and support system which I am told will help them change their lives for the better. The ocean is a great way to make this happen as it is a place that is both exciting but also still holds many mysteries and of course we are all connected by the ocean too!

To find out more about the TAP project, follow the link below

http://tennesseeaquaticproject.org/

Ken has been using my adventures to help teach his TAP students about the ocean. Ken and the students have been following my adventures when they meet each Saturday. My visit to the Youth Summit will mean that they will become part of my adventures as well.

I am really proud to have the chance to be involved in this very special project and can’t wait to meet everyone – including the kids who appear in the Ed the Bear video clip Ken has been working on.

Bye for now, Ed