Marine Tech Reunion, Summer 2004

by Genny Anderson, Biological Sciences Department, Santa Barbara City College

Reunion

Santa Barbara City College offers a Marine Diving Technology vocational degree for students wishing to work in the field of marine diving. As part of their program most students take one or two academic marine biology classes from the Biology Department. This series of photos is from pictures I have taken over the years and pictures given to me by past students. It covers many great memories of my role as the instructor of these wonderful students. These students and the Marine Technology Department at SBCC have been a big part of my life and one that has brought me many happy memories. I am pleased to put on this short show of the many years of teaching marine technology students. I wish I had photographs of each student but I am sure some are missing - if I had known I was going to do this I would have taken many more pictures. In any case, it is long enough ... Enjoy!!

Bill Jorgensen (left), called 'Jorgy' by his students and friends, taught the marine techs for many years. He was a wonderful teacher and developed many interesting labs and topics for the marine technology students. Jorgy was my strongest mentor and I would never have had such a successful career without his influence. [NOTE: I talked with Jorgy after the reunion and he was sorry he could not make it but we decided to get together and write up some of his memories for the years he taught the marine techs. We did this in November 2004 and it is now added later in this presentation as the history of 'Jorgy's Reef' - and how it began. It was this man who started the great relationship between the Biology Department and the Marine Tech Department at SBCC.]

In spring 1974 Bill took a sabbatical and I was hired to teach the marine biology class. I was right out of college with a small amount of teaching experience but a lot of enthusiasm. The marine tech department (Ramsy Parks, Jim Parker, Bob Christensen, and Jerry Clouser at that time) checked out my diving skills and were very supportive of having a woman (for the first time) involved in their program. But, the Biology Department men were worried that I could not handle the diving so they requested I have my husband, Shane, teach the dive labs and I teach the regular labs and lectures. That was fine with us as Shane and I had worked together in marine biology for several years at college and we enjoyed working together. We had a great spring 1974 semester co-teaching the marine techs.

Shane Anderson, my teaching colleague in 1974, best friend and most wonderful husband for over 30 years (left). The class of 1975 (right) including Ramsey Parks (seated) who was the first director of the marine tech program. Ramsey is talking to Ted Roche.

The class of 1975, marine technology - Larry Ramstrum and his 1974 dive gear.

The class of 1975, marine technology. Mark Alexander helping Cal Parsons? (left). Mike Zadra (who found all the 1975 photos) and Ken Spence (right).

The marine tech class of 1975 on a dive (left) with Rik Hansen. Rob Case, from the class of 1975 in the mud during a marine biology class field trip to Morro Bay. At this time the Morro Bay field trip was a required part of the course.

When Bill Jorgensen retired in 1982 I was hired as his replacement in 1983. He gave me great advice and many wonderful teaching aids to start my career. Bill has remained a good friend and supporter over all these years. When I began there were a few curriculum changes that were in progress - one was to stop making the Morro Bay field trip a required part of the Marine Biology class and make it a one-unit short course. My first Morro Bay class included several 1983 marine tech students who signed up for this extra unit (right).

Birding at Morro Bay in 1983, about one quarter of the class is marine tech students.

Another change was adding a unit to the science courses which meant new labs needed to be designed. I wrote an Abalone Lab that has evolved over the years and still is one of my favorite labs where students learn about the abalone critter, mariculture, and biological processes associated with the abalone. Since 1983 there have been many changes, to the point where now the only abalone in restaurants is from the mariculture labs. On the right above is a vial of abalone larvae that I have just 'settled' so they can begin life as a bottom dweller and grow up.

Part of the Abalone Lab from the beginning was a live dissection followed by the proper way to clean, trim, slice, pound, cook, and eat abalone. I have been able to continue this today by purchasing maricultured abalone from an abalone farm in Goleta. That's marine tech student Gina watching me dissect the abalone on the left.

I also added a boat trip to the course so that students could see how a big piece of oceanographic equipment is used. I have been using the Spirit (right) with its A-frame and room for 24 students on deck.

I used the otter trawl as the piece of oceanographic equipment as it could be put down in about 200 feet of water and bring up species that were not within diving range for the students. Getting the net ready on the way out of the harbor (left), and deploying the net (right).

Bringing up the net (left) and opening the cod end (right). Every time the otter trawl comes up it is exciting to see what will be in our small catch (only 10 minutes on the bottom is all my permit will allow which is plenty for each class). I have been able to do this with my Biological Oceanography class each year from 1983 until now (2004) and every trawl (usually four per year) is a little different and always fun.

The typical otter trawl catch (sea cucumbers, shrimp, flatfish). Cornering a shark in the trawl catch (left) and displaying it for the students (right).

Dogfish shark from the trawl (left) and midshipman fish from the trawl (right). Most of our catch was returned to the ocean but a few fish would come up damaged. The midshipman fish has a gas bladder and the gas expands as the fish is brought to the surface in the net, causing its guts to be forced out any openings (see this in the image on the right) so these fish are kept for later dissection in the lab.

As I began my full-time career teaching the marine technology students about marine biology they offered to teach me about the advanced diving they were learning. My first year I went to the marine tech building almost every Friday and my students would describe and teach me about what they had been learning. From this I learned about many types of diving helmets and got to try them under the supervision of my students (and the marine tech faculty too). Here I am with the superlite (left) and then in the superlite (right) being tended by TO and Andy in 1983.

My final lessons were with the 'heavy gear' or hard hat (left). I was very worried that I would not be able to hold all the weight with this diving gear and that I would not be able to get in or out of the water. Well, my student instructors were knowledgeable about this and gave me many hints about walking and moving while out of the water - I made it in and out of the tank in the marine tech building on my own. Greg Bryant (marine tech instructor then) took the picture of me in the tank at the marine tech building during my hard hat check out (right). I have this photo on the wall of my office as one of my "hero" pictures. Most scientists never get the chance to try out all of these advanced diving helmets. Thanks to several of my past students and the marine tech department I have had these unique experiences.

Besides the Morro Bay class, Abalone Lab, otter trawl lab, and learning new diving techniques my last big challenge was to redesign the labs for the students that included diving. The college had changed its regulations as far as insurance and boats when Jorgy retired so I arranged with the local dive boat operators to use their large boats mid-week for a reduced fee without all the frills. The students had been doing projects on a small reef off Leadbetter Beach which was called Jorgy's Reef. I began my first dive labs here. On the left is a photo of the dive boat carrying my class one morning, taken from SBCC as we hover above Jorgy's Reef. It was hard to find this small reef but if you paid attention to two line-ups on land you could be very accurate. On the right is the first line-up - the back, downcoast light pole at the SBCC stadium lining up in the middle of the round turret of the SBCC Humanities Building (right). Some of the past students might remember all the trouble we would have getting right on the reef.

As we would leave the harbor and circle up coast to Leadbetter Beach we would come in on the first line-up and then watch for the second one. This second line-up was a light pole on Cabrillo Blvd (Shoreline Drive). that lined up directly under the middle of a rectangular section of wood on the third floor of one of the houses (left). If we had both line-ups at once we would be right on Jorgy's Reef. Then we would send down a pair of divers to be sure and they would attach a bleach bottle buoy to the reef. Then we would anchor the boat and the divers could swim to the floating bleach bottle (in the image on the right) and down its line to be sure they were on the reef and not out in the sand somewhere (especially if visibility was limited, which it often was).

Jorgy's Reef, in 1983, was a large rock (left) sticking up from a sandy bottom. It was about 12 feet long and 6-8 feet wide with cracks and crevices holding crabs, abalone, a moray eel, and an octopus. It had kelp on the top. In my first year my dive labs laid down several bright yellow lines on the bottom so we could return to the same locations (right).

We did transect (left) and quadrat (right) surveys on Jorgy's Reef and the surrounding area. My dive labs became larger (and Jorgy's Reef was too small for all the divers) so after the first year I began taking the students about 5 minutes up the coast off the mesa where there was a continuous rocky reef ledge. Almost every year I would take a picture or two of the dive groups. I dug all these out over the last couple of weeks, scanned them and have included them here as one of my fond memories.

On Sunday 8 Nov. 2004 Genny interviewed Jorgy about his memories dealing with the area we all call Jorgy�s Reef. Here are his annotated memories:

Jorgy had his own small boat (a Boston whaler) for years during the time he was the marine biology professor at SBCC. He and his friends would often dive from this boat on weekends. One day they came across a big rock off Leadbetter Beach and took note of its location. They returned several times and took their limit of scallops from the crevices in this rock.

Jorgy started taking his class to this rock around the early 1970s . The class was the special labs for his marine biology classes where only students enrolled in the marine technology program were allowed to register. The marine technology students were certified (by SBCC) divers and their science labs included scuba diving. The students would do surveys on the rock and nearby.

The harbor department replaced some of their cement floats and dropped these hollow old cement floats (about 4 X 3 X 6 feet) near Jorgy�s reef and the students used lift bags to move them around for several years. Eventually these floats broke up but they provided a temporary habitat for lobsters and swell sharks as well as an interesting study site. Jorgy recalls one day when the students had inflated lift bags (to lift the floats off the bottom) when a current came up and began moving the cement floats out to sea and away from the reef so the students had to drop the floats before they got away.

One of the marine tech students got access to a large, heavy duty chain from Port Hueneme. During a class project with Jorgy this chain was installed around the base of Jorgy�s Reef. It was used for many years as a location to attach transect lines. This chain was still in use during the years Genny Anderson took the marine tech dive labs to Jorgy�s Reef up through 1984.

In the 1970s Jorgyy�s marine tech students attached numerous old tires to the chain, forming an �artificial reef.� They studied the types of marine life growing on the tires for years. Some of the tires were washed away in storms but at least five were still attached in the last marine tech dives to Jorgy�s Reef in 1984. These remaining tires were heavily encrusted with marine life and touching the large rock.

Jorgy remembers diving on the reef one year with his friends when all the sand had been scoured away. The bottom was smooth bedrock and the rock which is called �Jorgy�s Reef� stood about two feet higher than before. He remembers this rock as being part of the bedrock. Thus, his memory is that there is probably about two feet of sand normally surrounding the reef. This one time was the only time he remembers the sand gone. Genny and Shane Anderson have worked on and dived around Jorgy�s Reef many times and have no memory of the sand ever being completely gone. Shane Anderson was probably the last one there in our memories � in 1999 he dropped in and the rock was still there, sand and all.

Fall 1983 I had two dive labs, one on Tuesday morning (left) and one on Thursday morning (right). This group was the first group that I had for both Marine Biology (Biology 125) and Biological Oceanography (Biology 124) and the dive labs. They belong to the class of 1984 and this presentation is at their 20th reunion.

Teacher, Genny, getting ready for a dive lab and giving the class saftey reminders.

Fall 1983 Martin (left) and TO (right).

Fall 1983 Rich in the shower after class dive (left). Martin, Jim and Rich relaxing after class dive (right).

Fall 1983 Genny organizing dive notes with students - Karl and Chris (left). Several times the local TV stations would come out with the class dives when we were planting abalone. It was great fun to watch ourselves on TV during the evening news. Local TV camerman interviewing anchor woman on our class abalone plant dive (right). Plants were made with research abalone being returned to the wild but mostly with maricultured baby abalone. After a few years however it became illegal to plant abalone any more - that was because a species of marine worm (from South Africa) had mistakenly been introduced to the mariculture farms and the State Dept. of Fish and Game forbade them to have any of their abalone released into the Pacific Ocean (in fear the worm would be introduced here). But, for several years this was a fun diving activity for the marine tech students.

Fall 1983 - TO posing in his new dive gear with Genny handing him baby abalone to 'plant' in the ocean off SBCC (left). Chris, Mark, and Don on Leadbetter beach taking data for oceanography (right).

Fall 1983 - more data taking on Leadbetter Beach (left). One night we went grunion hunting at Goleta Beach (Jim, Andy, and TO with some of the female students in marine biology, right).

Jim is always our happy MC even while we wait for the elusive grunion (left). We really did find grunion - look for the two fish and we had a fun time as well (right).

The graduating marine technology class of 1984 took a neat group picture at the marine technology building (left). Fall 1984, one of the oceanography divers, Mark, taking notes under during class (right).

Fall 1984, diver Ed during Biological Oceanography dives (left). Fall 1985 Biological Oceanography dive - the first year when a substantial number of girls were in my class (three) - right.

Fall 1985, Jerry Clouser, marine tech instructor, with the three marine tech girls (Gina, Susan, and Kate) - left. Fall 1986 Biological Oceanography dive lab fooling around(right).

Fall 1986 Biological Oceanography dive lab more serious (left). Our dive boat for the Biological Oceanography dives was the Truth boat - a great platform for holding the entire class and safe diving. We would load the boat and leave close to sunrise (right).

On each dive we would get ready on the way from the harbor (left). Although it was only about ten minutes to our dive site we only had three hours so we were always very organized. Volunteers were always needed (right) for the various jobs during the lab dive.

I remember always giving instructions (left) and checking (right) on the students. It was great fun and a challenge.

The students geared up for an underwater activity (left) and entered from the side of the boat (right).

Remember those pesky clip boards and the underwater paper (left)? It was very helpful though because students did not have to copy over their underwater notes from a slate. Exiting (right) after a class dive was done from the back swimstep.

After the dives we would clean up on the way back in. The showers on the deck were very helpful for us and our gear (left). Our specimens often included experiments like leaving out succession plates (the plastic and ceramic squares) for a perioid of time and retrieving them (right).

Fall 1987 Biological Oceanography dive lab (left). Fall 1988 Biological Oceanography dive lab (right).

By fall 1988 I was only able to use the dive boat on one day (Tuesdays) and my dive labs had grown so I started having half the class dive (left), when we first got to our dive site, and the other half do an on-board oceanography experiment (right). Then, as the first divers surfaced, the second group would do their diving exercise and the first group would clean up and do the on-board oceanography experiment.

Genny demonstrating seawater density measurement with a hydrometer (left) and hints for properly using a thermometer to measure seawater temperature (right).

Genny helping students properly use the chemical test kits for oxygen and salinity (left). Fall 1989 Biological Oceanography (right).

The marine tech students did a great job taking the oceanographic measurements on board (left) and remembering to wear the goggles when using the chemicals. Fall 1990 Biological Oceanography dive lab (right).

Fall 1991 Biological Oceanography dive lab (left). Fall 1992 Biological Oceanography dive lab (right).

Mike, from fall 1992 being very enthusiastic about a kelp holdfast in lab (left). Fall 1993 Biological Oceanography dive lab (right).

Doug and Blair from Fall 1993 dive lab (left). Fall 1994 Biological Oceanography dive lab (right).

Tidepooling with the spring 1995 Marine Biology class (left). This year one of the marine technology students, Ryan, was not only an outstanding marine tech student but he received the award from the Biology Department for the Outstanding Marine Biology student. Many marine tech students have been some of the most outstanding academic students in my classes. Ryan (right) at the Biology Department awards ceremony.

Fall 1996 Biological Oceanography dive lab (left). My memory timeline of the marine tech dive labs ends in 1996 when the marine tech curriculum changed (right). But, my association with the Marine Technology Department continues in new ways. Some students still take my traditional Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography courses and now students have an opportunity to take a fully online Marine Science course.

SBCC has supported my interest in online teaching materials and starting in 2002 I finished a fully online Marine Science course. 75 percent of the course is from my pictures and experiences in marine science over my career. Every year since I started full-time (1983) my husband, Shane, and I have gone somewhere in the marine world, taken pictures, and I have incorporated much of this into my courses. My students might remember the years when I came back so especially enthusiastic about many of the areas we visited including some of the following:

The Galapagos Islands (left) and the Cayman Islands (right).

Alaska (left) and Australia (right).

Mexico (left) and Antarctica (right).

The Arctic (left) was just last summer, above Norway to the Svalbard Islands where we encountered the magnificient walrus. Finally, a last memory of the Marine Technology Depatment is their support of the Historical Divers Society (of which my husband has become very active) and their collaboration that allowed Shane to hard hat dive (right). From the left Don (marine tech instructor), Bob (retired marine tech instructor), Shane, Skip (dive professional), Scrap (dive professional and author of an historical Abalone book), and Bob Kirby (dive professional, author of an historical diving book, and continued supporter of marine technology).

Bob Kirby acted as MC for the 2004 Reunion. His background in professional diving has spanned several decades as one of the pioneers in abalone diving, design and production of diving helmets, support and continued enthusiasm for sharing and recording the history of diving, and for teaching young people about his beloved diving. SBCC was lucky to have him act as instructor in the Marine Technology Department for a year and a half. He has remained a supporter of the program and continues to donate many hours to programs such as this reunion. Thanks to Bob for telling some pretty funny stories at the reunion and being the cohesive force with the reunion program.

Shane, my wonderful husband, posing during his 'hard hat' diving lesson (left). In closing both Shane and I thank the Marine Technology Department at SBCC for many years of fond memories from students, faculty and staff!! They have all been a big part of our life. That is Shane in the picture on the right.

Past students please feel free to use any of these images for your personal use. Although I took the majority of the pictures some of them are from faculty and past students (who gave me slides and photographs from their years, like Matt Nienow and many others). If any of you want higher resolution images of any of the images, please email me and I will send you an image at a resolution that can be printed (300 dpi) instead of the compressed 72 dpi images that are posted here. My email address is anderson and it is at sbcc.edu.