New Website to showcase Magical Freshwater Underwater World: Are you aware of the magical world that exists just a few inches below the surface of our lakes and rivers? World Traveler and Underwater Explorer Nancy Washburne will introduce you to this magical world through a new website featuring her underwater videos. After visiting 137 countries around the globe, Nancy wanted to introduce her teenage son to the beauty of her native Michigan. Being an experienced scuba diver who has dived and snorkeled in the Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Truk Lagoon, Palau, Papua, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, Fiji, Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Cozumel, and other Caribbean islands, she felt that Michigan inland lakes would offer a great variety of snorkeling experiences for her family. Little did she know what this exploration was going to bring. She realized that information about freshwater snorkeling in Michigan was not available anywhere, so with her curiosity unsatisfied Nancy Washburne embarked on what would end up being a six-year field research study covering over a thousand inland lakes all over Michigan. By herself, Nancy drove over 200 miles a day during spring, summer and fall of 1992-1997 snorkeling over a thousand public access Michigan inland lakes. With the discipline of a scientist, she kept copious notes of every experience, detailing the types of vegetation, names of resident fish and their locations. To complement her research, Nancy, an experienced underwater photographer, took over 700 hours of video that she later painstakingly edited herself. Now you are going to be able to enjoy the best images of this wonderful voyage of discovery, featuring 49 different species of fish and turtles being themselves in their own habitat. Nancy has already posted 4 videos and she is in the process of getting ready many more. Nancy is a strong believer in the Virtuous Circle of Exploration, Education, and Conservation ; inspired by the immortal words of Baba Dioum . She hopes that people all over the world will follow this example, and start discovering the magical world that exists just a few inches below the surface of our lakes and rivers. "If you can breathe, you can snorkel."
Taxonomy
- Aquatic Ecology
- Aquatic Ecologist
- Aquatic Environment
- Website Management
- Fresh Water Ecology