Two divers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) recently participated in an instructional training dive in front of aquarium attendees in which they carved the DISL spadefish logo into a pumpkin. Underwater.

Nina Luckas, the organizer for the Oct. 15 event, said the purpose of the dive was to "spark the interest" for the unconventional profession of working as a scientific diver.

"The dive was also a training dive for the divers," Luckas said, "as they practiced important skills like buoyancy, underwater communication and teamwork, situational awareness and observed how their presence influenced fish behavior."

According to Luckas, the event also raised awareness for the DISL scientific diving program that trains young divers to lead their own research dives "in a safe and enjoyable way."

Luckas' role in the dive was to plan out the detailed dive plan, brief the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) divers and organize the equipment and team. She said it was neat to see how much the community came together as many watched a diver carve a pumpkin underwater for the first time.

"The event was organized especially for the children in our local community," Luckas said. "I noticed each time I did cleaning and maintenance dives in the aquarium that kids were excited to greet me underwater and get a behind the scenes look of the day-to-day tasks of a diver/aquarist."

One of Luckas' memorable interactions after a dive was with a young girl who was fascinated by the tank cleaning dive. Luckas said the girl came up to her after the dive with a big grin to say that was "the coolest" thing she'd ever seen and that she, inspired by Luckas, said she'd like to be a scientific diver when she grew up.

Luckas said she received many questions from the audience after the event concerning things like how deep a diver can dive, how divers speak to each other underwater and how the divers were able to use an underwater torch to make the carved pumpkin light up.

She said she felt the dive was a success as the divers learned to complete a task, work with tools, check their breathing gas regularly, have full situational awareness by interacting with the audience and communicate with each other using hand-signals and body language all while underwater.

Luckas said about the final pumpkin product, "The cut-out fish looked great, and the pumpkin was curiously inspected by all fish, including the model spadefishes in the tank. I think they approved of the design."

While this was the first time an event like this was held at the DISL, Luckas said there was a lot of interest from volunteers and students and that the event will likely be held again next year. Other holiday-inspired dives might also be organized.