I thought I'd write an update on my new job and share some events from today… Two weeks ago I was hired as the Sea Center Programs Coordinator for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History! I'm very excited about my job and am enjoying working for both a museum and an aquarium (the Ty Warner Sea Center is an extension of the Natural History Museum). My duties are pretty varied - planning winter marine camps, special events, and festivals; helping design and interpret exhibits; working with the aquarist to feed animals, go diving collecting new ones, and diving cleaning the saltwater lines under the pier; guiding visitors in the aquarium (including shark handling); and helping to train new volunteers. So far I'm really enjoying the job, and my co-workers are great to work with. The Sea Center is located on the wharf (pier) in Santa Barbara, so it's very cool to come to work every day at the beach and have a view from above the ocean out my office window!
Right now big swell is hitting our coast. (surfline.com is calling it 'epic') The waves were pretty big this afternoon and are expected to peak around midnight (some places, 20+ feet!). At work I was able to experience some pretty intense waves pounding the pier. With the extremely big waves, the whole sea center would rumble and roll like a mini-earthquake! Just now one of my co-workers called me to say the waves are now coming OVER the pier! Crazy!! We're a little worried about the lines we have running under the pier pumping seawater into the aquarium, but are hoping everything stays intact overnight.
Bryan's doing well with his first quarter in the Geology PhD program at UCSB- it looks like he'll be doing his first season of fieldwork in late spring/early summer in the Copper Canyon in Mexico. We've made new friends, but really do miss our friends and community in the L.A. area. We've been trying to get in as much diving and surfing as we can here in the Santa Barbara area, and are enjoying exploring our new home. Before the big swell came rolling in, Bryan and I spent a few hours surfing at Rincon yesterday ... dolphins and a harbor seal swam right beneath our boards- it was AWESOME and a bit surreal!
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