A CONVERSATION

About the

LIFE in OCEAN
by Gail Perryman illustrated by Linda Aryiss

Photo Credits: Cover, M. Mesglesi/Southern Stock/PictureQuest; title, Ken Usami/PhotoDisc; p. 3, M. Mesglesi/Southern Stock/PictureQuest; p. 7(inset), Phototake/PictureQuest; p. 7, Kip F. Evans/Mountains and Sea Images; p. 8, Larry Lipsky/Bruce Coleman, Inc.; p. 10, Stuart Westmorland/Index Stock Imagery/PictureQuest; p. 13, Kip F. Evans/Mountains and Sea Images; p. 15, Associated Press; p. 16, Kevin McDonnell/Photo 20-20/PictureQuest

Copyright by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to School Permissions and Copyrights, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Fax: 407-345-2418. HARCOURT and the Harcourt Logo are trademarks of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-15-323457-1 Ordering Options ISBN 0-15-325521-8 (Grade 6 On-Level Collection) ISBN 0-15-327528-6 (package of 5) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 947 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01

A CONVERSATION

About the

LIFE in OCEAN

by Gail Perryman illustrated by Linda Aryiss

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Take a deep breath, and dive into this interview with veteran underwater photographer Keith Turner and his thirteen-year-old son, James. James was born on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and describes learning to dive at an early age. In this interview Keith and James share some of their adventures filming nature documentaries in Hawaii. By the end of the interview, youll want to take the plunge yourself and start exploring life in the ocean! INTERVIEWER: James, what is your first memory of exploring the ocean? JAMES: Swimming in Hanauma Bay when I was about five years old. Hanauma Bay on Oahu is this beautiful crescentshaped bay. The water there is calm. You can reach the coral reef right off the beach, and its absolutely loaded with every kind of fish youd ever want to see in your life. You can buy little fish-food pellets and swim around, snorkel, or scuba dive and let these fish feed right from your hand. I remember the fish nibbling at my fingers. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe some of the fish? JAMES: Well, theres a type of trigger-fish with a snout like a pig called humuhumu-nukunuku-a-puaa. Those are really cool. The biggest they get is about ten inches. Some of the most colorful fish are the yellow tangs. Yellow tangs are relatively small fish, about five inches long; they are pure yellow. There are parrot fish, which can be really fierce! Theyve got very sharp beaks and make a lot of weird birdlike noises. I also learned that in the night they make this Aaak! Aaak! sound and spit out a layer of mucus that covers their whole body. It kills off their smell so eels cant find them.

INTERVIEWER: Keith, how did you introduce James to snorkeling and scuba diving? KEITH: We started him out in the bathtub with a mask and snorkel so he could learn to breathe underwater. Hed stay in there forever with his toy submarine searching for things on the bottom of the tub. Then we took him to the ocean with a mask and snorkel, no fins. Then he graduated to fins.

tank mask

fins

regulator

wetsuit

weights

JAMES: My first snorkel filled up with water when I dove. At the surface, Id have to blow out really hard to clear it before I could start breathing. My lungs werent strong enough to expel all of the water. Id breathe in and choke, so my dad got me a new type of snorkel, which is standard now. It has an exhaust valve. My dad said the valve would block most of the water from coming into the tube, and I could clear it by just blowing lightly. I thought he meant that once you blew the water out you could breathe underwater! I dove down and held onto a rock, thinking I had all the time in the world. I blew out then took a deep breathand swallowed about a gallon of seawater! I rushed up to the surface and cried, Dad! You said it wouldnt do this! I learned. I learned. INTERVIEWER: How old were you when you first used scuba equipment?

JAMES: About six, I think. I was too little to have a tank strapped to my back. It was bigger than I was, so my dad strapped the tank to my boogie board. I would put the regulator in my mouth, put my mask on, go underwater, and swim around, dragging the boogie board with me. It was a lot of fun. KEITH: Thats where he learned to clear his mask and his regulator. The regulator controls air flow. JAMES: Technically, you are supposed to wait to get your junior certification until you are twelve or thirteen years old, but since my dad was a master and instructor, I got started early. INTERVIEWER: What about when you wanted to explore deeper? What did you need to do to dive farther underwater? JAMES: The first thing we did was figure out how much weight I would need. My dad taught me how to surface dive; you bend at the waist and kick your legs to propel yourself down. I went under and picked up a rock. If I floated up with the rock, it was too light; if I sank, it was too heavy. If I stayed neutral in the water, it was just right. I think the just right rock was about 2 pounds. So then I went back to shore and put on a two-pound weight belt. KEITH: Your body has natural buoyancy; it has to do with your bodys volume in relation to your weight. If you are heavy without much volume, you will sink; if you are light with a lot of volume, you will float. As a diver, you can put on additional equipment that adds to your volume or adds to your weight. The optimal state you are trying to achieve is neutral buoyancy at around 10 to 15 feet. That means you will float at that depth without sinking or rising.

INTERVIEWER: What is the deepest you have dived, James? JAMES: Forty-five feet. KEITH: Once we determined his neutral buoyancy, we did some exercises. James experienced the sensation of running out of air, so he wouldnt panic if that happened. Under a controlled situation, I would turn the valve of his gauge to shut off his air. Then I would share air with him from my regulator. He took to it right away; now hes very adept. INTERVIEWER: So after you got some experience under your belt, James, what was one of your favorite diving trips? JAMES: One of the best times I had was in the Philippines, at a place called Eel Point Resort, a fairly famous dive site. Theres a reef pool, with sharks about four feet long. We got to swim right alongside them. Then I decided to rest and watch all the other marine life around me. I stopped beside a big rock. I looked at the rock, and it looked back! It was a gigantic groupera huge fish about three feet long. It was staring right into my eyes! I was so startled that I flew out of the pool and announced that there were monsters down there! My heart was pounding. It was fun! KEITH: He went right back down to look at it again. INTERVIEWER: What was it like to swim with the sharks? JAMES: The sharks were so cool. You could feel the power radiating out of them. Im not kidding. They acknowledge that you are there, but they dont do anything. They dont attack or investigate you; they just keep swimming. My dad had done a program on sharks; I have a big book on thembut

it never occurred to me that they would be that interesting. INTERVIEWER: Were you given any instruction regarding approaching or touching the sharks? JAMES: Well, shark skin is made of denticles, which are basically like little razors. The denticles, which are shaped like triangles, are tiny scales you cant really see that line the whole of the sharks body. When sharks swim, they literally slice through the water. If you touch their skin, youll cut your fingers. KEITH: Polynesians once used sharkskin to make saws. There are places you can go, though, where they hand-feed sharks and you can touch the shark as it swims by you. In one direction, the skin is razor-sharp; in the other direction, the skin is smooth and wont hurt you. However, you cant swim up to a shark that you are not feeding and touch it; it will swim away from you. You need to respect the territory of the animal. When we are filming them, we let the sharks come to us. We are careful not to box them in and always give them an escape route.

INTERVIEWER: Did your dad provide any general guidelines for encountering creatures underwater? JAMES: Be calm, dont startle them, and show them you have power but wont use it unless attacked. KEITH: What James is saying is pretty much standard procedure. If you encounter an animal that is potentially harmful to you, stand your ground. In the ocean we are relatively large creatures; a six-foot shark is used to eating a ten-inch fish. You would have to encounter something very large to be viewed as prey. Very large animals reside in the deepest waters, far from recreational diving areas. The most common injuries to divers are getting cut on something sharp, like a shell or the reef; being stung by jellyfish; or sticking a hand in a hole and being bitten by an eel. A good general rule is, if you approach a creature that is smaller than you are, and it doesnt retreat, it must have a very good defense mechanism. The Portuguese man-of-war, for example, abounds in the Hawaiian waters. Even when they wash up on the shore, they can still zap you. Their stinger has a mechanical trigger.

INTERVIEWER: James, did you ever get a chance to work with your dad on one of the nature programs he filmed for television? JAMES: My dad got to work on this very cool educational television program. He was filming at a research laboratory where they had dolphins. KEITH: My son has had the benefit of going behind the scenes to experience things that other kids would never get to see. We were filming at Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Honolulu, which is not open to the public. While we were scouting the location for a television series, James got the opportunity to work with the dolphins. JAMES: First, I got to hand-feed the dolphins, and then I helped with the research the scientists were doing. KEITH: The scientists there, Dr. Lou Herman and Dr. Adam Pack, were investigating dolphin language and dolphin intelligence. They had installed a television in the side of the dolphins tank and set up a remote camera in another room. Using an extensive series of hand signals they had developed to communicate with these dolphins, they conducted an experiment. The trainers performed the hand signals for the remote camera; the dolphins responded to the image of the trainers on the television screen, just as they would if the trainers were at the side of the pool. JAMES: I asked the trainers if I could perform some hand signals in front of the camera. KEITH: They werent sure James could do it at first. He was only eight at the time. They taught him some signals, and he caught on very quickly. The dolphins watched him doing

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the hand signals on the screen and responded to his commands! It was a proud moment for me as a dad. INTERVIEWER: Going back to your own first experiences, when and how did you get into diving? KEITH: I was an inland boy. I grew up in Georgia and Texas before I came to Hawaii. I had been in Hawaii a short time, working as a sales representative. One day I asked one of the other sales reps what was fun to do around here. He told me about snorkeling and recommended I go to Hanauma Bay, where I later took my son for his first dive. I went by myself, jumped in the water, and was just blown away. From that moment forward, my life completely changed. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe how you felt? KEITH: I remember exactly. I dithered around in the shallow water, where the water wasnt quite as clear and there were a lot of people, so I thought Id go outside the reef, into deeper water. I managed to get out over the reef and swam along in about twenty-five feet of water. There was this school of fishsergeant majors. They were black and light yellow; they were just sitting in the water in a column. A wave would roll in, the water would move them, and they would move en masse. Then they would move back with the surge, as a unit of 300 individuals. I was mesmerized! Once I returned to shore, I thought, Ive got to have more! I signed up for a scuba course, became a certified diver, and then an instructor.

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INTERVIEWER: What introductory classes are available for young people who want to try scuba diving? KEITH: Diving is very easy to learn; the equipment is extremely sophisticated now and very safe. Training techniques have been refined. Many resorts now offer an introductory scuba course for people on vacation. You have to be at least twelve years old. Instructors will take you in a pool first and introduce you to the equipment; theyll demonstrate how to breathe from the regulator, how the mask should fit, and how to expel water from your mask and regulator. Once you are comfortable in the pool, they will take you out into the ocean. You enter the shallow water, kneel down and breathe underwater, then swim out to progressively deeper water up to ten or twelve feet. Alternatively, you can go out on a boat to a maximum depth of about twenty-five feet. The whole idea is to do it in a safe manner.

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INTERVIEWER: Are opportunities available for those who might be intrigued by ocean exploration as a career? KEITH: The ocean environment, although it is being extremely stressed right now by development and pollution, is still one of the least explored frontiers on our planet. There are many opportunities to do research, as well as commercial and salvage diving and treasure diving. When I was employed as a commercial diver, the maximum depth was 500 feet; you could only stay down for very limited amounts of time. With the new equipment, such as Jim suits and Deep Rovers, which are primarily like submarines that you wear, much more of the deep ocean is available for exploration. INTERVIEWER: What are some ways to start exploring this frontier before getting into the water? JAMES: Theres a tourist sub that operates off Oahu. It is a long submarine with large portals on the sides and two rows of benches facing them. Theres room enough to stand up in there. It takes you out to explore shipwrecks on the ocean floor.

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INTERVIEWER: How deep does this tourist sub go? KEITH: Down to 150 feet. JAMES: Another way to learn more would be to go to your local aquarium and talk to the people who work there. They can probably answer a lot of your questions about what to expect. INTERVIEWER: Keith, before we conclude this interview, do you have a story to share about one of your most memorable encounters underwater? KEITH: In the ocean one of the most magnificent sights is a whale. Not just because of their enormous size but also the grace with which they move. With minor movements of a fluke or a pectoral fin, they can dramatically change direction. The mothers are very protective of the juveniles; if you get too close, the mother will put her pectoral fin around her calf and pull it to her side. Ive also noticed while filming them in the water that whales are very aware of where you are; as they pass you, they will deliberately avoid hitting you with their tails or fins. They are very gentle, graceful creatures. INTERVIEWER: Can you hear whales communicating underwater? KEITH: Yes, thats the most amazing thing. Water has extraordinary acoustic characteristics. Salt water is 900 times denser than air, so it transmits sound better. Any kind of sound in the water not only travels farther, but also doesn't dissipate as quickly as it does in the air. As a result, whales can talk to each other over great distances. When you are diving, you can hear the voices of whales even if you cant see them. However, if they are close to you, you can tell because

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their bass notes actually vibrate your body. The other unique characteristic of sound underwater is that since it travels faster, it seems to reach both your ears at the same time, no matter what direction it is coming from. So when you hear a whale song, it is as if you are surrounded by the sound. INTERVIEWER: What does a whale song sound like? KEITH: Whales produce an amazing diversity of sounds. The most remarkable comparison I can think of is a recording of whale song sped up to the frequency of birdsong; whales sound precisely like birds. Their songs can be long and mournful, high-pitched and squeaky, with staccato notes or undulating wavelike sounds. They also make short grunts, whistles, and chirps.

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INTERVIEWER: Did you ever meet a whale up close? KEITH: Yes, I did. I accompanied a tourist group of scuba divers off Waikiki. A baby humpback whale, about fifteen to eighteen feet long, started playing around our boat. It was leaping, breaching, and splashing down and we were cheering it on! The mother whale became concerned; she steered the calf away from the surface. I decided to do a free dive with a snorkel to get a closer look. I dropped down right next to her and was able to touch her. I was so enraptured to feel the life in her, that I forgot I was holding my breath! When I came to my senses, I pushed off the bottom. She swam under me, just missing me with her giant tail. It was a long swim back, but I remained calm, and I made it. INTERVIEWER: Any parting words from a veteran underwater photographer to future ocean explorers? KEITH: Yes. Dont just sit in front of the television watching nature programs; get out and explore for yourself! INTERVIEWER: What about you, James? Do you have any advice for first-time divers? JAMES: You will be okay. There are no scary monsters. Its a great feeling swimming with the great diversity of life underwater.

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Think and Respond

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Does using the form of an interview to relay factual information about diving make the subject more interesting for the reader? How? Give an example of one fact and one opinion that James or Keith provide about diving. List three main ideas included in this interview. How do you know from reading this interview what characteristics and skills a person needs to become a successful underwater photographer? Compare and contrast this selection with another nonfiction story you have read in which people are interviewed about their lives. Would you like to explore the ocean and have adventures like the ones James and Keith Turner describe? Why or why not?

A Deeper Investigation Choose one of the marine animals named in this book and conduct research on its characteristics and behavior. Present your findings to the class.

School-Home Connection Interview someone at home about his or her first-time experiences exploring an unfamiliar environment. Have the person describe both how the experience felt and what he or she learned.