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Inner Space Seminar: Night at the Museum: Ripley’s Aquarium, Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

Part of our “Inner Space Seminar” series at Hart House.
A Virtual Tour of all the galleries at the Toronto Aquarium, with live Q&A.
Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

Did you know, you can book your own tour
We couldn’t record this one, but you can book your own private or group tour:
book a single family tour: Virtual Tour of Ripley’s Aquarium
book a group tour: Virtual Tour of Ripley’s Aquarium

Our Aquarium tour covered all of the galleries, followed by a live Q&A session with a member of the Guest Experience team. We had a close look at the creatures from five different galleries, experienced interesting, detailed facts about each tank and the species that it houses, heard interviews with the Aquarium staff, watched animal feedings and listened behind the scenes to learn information from the husbandry team.

You even asked about going scuba diving in the shark tank!

  • Canadian Waters: Journey from coast to coast, from freshwater wildernesses to fisheries and kelp forests.
  • Rainbow Reef: Enjoy the kaleidoscope of colourful fish that flash around their idyllic home and learn more about their precious, but endangered, habitats.
  • Dangerous Lagoon: Come face to face with some of the Aquarium’s most jaw-dropping species.
  • Ray Bay: Experience the thrill of getting up close and personal with these captivating marine animals as they “fly” through the water.
  • Planet Jellies: Learn more about the four species of jellyfish.

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Index: 
– Inner Space Seminars

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Inner Space Seminar: Chasing Coral Film Screening, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021

Chasing Coral - movie banner

Part of our “Inner Space Seminar” series at Hart House.
Film screening, discussion and call to action.
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021

Watch the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGBGcjdjXA&t=24s
In our discussion after the film, we discussed things we can do to mitigate climate change. 

This Sundance award-winning film, Chasing Coral, follows a team of scuba divers, photographers and scientists on a thrilling adventure to capture why warming ocean water is causing coral reefs to vanish at an unprecedented rate. Find out what’s happening below the waves and solutions for preventing further warming of our oceans.

Chasing Coral taps into the collective will and wisdom of renowned marine biologists, an ad man, a self-proclaimed coral nerd and top-notch camera designers as they invent the time-lapse underwater camera to record bleaching events as they happen. With its breathtaking photography, nail-biting suspense, and startling emotion, Chasing Coral is a dramatic inspiration to engage audiences.

Index: 
– Inner Space Seminars

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Inner Space Seminar: Aliens of the Deep – A scientific look at the octopus

Part of our “Inner Space Seminar” series at Hart House.
Intelligence to rival humans
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021 at 7:00 pm

It’s a shape shifter with 3 hearts, 9 brains, massively strong arms that grip like a vice. It has no skeleton, but a soft elastic body, and the supernatural power of invisibility. It is a powerful, extraordinarily intelligent, complex predator, that sees with its skin, moves with the grace of a ballet dancer, is a master of disguise, and the star of many a sci-fi horror film!

Check out these videos

Aliens of the Deep Sea – 43 min
tinyURL.com/hhucAlien

The insane biology of the octopus – 22 min
tinyURL.com/hhucAlien2

My Octopus Teacher – This beautiful film is on Netflix if you have access
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81045007

Index: 
– Inner Space Seminars

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Inner Space Seminar: Underwater Archaeology, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021

Underwater archaeology

Part of our “Inner Space Seminar” series at Hart House.
Videos, technique and discussion with Emily Franklin.
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021

View the presentation by Emily Franklin as a PDF file. The links to the individual videos are in the Notes section below the slide.

This was a fabulous presentation with videos on the techniques of underwater archaeology. All archaeology involves the careful study of artifacts, structures and features to reconstruct and explain the lives of people in the past. Doing it underwater involves many extra layers of complexity.

  • remote locations below the surface of oceans, rivers, and lakes
  • on wharves, canal locks, marine railways and sunken aircraft
  • specialized techniques and equipment
  • underwater communication systems
  • delicate removal of sediments
  • specialized equipment for recording information while underwater
  • preservation of artefacts and evidence when excavated
  • reconstruction work

This would make a fascinating career!

Bio

Emily Franklin is a masters student in computer science who joined HHUC’s Learn to SCUBA program last year. Emily is interested in ways to apply her diving skills outside of recreation, and to volunteer in the broader diving community. Since high school, Emily has been interested in history. And underwater archaeology is a great way for divers to volunteer their skills to help discover and preserve the history of the waters we dive in.

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Inner Space Seminars: 
– Register for other HHUC Inner Space Seminars
– Index to other HHUC Inner Space Seminars

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Annual General Meeting 2020

HHUC Executive 2020-2021 on zoom

The HHUC AGM was held on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 pm on Zoom with:

  • wildly interesting presentations
  • elections for the Executive Committee
  • Trivia Night Quiz “Ocean Diving”

All members are welcome.
Note to University Students: If you would like to find out what our HHUC diving club is all about, please feel free to attend as a non-voting participant!

If you would like to join the HHUC Executive in any of the following roles, and help us plan the future of HHUC, please contact us to learn more.  

Here is your new Executive Committee for 2020-2021

  • President – Courtney Gibson
  • Secretary – Bob Belcher
  • Treasurer – Amelia Davies
  • Training Director – Courtney Gibson
  • Equipment Director – Michael Ding
  • Membership Director – Emily Franklin
  • Directors without Portfolio:
    • Communications and Social Director – Kathryn Culle n
    • Underwater Hockey – Sergei Vilbik
    • Equipment – Niki Wang, Siena Wong
    • Greg Koncan
    • Brett Kreinsen
  • Ex officio members:
    • Chair – Jim Elliott
    • Website – Crystal Liu

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Inner Space Seminar: Reef Watchers – Caribbean Fish Identification

spotted-parrotfish-terminal-phase

Part of our “Inner Space Seminar”series at Hart House
based on Reef.org’s fish identification course with Kathryn Cullen and Amelia Davies’ Trivia Contest
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020

Download:
Download Bonaire Invasion: Fish Identification of the top 25 fish in Bonaire

based on reef.org with J.Lavan

Q & A

Question: Why are Caribbean fish coloured a certain way?
Answer: Bright patterns on reef fish are key to astoundingly complex strategies to attract mates, repel rivals and protect themselves from predators.
Source:
“Why Are Reef Fish So Colourful?“
“The Science Behind the Beauty”

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Question: What fish is used in the ad for this seminar?
Answer: It’s a Spotted Parrotfish, Terminal Phase
Source: ReefGuide.org

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  • Learn the names of creatures you see on your Caribbean dives,
  • Understand distinctive identifying features, 
  • Retain key memory tips for fish identification,
  • Take away a handout for future reference,
  • Learn about helpful resources, print and online apps,
  • Participate in our Fish Trivia Quiz! Maybe win a prize!

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Index: 
– Inner Space Seminars

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December Holiday Party – Tuesday, Dec. 15, 7:00 pm

HHUC Holiday Party on Zoom 2020

Celebrate the festive season with your buddies at Hart House Underwater Club.

Come and chat and toast the season.
We’ll have party games, underwater films and pretty coloured fish!

Tell us the name of your favourite underwater creature

Dress up your background image with a crazy zoom photo background
Put on your best party zoom background — a photo of a coral reef, a beach shot from your vacation, Frosty the Snowman, your wildest party, the northern lights, or whatever makes you smile —  All you need is your favourite photo or one that you copy from google images. Save it on your computer and you’re ready to join the party! Here’s how:

  • Before the party, locate and save a crazy image to use for your background for the party
  • Join the zoom meeting
  • In the bottom left corner of your screen, click “Start Video”
  • Then click the up arrow beside “Start Video”
  • Click “Choose Virtual Background”
  • Click the plus sign + on the right
  • Click “Add image”
  • Click your saved image from your computer
  • Close the little window
  • Wow! You look great!

(Note: some Apple products don’t allow backgrounds. No worries, come to the party anyway!)

Zoom Link


https://utoronto.zoom.us/my/underwaterclub
Password (upper case): HHUC


Registration

Register for the holiday party

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HHUC Recognition Night Party, Sat. Oct. 24, 8:00 pm

HHUC group shot underwater of Divers, with NAUI banner, in Little Cayman. Photo credit: Courtney Gibson

Welcoming new members and university students!

Join our biggest party of the year for FUN, AWARDS, DOOR PRIZES, TRIVIA CONTEST! And provide your input to next year’s dive season.

Zoom link:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/my/underwaterclub
Password (upper case): HHUC

Register for this HHUC event

It all happens on Saturday night, Oct. 24, 2020 at 8:00 pm for HHUC Recognition Night Online with Zoom.

  • Be prepared for scuba-related door prizes
  • Discover this year’s Award Winners and their contributions during the past year
  • Join the fun interactive trivia contest
  • Express your preferences for next summer’s dive schedule

We welcome new members and can provide club information, how to join, plans for upcoming scuba, skindiving and snorkelling opportunities.

University students are most welcome! Come and find out about our scuba diving courses with an excellent, safety-conscious group of interesting divers and instructors. 

New members and University students are welcome to join us and find out about scuba diving with Hart House.

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HHUC Dive Report for Bonaire 2020

HHUC in Bonaire 2020: some of the divers on dock with the others in portrait under the roofline - photo credit: Bob Belcher, NAUI 3836

by Kathryn Cullen, NAUI #7446

Photo credit: Bob Belcher, NAUI #3836 

Thirty-one adventurers (mostly divers, some avid snorkellers and a few sun-seekers) set off for Bonaire on March 8, 2020 with our magnificent trip leader, Rebecca Metcalfe. We arrived at Captain Don’s Habitat, just outside the main town of Kralendijk, to beautiful sunny weather that lasted the entire week. Cooling sea breezes moderated the temperature of a consistent 31 degrees C. Water temperature was a comfortable 27 degrees C.

Bonaire is an island municipality of the Netherlands, as is Saba from our 2014 trip. Bonaire is just north of the Venezuelan coast in the southern Caribbean. Its reef-lined coast is protected by the Bonaire National Marine Park. Beyond the rich marine life, Bonaire has lizards, iguanas, donkeys, flamingos — and a variety of birds, most of whom were in attendance at the railing during breakfast time! 

We had two scuba dives each morning with our guides, Ludson and Marco, and unlimited shore diving. The coral reefs were teeming with life — maybe not the dramatic pelagic creatures of some of our other locations — but seeing the healthy reefs with throngs of schooling fish, variety of colour and multitude of sea life was thrilling. Our favourite afternoon activities were snorkelling at various places around the island and off Captain Don’s dock, sightseeing and hanging out at the pool for happy hour.

Some of our sightseeing around the island included the towns of Kralendijk and Rincon, the cactus distillery, Washington Slagbaai National Park, Gotomeer, Thousand Steps, flamingo sanctuary, salt flats, kite surfing and wind surfing hot spots, and a snorkeling trip to the nearby island of Klein Bonaire with a gorgeous white sand beach and surrounding coral reefs. Another activity is HHUC’s burgeoning art scene. There are some talented and creative people on these trips!

As the week went on, we continued to hear news of the increasing danger of COVID-19. We felt very fortunate and grateful for our timing — a fantastic Caribbean vacation in a beautiful, virus-free location, returning to Canada just as the warnings came out from the Canadian government recalling all international travellers. We can’t party together right now, but we video conference to keep the memories alive and support each other through the 14 day self-isolation. (Update: We all emerged virus-free.)

Bonaire was beautiful, the diving superb and the company was the best! 

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HHUC Online Party & Geography Trivia, Friday July 24, 5:00 pm

Hart House Underwater Club Online Party &  Geography Trivia Contest!

Friday, July 24 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

We still can’t crowd onto a dive boat or practice buddy breathing,but we can carry on the HHUC tradition of another great party — once again on Zoom. We’d love to see the topographical features of your smile, as we play Geography Trivia this month. 

Theme: Geography Trivia!

Attire: Dress up with something from your favourite country in the world! Or turn yourself into a geographic feature – ocean, mountain, iceberg, river, volcano — The sky’s the limit.

Date: Friday, July 24, 2020

Time: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

BYOB: Snack and drinks representative of your favourite country or geographic feature (be creative!)

Zoom Login:
https://bioconnect.zoom.us/j/99042659414?pwd=MlZwbEtTeStKU0RSaktCUnM3NE5xQT09

The Game Platform: Kahoot — Please note that the trivia quiz will be done on Kahoot. If you are able to have two devices (e.g., a phone and a computer), it will make the game easier to play! One device will be your remote to punch in your answers, and the other will be able to display the questions via zoom. If you only have one device, that’s ok! You can just have the Kahoot link open in another tab. The Kahoot quiz link will be sent out after the social starts, so just bring your devices and your competitive spirit, and you will be all set! 

RSVP: moc.liamgnull@inmulacuhh 

See you then!

~ your HHUC Social Committee