Adventures Beneath the Sea: Living in an Underwater Science Station

by Kenneth Mallory, Brian Skerry (Photographer)

What would it be like to live sixty feet below the ocean waves? Author Ken Mallory and photographer Brian Skerry found out. They spent a week in the Aquarius underwater laboratory on a coral reef off the Florida Keys. They lived in cramped quarters. They went scuba diving every day—to study the fish of the reef and to use the underwater outhouse. They slept in bunks with the constant crackle of snapping shrimp coming through the shell of their underwater home. Skerry's photographs from the pages of National Geographic Magazine capture the stunning sights of a strange undersea habitat in this winner of the John Burroughs Nature Books for Young Readers Award.

Genres: Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cool book to read since I live in the Keys and have seen Aquarius’s life buoy.

The book was very informative about the Aquarius and about what you go through to step foot on it.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 The book describes living in an underwater scientific research station in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The chapters are: introduction, An Underwater Space Station, Our Mission: Where Do the Fishes Go?, The Adventure Begins...With Training, Life Inside Aquarius, All in a Day's Work, The End of the Adventure. The reader
learns basic facts about the lab (it lies 60 feet underwater and is 43 feet long). The author details how he trained for living in the lab, what it was like living in the lab, the work that they did and returning back to the surface. There are explanations of other underwater habitats, why pressure matters, and how coral reefs are in danger. Beautiful color photographs fill the pages. One downside is that its picture book size may turn off older readers. Buy to enhance your oceanography section. Includes table of contents, further resources, glossary and index. Hardcover.

[Sunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine living in a tank the size of a mobile home, sixty feet below sea level, with an endangered coral reef in your backyard. Fascinating, but dangerous. Mallory describes his seven-day mission on the world’s only active underwater research station. The text is accessible and written in a humorous, conversational tone. Dried food for dinner anyone? Suspenseful moments are threaded throughout the text like when the power goes out at the station and the divers might not be able to return because they cannot see its lights. The ultimate goal of the scientists’ research, and the author’s big message, is to educate others about the coral reef ecosystem and develop sanctuaries that protect these coral reefs. This book just might pique students’ interest in becoming a scientist or explorer of the underwater world.

Review for IRA's Reading Today, May 2011

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The US has 13 marine sanctuaries and this book looks at the one off the Florida Keys. This could easily function as a non-fiction companion to the novel Dark Life. Boys will find the paragraphs on ‘nature’s calling’ interesting and laughable. The job performed in the ‘Aquarius underwater laboratory’ on this trip is to tag and monitor the sea life and monitor where it travels. Information from this station will be used to establish other laboratories throughout the world. Filled with colorful photographs, any aspiring marine biologist is sure to enjoy this accounting of this seven day stint. The contents, glossary, listings of other readings, and web sites combine with an index to insure the reader has access to an abundance of information.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dreaming of exploring another world? You don't have to wait until you can fly to Mars, there are unexplored worlds here on Earth. Forget being an astronaut, why not try being an aquanaut?
Elementary School

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life and work aboard the NOAA's Aquarius. Informative and interesting.

[Sarah Gross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating topic and the pictures are stunning.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good nonfiction for kids interested in marine biology, exploration, etc. Quick and interesting read.

[Lisa Bricker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, although some parts of it creeped me out (the power outage!), on the whole, I would love the opportunity to do an underwater mission at Aquarius. Awesome pictures too.