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Diving The St. Lawrence!
Posted by Jonathan Bird on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.

We’re winding down towards the end of the production of season 4.  I know it has been a long time working on this season—about 2 years in fact.  Alas, our program involves an incredible amount of travel and expense.  Furthermore, I actually hate being away from my kids, so I don’t like to travel too often or for too long.  As a result, the shoots get spaced out a bit rather than being back-to-back.  Season 4 is our most ambitious, most exciting, highest production-value season so far, and there are only a couple shoots left.  You may have noticed that we are starting to release the webisodes already, because we know you are getting impatient for new material!

For some reason, a lot of exciting things happen in the ocean in the September/October time frame, all over the world.  So we have had shoots scheduled in several places during this time. Hawaii, Mexico, St. Lawrence, Massachusetts and Cocos Island all within weeks of each other!  It’s exciting but also exhausting!  A lot of people express to me that I have the greatest job ever, and it definitely has its perks, but when you have been on the road for the better part of two months, it starts to lose its luster.  I am ready for a month without getting on a plane, let me tell you!

So to bring you up to speed…Cameraman Todd, Editor Tim and I just came back from four days in upstate New York shooting 2 segments in the St. Lawrence river.  One segment is about invasive species, featuring the zebra mussel and round goby.  I know, that sounds like a pretty weird segment, but trust me, it's an interesting story and you will enjoy it.  The other segment is about the shiprecks in the St. Lawrence.  Fortunately, we are lucky to be friends with David Doubliet and Jen Hayes, who live in that area and know the diving very well.  They were able to set up charters for us, and even put us up at their house for a few days.  David took us out diving on four of the most popular wrecks up there so we will have a good selection of wrecks and footage to choose from in pulling the story together.

I'm now home, having just finished drying the gear, and I'm leaving again…tonight!  Stand by for the next update soon!

-Jonathan

Photo Gallery: Diving The St. Lawrence!