You may call me... "The Dolphin Poop Cleaner"

Last night I got the AMAZING opportunity to go to the Volunteer Orientation at the Vancouver Aquarium!! 

So why is it in my dive blog, you may ask?  Well, because I am a volunteer diver for the Vancouver Aquarium.... or will be once I:

1. pass my interview
2. complete the seven 3 hour modules about the aquarium
3. complete the 3 hours module on Marine Biology 
4. pass my dive theory exam
5. pass Diving emergency and accident management
6. pass the DAN Oxygen First Aid for SCUBA Diving Injuries 
7. complete the swimming evaluation (wee.. more fitness)
8. pass the Powered Equipment Safety exam
9. complete the check-out dive and skills circuit and
10. complete my surface supply diving equipment training

Then... then I will be a Volunteer Diver for the Aquarium!...lol.. and get to swim with all the animals and pat them and play with them and ride them.... WRONG!!  As Melanie Knight, (Acting Manager for Volunteer Services) had us (me and 90 other volunteers) repeat... I WILL NOT TOUCH THE ANIMALS...lol.  No this is not the Aquarium being mean, and no they are not selfishly all sitting in their offices hogging all of the animal hugs for themselves...lol.  The aquarium for obvious reasons can't guarantee anyone will ever have the chance to touch any of the animals, in fact even the divers (me) are in tanks, like the dolphin tank, while the animals are safely somewhere else.  For obvious reasons the aquarium does not want to mislead anyone into volunteering with the misconception that they will spend their hundred plus hours hugging and kissing cuddly animals only to have them get to their first shift and find out, no... they get to talk about the animals, they get to point to the animals, they get to answer questions about the animals, but they do not get to touch the animals.  A disillusioned or disappointed volunteer is an unhappy volunteer, and an unhappy volunteer leads to unhappy guests and unhappy guests don't come back, and without guests there is no need for volunteers and no resources (money) coming in, and without the money, there is no means to support the animals! And the mission of the Aquarium is to be a "self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, education, research and direct action."  In other words, their around to keep the animals around, show us what the animals look like (for anyone who doesn't actively swim with Jellies or Belugas and everything in between..lol), tell us what the animals are doing, and why they do it, all while themselves continuing to find out more on what makes these wonderful animals do what they do, in a deliberate and effective manner.  The other reason you can't touch... they don't want you to get hurt by the animals...lol

So... where does this leave me... Mr Active and Involved diver... new explorer and photographer of the undersea world?  It leaves me right wherever the Aquarium needs me, and for now that sounds like in the empty dolphin tank cleaning poop!  Doesn't sound exciting to you? Ok, then look at it through my eyes... I have been to the Vancouver Aquarium maybe half a dozen times in my life, for those of you doing the math at home that's roughly once ever six years... the Aquarium changes programs and adds exhibits on a continuous basis so if your not there like once a month you're missing stuff... so to think of the exhibits, animals and adventures I have missed over the 420 months I have been around is mind boggling - as a Volunteer, I can go whenever I want, if I don't understand something, they have staff that will help me, almost every diver I know pulls their information on local marine life from a book, if I can catch a picture or provide a decent description, I get the information live, from an expert!... Need more reasons... all three of my boys have been on field trips to the Aquarium and (surprise surprise) each of those field trips is led by a volunteer, someone who has given of their time to enrich my children's lives!  Nearly 30 years I walked the earth and knew that littering was bad and it hurts things like animals and mother nature, etc.  It wasn't until a trip to the Aquarium that someone actually "educated" me and the children I was working with on the dangers of plastic pop can rings and how birds (and other animals) get their necks caught in them and die.  Years later on another trip to the Aquarium I learned, (from a volunteer) that plastic grocery bags, you know the ones you now have to pay $0.05 for, the ones people will let blow down the street if the bag falls out of their car, those bags, when they hit the ocean very closely resemble a Jelly Fish, now as a diver I avoid the Jellies, but the beautiful Sea Turtles that we all dream about riding and loved watching in finding Nemo, they eat those "Jellies" and surprise, plastic bags are no better for them then they are for our babies!  These lessons are taught to our children and grandchildren and their friends on a daily basis by people who freely give of their time!  Don't you agree it's time to give back!  Now you understand a small percentage of why it's important for me to be involved in something this big.

Well, I'll be off for my Interview in a little bit, fingers crossed that they like me enough to give me a chance and hopefully I'll be able to provide updates as I go through my training and maybe, all going well... soon you'll be able to call me "The Dolphin Poop Cleaner!"