Life Below The Galapagos, Part 1

Technologist Dan Dubno On Diving Well Below The Ocean's Surface

(CBS)  So, returning to the Aquarium, to somehow find the Bathysphere long disappeared in storage somewhere, may seem a futile quest, particularly on a Sunday, when bureaucratic inertia is most entrenched. But it was no surprise to me that somehow my kids and I should find three workmen planning out the long-awaited display site where the Bathysphere would one day return. It was no less remarkable to me that one of the workmen had a key and happily took us a quarter of a mile away to a darkened warehouse. There, amidst junk and old garden supplies, Barton and Beebe's Bathysphere stands: naked of paint; cleaned of rust, almost shining as it must have been before the New York Zoological Society and National Geographic Society had their names emblazoned on the bizarre craft for the first time.

For me, it was a wonderful reunion. For my children, somewhat of a puzzle. I could see they still could not fathom why man would risk being dropped in such a small chamber to the depths of the sea. Perhaps they needed more exposure to the elixir of the rhythmic sea, perhaps the perfume of the mist, perhaps the insistent cries of gulls and bellows of sea lions in the morning.

For me, the Bathysphere is where it all began: my crazy idea to visit the other world under the sea. This is where I'm heading now: aboard a plane flying to Miami and then to Costa Rica, to the harbor. There, I join the crew of Woods Hole's research ship, Atlantis, for the beginning of a scientific cruise that will take us to the Galapagos Rift, to the site of Rose Garden. In the deep-water submersible Alvin, I'll follow the ranks of other fortunates who have gazed upon geothermal vents and the unworldly life below.


Life Below The Galapagos, Part 2
Life Below The Galapagos, Part 3
Life Below The Galapagos, Part 4

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By Dan Dubno
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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