The History of Diving Museum on Saturday, Aug. 15, will celebrate William Beebe and Otis Barton’s record-breaking dive in the Bathysphere on the same date in 1934.
The museum will portray what this milestone meant for diving history and understanding about creatures of the deep sea while seeing them for the very first time in their natural environment, a half-mile down in the ocean.
In addition, Julia Sokolow will host a special presentation at 12:30 p.m. on the research and development of the museum’s current “Prescribed Pressure” limited-time featured exhibit. Josh Thacker, museum curator and collections manager, and Solokow spent hundreds of hours researching the subject matter, gathering information and artifacts, writing narrative and designing what is on display through the end of the year.
Tours will take place at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. (tours are about an hour each) with the presentation in-between at 12:30 p.m. Both are included with the price of admission, and are free for museum members. No reservation is required, but attendees are asked to arrive 10 minutes before the start time. Attend the 11 a.m. tour and stay for the presentation or come to the presentation and stay for the 2 p.m. tour. Light refreshments will be served during the presentation.
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, the museum’s free “Immerse Yourself” presentation will feature Tom Potts, program director for science at Deep. He is a member of the team helping to shape the future of sustained human presence beneath the sea.
With more than 30 years in marine science and undersea operations, he is advancing the Vanguard habitat system to expand scientific discovery, technology development and ocean stewardship. His presentation explores the first permanently deployed U.S. open-ocean subsea habitat in 40 years — and how it is transforming the way scientists live and work beneath the sea. Learn how this research platform will support coral reef conservation, climate science, technology development and long-duration human exploration.
The museum’s exhibits will be open late on “Immerse Yourself” night, with the last admission at 6:45 p.m. The featured exhibit is “Prescribed Pressure,” which explores the history of diving medicine and how pressure can harm or heal the body. Attendees may mingle with museum members and Dick Rutkowski, a pioneer of hyperbaric and diving medicine.
In the 1970s, he taught the first diving-emergency and accident-management courses for divers. He brought the first hyperbaric chamber to South Florida in 1973. Before that, there were no chambers anywhere in South Florida to treat decompression sickness in divers.
In 1985, Rutkowski spearheaded the introduction of nitrox breathing gas to the recreational scuba diving community. Among his many accolades, he is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aquanaut and founder of Hyperbarics International Inc. Light refreshments will be served and the “Immerse Yourself” presentation will begin promptly at 7 p.m.
Event’s sponsors include Captain Sharky’s Florida Keys Water Adventures and Trident Surface Supplied Diving.
