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View Full Version : Greetings from THE Underwater Pornographer



DrBill
03-29-2007, 01:20 AM
Yes, that's what some have called me due to the video footage I shoot of mating behavior in the undersea world. Just take a gander at my "Munching and Mating in the Macrocystis" DVD (it's PG).

I have been diving for about 45 years now... originally in the freshwater quarries and lakes of the US Midwest, but in 1969 I moved to Santa Catalina Island in sunny southern California and have lived here essentially ever since.

I originally came out to teach marine biology on SCUBA to students at a private boys school. During that time I began working with Jean-Michel Cousteau in several of his programs including Project Ocean Search Catalina.

When the school closed in 1979, I took a series of different jobs relating to financial and other management of small businesses so I could stay on the island. I also continued to do intermittent projects with Jean-Michel and later his father, Jacques Yves Cousteau. This included working on their windship Alcyone during the filming of a 1986 two-hour TBS documentary on the Channel Islands.

In 1990 I decided to return to graduate school (despite the fact I had record albums... remember vinyl?... that were older than some of my fellowe students). I earned my MA and PhD in marine ecology and wrote a 771-page dissertation that's a sure cure for insomnia or a much needed doorstop. In essence I used satellite remote sensing images to detect kelp beds, integrated the resulting maps into a marine GIS (geographic information system), studied the areas where kelp was most persistent year-to-year, and tried to draw correlations between persistence and environmental factors. It was pretty much ground-breaking work, but I spent far too much time on a computer in the lab!

After receiving the PhD I became Vice President of the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy which owns 88% (42,000+ acres) of the island. After five years the politics got to me and I left the organization.

I decided it was time to return to my roots and got intensely involved in SCUBA again. After an around-the-Pacific backpacking and diving trip in 2001, I added underwater videography to my pursuits and haven't come up for air since!

I produce a daily 30-min TV show on the marine environment and write a weekly newspaper column on the same, both entitled "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill." I have also produced six commercial DVD's. My near-term goal is to get the TV show and the newspaper column syndicated in southern California, rake in the big bucks and head off for exotic dive locations including the Red Sea (next winter), the Galapagos, and a return to SE Asia. Eventually I'll finally don a dry suit and dive Antarctica.

My web site (http://www.starthrower.org) is full of information on southern California kelp forests and the marine life there including lots of pix, a full archive of the nearly 230- newspaper columns written to date, and information about my DVD's.

Best fishes!

Dr. Bill

Zero
03-29-2007, 07:51 AM
G'day and welcome aboard Bill. Or is it Doc? If you need a buddy for Antarctica;) :D

Matt

seasnake
03-29-2007, 04:01 PM
We are having unprecedented kelp growth here in the last few years. Usually the kelp dies off in the winter but in the last few summers it gets so thick we get lost on our favourite sites because we can't find our usual landmarks! Already the kelp in one spot is growing like mad and the water temp has only risen to 30F so far. What part does temperature play in kelp growth?

gangrel441
03-29-2007, 04:26 PM
Welcome aboard Doc! Good to see more familiar faces over here. ;)

Diverdaniel
03-29-2007, 07:12 PM
Welcome Doc :)
good to have you here.
when you get to the Red-Sea, be sure to give me a call, will gladly have you over.

SoCalDiveGirl
04-04-2007, 10:12 PM
Yes, that's what some have called me ..
Dr. Bill

*grin* Wait... weren't you just talking about nude modeling underwater a few days ago?

Bubble Maker
04-08-2007, 05:12 PM
Welcome DrBill
Glad to see you on here Buddy.
lets rock-n-roll this place like we did SD.


Mike aka Bubski

DrBill
04-10-2007, 04:44 AM
*grin* Wait... weren't you just talking about nude modeling underwater a few days ago?

Yep... are you ready, Missy?

DrBill
04-10-2007, 04:46 AM
We are having unprecedented kelp growth here in the last few years. Usually the kelp dies off in the winter but in the last few summers it gets so thick we get lost on our favourite sites because we can't find our usual landmarks! Already the kelp in one spot is growing like mad and the water temp has only risen to 30F so far. What part does temperature play in kelp growth?

Funny to hear of peak kelp growth in summer and die-offs in winter. Everything is so northern hemisphere centric.

Temperature does play a very important role, but in large part due to the fact that warmer waters mean lower nutrient concentrations. Here in SoCal, kelp tends to die off in our summer when temperatures exceed 68 F (20 C I think) for more than about two weeks. Last summer we hit temps in the upper 70's (79) and some had lower 80's (83).

SoCalDiveGirl
04-10-2007, 05:54 AM
Yep... are you ready, Missy?

uh.. er.... umm...... How about if I hold the camera and you be the model? :p

DrBill
04-10-2007, 11:52 PM
uh.. er.... umm...... How about if I hold the camera and you be the model? :p

I'm afraid that might break the port, even though it is acrylic.