After breakfast, we went back to the NELHA visitor center. The guide allowed us to go underground to the “cooling chamber.” The building is cooled by a complex system involving low pressure hot air and low pressure cold air. Next, we went to an aquaculture farm, where we were told about fish breeding and raising. Aquaculture is the raising of any marine animal to use as a product. The company raises Kampachi, a type of fish used in poke. They are also attempting to find the best food to use for the fish. Next we went to an Abalone farm. They are also raising the abalone for commercial use, and they are also trying to find the most efficient feeding methods. After the Abalone, we came home at 2:30 to rest until 8:30 before the blackwater dive. On the dive, we witnessed the largest migration on the planet, in terms of biomass, called the diel vertical migration. The creatures travel from a depth of more than one thousand feet to the surface. The creatures are all transparent or reflective because no light reaches that deep.
