OceanDoctor

Free Speech(es): 50 Years, 50 States, 50 Speeches

Fresh from the Eisenhower Administration era, your friendly neighborhood Ocean Doctor turned 50 today. In doing so, I outlived my father, William L. Guggenheim, who tragically died at 49 when he was lost at sea. It was my days as a boy, fishing with my dad off of Cape May, ...

Can Cuba’s Mysteries Help Save the World’s Coral Reefs?

Until that tranquil morning in late June 1974, the sum total of my SCUBA diving experience had been in a landlocked state, in a stifling, moldy indoor YMCA pool in the Philadelphia suburbs and a Pennsylvania quarry, flooded with icy soup-green water. Barely comprehending the new world of pungent humidity, ...

Oceans Day Message from the Next Generation

If you know the history of my "OceanDoctor" moniker, then you know my daughter, Anna, had everything to do with it. This weekend marks two significant events: World Oceans Day and the one year anniversary of the OceanDoctor blog. These events have given me a moment of reflection. I spend a ...

OceanDoctor 2.0

This week marks a year since I began the OceanDoctor blog. I've spent the time experimenting with many new and evolving forms of communication -- blogging, Podcasts, Twitter, etc. -- trying to find better ways to share my watery experiences, and the response has been wonderful and inspiring. I'm hoping ...

The Heart of the Bering Sea Beats with Discovery

It's hard to get a big smile out of Ken Lowyck, Greenpeace's capable Action Unit Coordinator (and sub pilot) based in Toronto. I snapped the photo to the right and captured Ken's pre-dive excitement last summer on August 1, just minutes before he was launched on the dive to 700 ...

Blogus interruptus

Read any authority's advice about blogs and you'll see at the top of the list: "Blog regularly." Even for someone who enjoys writing as much as I do, I don't believe in writing for writing's sake -- I like to share original experiences and ideas, not just rehash stale ...

A Sea Turtle is Born in Alaska

I awakened at 4am in my bunk to something strange. The ship was still. After enduring two days of pounding seas and gale-force winds, we had at last arrived at the island of Unalaska and were nearing the port of Dutch Harbor. A few hours later, juggling my cameras, I ...

Attacked by the Giant Squid’s Cousins

It's the fantasy of many a marine biologist and explorer. To catch a glimpse of the giant squid, alive, and in its natural habitat: The deep ocean. Giant squid have been scientifically documented at a size of up to an incredible 43 feet long based on specimens that have washed ...

Where Condos Fall from the Sky

They look strange, out of place…and they are. Because they're not from around here. The odd-shaped stones and boulders that pepper the flat, dark, silty bottom here at nearly 1,800 feet look like meteorites, each surrounded by a wide, shallow crater. They're not from outer space, but many have traveled ...

Alone in the Dark with a Pen Light

Yesterday (Thursday) morning, Michelle Ridgway and I descended in the twin subs for our expedition's penultimate dive on Pribilof Canyon. Michelle's lights shone as tiny pinpoints in the distant green as the light from above slowly vanished and the cold darkness of Pribilof Canyon enveloped us. I had a rare ...