Art (NAIBdiver1) did a pretty good job addressing the issues raised in this thread - but I'd like to share my experiences there and try to answer at least some of Ken's points directly.
Yesterday I had a typical day as an NAIB volunteer diver - I arrived at the aquarium at about 8:30 am, after saying hi a couple of folks, I went up to the food preparation area where for about 40 minutes I helped prepare the food that we would be feeding the animals that live in the two exhibits that we normally dive. Then I went back to the dive locker for a briefing by the dive safety officer and the aquarist in charge of our exhibits. This is a chance for them to bring us up to date on what has been happening since we were last there as well as give us any special instructions etc. Then it was time to set up my gear and go diving. We were in the Wings in the Water exhibit by 10:30 - right on schedule. My dive computer shows that I spent 42 minutes on that dive. I had general feeding duties so I fed the large female Southern Stingrays, the male southerns and the cownose rays at one of the windows. It is fun interacting with the guests at the windows. Then I fed the Tarpon (the largest female has been at NAIB since it opened over 25 years ago - she is one of my favorite animals in the building).
After that we headed upstairs to dive in the Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit. We were in the water by 11:29 and my dive time for that exhibit was 48 minutes. I was assigned to target feed - which means I get to hang out with my groupers. In the ACR we have two Nassau groupers, a Red Grouper, three redhinds, four graysbys and a rock hind - being a "grouper groupie", feeding them is my favorite job. The larger ones clearly can distinguish individuals (even in matching wetsuits and gear) and I have spent years building a relationship with them. I find it very rewarding. After that dive we had our lunch break. After just over an hour of socializing (in this case, with new friends since I was acting as a substitute with a team I didn't know very well), we were back for our 2 PM briefing. The afternoon briefing gives us a chance to share our experiences of the morning with the aquarist (for ex. "the little xxx fish didn't eat and I thought he looked a little off...) as well as giving her and the DSO another chance to let us know about things.
By 2:39, I was back in the wings in the water exhibit (dive time 42 minutes) and my job was to feed the bullnose eagle rays - we have two small, fairly shy males and they need special attention since they are too shy to feed in the open parts of the exhibit. After I fed them all they wanted to eat, I fed the Pelagic ray (a really beautiful purple mid-water dweller) - then I gave the tarpons what I had left. I got to spend a minute rubbing the shell of Calypso, our three-legged green sea turtle while waiting for the ladder to get out. At 3:33, I went in the ACR and my first job was to feed the porcupine fish and balloon fish. It is very cool to watch the porcupine fish eat a black mussel. They suck the entire shell in and out a couple of times and then there is puff of black dust as they pop the shell. The balloonfish is fairly small and shy and yesterday was the first time it ever ate for me. It has almost irridescent blue eyes and generally can't get away from me fast enough, but yesterday, it must have been hungry because it came right up to me and stayed long enough to eat. After that, I did a little general feeding (I fed the 6 new small jacks - wow, are they fast) and hung out with my groupers.
When we finished there, we went down to the dive locker and cleaned our gear up. I was out of the building by 5 PM. That's a fairly typical dive day, although I might typically get a little more time in the water with my regular team - they tend be a little more tolerant and let me stay in longer.
This morning I went in early to do a special scrub in one of the Australia exhibit tanks. I had to volunteer extra for this one - yes, you occasionally scrub on your normal dive days, but most of the major scrubbing is done outside of regular dive days - so I got up early this morning to do what some would consider "grunt work" - there were three of us who came in for this. I got to scrub the Archerfish exhibit - 85 minutes of hanging out with Funzo, the coolest pig-nose turtle - he is very interested in everything you are doing and just hangs with you (lays on your head, plays with your tank - "sniffs" your hands and scrub brush) - he really does look like he has a pig's nose.
So over the last two days, I have been in the water at the NAIB for a total of 257 minutes or 4 1/4 hrs - I don't consider anything I have done over the last two days to be "grunt work", but I guess opinions vary
When was the last time you hung out with a pig-nose turtle or hand fed a 27+ year old tarpon?
Clearly, volunteering at the National Aquarium in Baltimore isn't for everyone, but if you'd like the chance to get to know some really cool animals (and some nice people, too) and enjoy free local warm water diving, perhaps it is for you. I have made lots of good friends volunteering at NAIB. My regular dive gets aloing so well that we are all going on a dive trip to Roatan together this coming April.
As far as need to be unemployed to volunteer, my regular team is made up of a professional photographer, two government employees, a retiree, an IT exec, a house wife, a school teacher and me (self-employed dog trainer, dive bum, former dive shop employee). All have at least a college degree and a couple have advanced degrees (not that this is in any way a requirement). I think that what is most common on weekday teams is that people are senior enough in their jobs to be off a day during the week every other week, work at jobs that can be flexible in scheduling, are retired or are self-employed. There are occasional weekend slots available so even people with 9-5 m-f work schedules can volunteer, they just have to wait for a spot to open if there isn't already one available.
As far as the process being difficult, time consuming and inconvenient, it is what it is. You have to show up at the aquarium and take a written test. I generally help proctor this test and I don't think that there is any reason that an advanced open water diver with a first aid class since 2005 that is moderately interested in sea life should do not well enough to move on to the in-water testing. If you move on to the in-water testing, you need to come back and go through that. I can't see how it could take more than a couple of hours (depending on your test taking speed) to go through the entire process.
As far as NAIB politics, I am going to leave that alone, except to say that I know staff and instructors from 6 or 7 different dive shops that volunteer happily in the dive program. Art really did encourage me here on Scuba Board a couple of years ago when I was considering volunteering and then while going through the process and it is one of the reasons that I always try mention it here
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If you have any questions, please feel free to ask - apparently, I don't hang out here quite as much as I used to, so feel free to e-mail me at
jackiecooper@comcast.net if you'd like.
Jackie
