Playing Fair and Being Kind

Billie Urabazo is a friend of mine who lives south and east of Albuquerque. She wrote “Simply Said” and “Skimming the Surface”, two books of experience and thought in poetry and short essay. I met her in Albuquerque in January 2013 during my first winter cross country trip. I’ve done three trips and I have not met another Billie Urabazo. She is soft, gentle, strong. To sit with her is to feel all the depths of oceans and all the depths of emotions we humans have ever experienced. During our visit I told of things she had never known. She strongly suggested that  I write these stories down so they would not be lost. I agreed but I could not write about them until I’d written other stories first. I’ve begun to string a few memories together and the stories of underwater, deep submergence, open ocean are bubbling to the surface.

I am going to see my orthopedic surgeon today; this morning actually. The appointment is at 8:15, in just a few hours. I’ve been up since 4:30 because a description of the suns rays in the water as seen from below was playing in my head and I needed to write it down. My plan to get a full night’s sleep has been shot to pieces. I’ll have to catch a few winks later; probably after lunch.

The thought came to me during the night so I got up and began writing about how the light appears while looking through the viewport of a deep submersible. Of course the light changes from the time the submersible is close to the surface and its effect shifts dramatically as depth increases. So I write a few words about the image and then I go online and research various loosely connected thoughts and bingo! here I am still writing and learning and getting all of it down on paper like Billie told me to. I ought to call Billie today or soon and let her know her seed has germinated.

Here is a photo of Sea Cliff under water but still in the region of daylight. I’m guessing this is in the one hundred foot depth range. The air bubbles visible are a result of the first thing that the pilot does to begin the dive; open the vent to gain weight. The photo was taken by a diver after making the vehicle ready to submerge.

I’ve been recording the launch and recovery of the vehicle as we performed it at sea during the mid to late 70’s. This is a description of what we see near the surface. I’m beginning to feel the energy to write more about this part of my life. Here is an excerpt relating this experience.

The ride in the ball was such an unique experience. The submersible is a technical victory over crushing conditions. The sophistication as well as the beauty of physics is its absolute truth. Basic machines, simple machines at play demonstrating basic laws. The wheel, the ramp, the wedge, the screw are all at play. Boyle’s Law, Archimede’s Principle, A seven foot diameter sphere with windows made of plexiglas. One does not simply use words such as ‘good enough’ or ‘close enough’ while performing tasks at depth. The ocean and its depth care a great deal about how things fit together all the way down to the molecular level. Anything that you observe during events at sea and especially under the sea has passed the tests of form, fit, and function. The water molecule is one of the tiniest. In great numbers the molecules rule the ocean. The Greeks and Romans used the imagery of Neptune and Salacia as rulers of the deep. I enjoy the images but what rules my scientific thinking during factual underwater work is the size of the water molecule and how the weight of many of them truly rule.

To view the underwater realm is fascination. Peering through the four inch circle becomes hypnotic because the light passing from the earth’s atmosphere into the water becomes broken into various spectra causing depth and color variations not seen elsewhere. To view the underwater realm is not the same as watching large fish in an aquarium on land. The light passing from one atmosphere to another in an aquarium loses its fascination because of refraction and reflection from surfaces surrounding the water. At depths where light is visible at sea there is no, or very little, back scatter. The ocean goes on and on and the light does the same thing. The observer’s eye notices the light travel along the paths that don’t return. The observer’s brain quickly deduces the enormity of the measures being witnessed. Imagine the view that whales have of the ocean as they tip over and begin their sounding using clicks and songs. They are all business; their brains must be crammed with knowledge and experience from deep dives in oceans around the world. These are thoughts I would roll through my mind during the transition from the bright to the blackest black.

I think I’ve captured some of what it is like to be a casual observer in a deep submersible. While in the Navy I was a certified pilot on Sea Cliff and later, after I retired from active duty, I went to work driving Alvin at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. I spent three years driving Sea Cliff and about 6 months driving Alvin.

I hope you have a nice day and right now I need to get moving in the direction of the shower and go see the doctor.

G. M. Goodwin

8th of July 2015