Monitor Expedition 2010
June 21-23 and Aug 2-6

The Under Pressure will be doing two Monitor Expeditions during the summer of 2010. To learn more about the Monitor please visit the following sites:

http://monitor.noaa.gov/imagery/welcome.html

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/monitor01/background/plan/plan.html

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02monitor/welcome.html

Expedition Leader Capt JT Barker

Capt JT Barker has been a licensed captain for over 19 years. He is an avid Wreck Diver, Trimix Deep Diver, Cave Diver, and Adventure Seeker. He started running dive trips in 1994, has dived and led trips to many prestigious sites such as: Andrea Doria, E.M. Clark, Bow Mariner, and the famous wrecks of the Billy Mitchell Fleet, which includes the German Battleship Ostfriesland 380ft and Light Cruiser Frankfurt 420ft. Capt JT is presently exploring new virgin wrecks in VA/NC in the 300ft range while running dive charters for all levels of divers on his vessel the "Under Pressure". Capt JT holds himself to the highest standards of safety and leadership; his focus on risk management ensures that his trips are conducted safely. With all of Capt JT's diving accomplishments he is just as happy diving 100ft.

Diving: Experience is more valuable than money, the price one pays for that experience is unmeasureable.

Dr. Thomas R. Sawicki earned his Ph.D. from Old Dominion University in 2004 in Ecological Sciences.  He has described numerous new species and genera of animals within the Order Amphipoda from caves throughout the world.  His current primary research interests involve the systematics and trophic structure of the fauna of the Floridan aquifer. 

Dr. Sawicki is the lead scientist for the Monitor expedition and will be coordinating the efforts to quantify the vertebrate species diversity on the Monitor and to determine population numbers for the red lionfish (Pterois volitans).  These efforts are part of a larger research project to determine the affect P. volitans is having on endemic species diversity on the reefs of North Carolina.  The Monitor will act as a natural control for these studies as fishing and other recreational uses are restricted or greatly limited.

Dr. Sawicki has over 30 years of diving experience.  He has conducted numerous scientific cave diving expeditions including the discovery of new species in Bermuda, Cuba and Florida.  He has also taken part in expeditions to document the German battleship SMS (later USS) Ostfriesland with depths to 380 ft and unidentified shipwrecks in depths exceeding 300 ft.

Mario Alexander Loria is from Puntarenas, Costa Rica and has been running fishing charters on various sport fishing vessels since 1989. He has ran charters from Costa Rica to Mexico, Panama (thru the Canal 10 times), Venezuela, the Caribbean, Cape Verde Islands in Africa; and from Florida to Maine. He became a diver back in 2007 when he met Capt JT and got the diving bug. Mario has dived most of the wrecks off of Hatteras and is currently working on his Master Diver certification.

Chip Holcomb became a certified diver shortly after moving to the Outer Banks in  1981, and began working in a local dive shop as a tank monkey. He became an Instructor in 1985 when he began teaching for several shops and worked as a Divemaster on several boats until he retired from teaching in 2007. In 2000 he started cave diving and began diving some of the deeper wrecks. He dove the USS Monitor in 2009 as a member of the  NC Aquarium USS Monitor Expedition. He resides in Nags Head with his wife and two daughters.

Some of the certifications he holds are:

PADI Master Instructor
IANTD Instructor
DAN  Instructor
NC EMT
NCC-CDS Deep Cave
TDI Advanced Trimix

Steve Russell has been diving since 1996 and living in N.E. Pennsylvania keeps him close to the wrecks off New Jersey and New York.  In the winter when the dive boats are not running he is in the local lakes digging up to his elbows in mud looking bottles and artifacts.

Cave diving is also a passion where the Florida systems will find him 2 or 3 times a year. He has been fortunate to dive in some beautiful Mexican caves in the Yucatan which are breathtaking. In Florida he prefers to dive in the less traveled systems, and has been in some caves (almost) untouched where the effects of nature are spectacular.

Some of his most memorable wreck dives have to be the Andrea Doria and Empress of Ireland (one of his favorites). Most wrecks are special to him when considering the emotion and circumstances of their sinking, and although he enjoys looking for artifacts the element of human suffering and sacrifice is always in his mind when visiting these places. 

Submarines are also fascinating to him, even the sunken ones! And it’s been a dream of mine to visit as many as possible along the NY, NJ and NC coasts from the USS Bass to the U352.

Each dive is special, and although he has some particular favorites they change each season whether he is in a lake, cave or wreck, every time is a new experience.

Michael Schlink  has spent the last 25 years searching for the world’s greatest diving.  After 20 years of cave diving  Florida and Mexico, diving  tropical destinations all over the Caribbean and South Pacific he moved to North Carolina to dive the “Wreck Capitol of the World”.  As a civil war historian he has visited numerous battlefields and museums throughout the US. He was able to combine his love for wreck diving and Civil War history, and fulfill a long time dream by participating in three previous USS Monitor expeditions.
The USS Monitor will always remain his favorite dive but coming in a close second he considers N. Carolina’s EM Clark, Canada’s Jodery and Egypt’s SS Thistlegorm as “must not miss dives” for any avid wreck diver.  Michael has joined Capt. JT and Dr. Sawicki on other deep wreck expeditions including the “Unknown wreck”, an as yet unidentified wreck at a depth of 300 ft.
He continues to teach scuba diving as a PADI instructor since 1988, cave dive and travel with his wife Parker, also an active scuba diver.

While earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Michigan in the early 1990’s, Scott Powell found time to become a certified diver.  Upon relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina, he completed his Master’s (also in Political Science) while working at a local dive center.  Soon his passion for diving superseded his original career goals. 

In 2000 Mr. Powell purchased Down Under Surf & SCUBA and became a dive instructor.  The following decade proved a productive, and busy one, as Mr. Powell quickly built upon experience to become an active technical instructor and cave diver.  Meanwhile, Down Under Surf & Scuba passed the 5000 certified divers mark and was recognized as amongst the top 10% of PADI dive centers in the US. 

Jeff Crowder  became a certified diver in 1985 while studying at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and later became a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer.  After working for a few years in the diving industry, including a stint with a cruise line, Jeff returned to school and his other vocation of flying, and is now a commercial airline pilot with Continental.  Jeff’s experience includes diving on numerous wrecks along the North and South Carolina coasts, in the Great Lakes, in Florida ’s caves, and in the cenotes of Mexico ’s Yucatan peninsula.  Jeff is currently an Advanced Nitrox and Decompression instructor through TDI.