Where to start?
Might as well tell how I came to being one of you!
My employment has brought me back to an area that I loved as a child when I spent my summer camping on the shores of Lake Huron in northern Michigan while my father worked on a crew salvaging the wreck of the Nordmeer. My employment has a partnership with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary http://www.thunderbay.noaa.gov/ Which has educated me as to a lot of data and some cool video to what lies below the surface of Lake Huron. Since coming here in the summer of 2006 I have had the pleasure of meeting some great people in underwater exploration. Bob Ballard and Jean Michel Cousteau to name a few. I even had the pleasure of accompanying a couple of them aboard while they worked in our waters, only due to my position within government. Of course they discussed with me what I was missing and I did say that when I got some time I would like to learn. Well in the early spring of 2006 our County Sheriff came to me with a problem. His dive team had fallen apart. Under Michigan law the Sheriff is responsible for body recoveries. His team also plays a critical roll with underwater rescues. With the entire Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary under his jurisdiction this gave me great cause for concern. It was then that I offered my assistance to the Sheriff as a administrator of his dive team. So I then contacted Karen Melton and enrolled in her next available class. So here I am with more dives under my belt in my first year than a lot of divers Ive met get in their whole life. I would encourage any diver to seek out their local dive team and offer to volunteer. This allows a diver many more opportunities to get wet (in some cases places that normal people don't think about diving), get additional training (in some cases at no cost) and a sense of giving back to a community.
Thanks to all!!
Jeff
Ossineke, Michigan
On the Shores of Thunder Bay and home to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Might as well tell how I came to being one of you!
My employment has brought me back to an area that I loved as a child when I spent my summer camping on the shores of Lake Huron in northern Michigan while my father worked on a crew salvaging the wreck of the Nordmeer. My employment has a partnership with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary http://www.thunderbay.noaa.gov/ Which has educated me as to a lot of data and some cool video to what lies below the surface of Lake Huron. Since coming here in the summer of 2006 I have had the pleasure of meeting some great people in underwater exploration. Bob Ballard and Jean Michel Cousteau to name a few. I even had the pleasure of accompanying a couple of them aboard while they worked in our waters, only due to my position within government. Of course they discussed with me what I was missing and I did say that when I got some time I would like to learn. Well in the early spring of 2006 our County Sheriff came to me with a problem. His dive team had fallen apart. Under Michigan law the Sheriff is responsible for body recoveries. His team also plays a critical roll with underwater rescues. With the entire Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary under his jurisdiction this gave me great cause for concern. It was then that I offered my assistance to the Sheriff as a administrator of his dive team. So I then contacted Karen Melton and enrolled in her next available class. So here I am with more dives under my belt in my first year than a lot of divers Ive met get in their whole life. I would encourage any diver to seek out their local dive team and offer to volunteer. This allows a diver many more opportunities to get wet (in some cases places that normal people don't think about diving), get additional training (in some cases at no cost) and a sense of giving back to a community.
Thanks to all!!
Jeff
Ossineke, Michigan
On the Shores of Thunder Bay and home to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
