2008 Official Explorer
Online Journal

Hi, I’m Alexa Stefanko. I’m 12 years old and live near Burlingame, California. I love climbing, snorkeling, swimming, bird watching, and reading. I want be a marine biologist and specialize in animal communication in the seas. This year, I'm an Official Explorer for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

For the past two years I have been working to support the Coyote Point Museum, a museum dedicated to educating children about the importance of protecting the environment. Last year, a group of friends and I organized the Environmental Fair and Auction for the museum and this year we are planning a Swap O Rama Rama (SORR), Fashion Show and Green Auction. At a SORR you transform used clothes into wearable art (founded by Wendy Tremayne and described at swaporamarama.org) and then you get to showcase your designs at a fashion show. I also served as a Leader-In-Training helping out at the museum’s summer camps.

I had wonderful time at Shark Days at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and can’t wait for the next event! First, we met last year's explorers: Ayla, Eduardo, and Sierra. They told us all about their experiences as Official Explorers and what to expect for the year. They were all incredibly helpful, and very interesting to talk to. I was amazed and inspired by how committed they were to protecting the underwater community.

My favorite part of Shark Days was meeting last year’s explorers. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to work with them again. Shark Days was also my first opportunity to work with my colleague, the other 2008 Official Explorer, Simon Willig.

First, I listened to a presentation, which was given by Dr. Steve Webster, a senior biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. During the presentation, he told us all about his various shark encounters, from having a flipper nibbled by an enormous whale shark, to encountering the peaceful reef sharks in the waters of Fiji. He also explained that sharks aren’t the vicious and dangerous creatures we constantly hear about from the media. He taught us that sharks are normally passive and completely essential to a healthy ecosystem.

Did you know that more people die from falling coconuts every year than from shark attacks? A very enlightening statistic! I was most curious about what I could do to help protect sharks. After reading the Seafood Watch cards I learned not to eat sharks because their populations are so unstable. I was also reminded how important it is to never litter or pollute because ultimately much of the trash and pollutants make their way to the oceans.

Another fun part of Shark Days was the craft tables. I helped the participants create stamps of ocean creatures to put on their postcards (and even created a few of my own). I also worked at the event booth greeting visitors, handing out information about Shark Days and answering questions.

This year as an Official Explorer, I’m excited about absolutely everything! I can’t wait to meet new people, learn about our precious oceans and how to protect them and share that knowledge with others.

Hi, I'm Simon Willig. I’m 12 years old and currently live in Redwood City, California. I love the oceans and all that lives in them. I'm a 2008 Official Explorer for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Over the next several months I hope to get you more interested in the oceans through the Sea Notes blog.

Right now I'm doing simple things like using compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycling and eating sustainable seafood (to learn more download the Seafood Watch pocket guides). These are all easy things that you can do to conserve the oceans.

I also like working with the organization Save the Bay at the Palo Alto Baylands reserve. (I’ll tell you more, later; keep reading.) I’ve been working with my friend Ayla (2007 Official Explorer) to create a PowerPoint presentation and assembly kit called "Save Our Seas" (S.O.S.) that can be presented at schools in your area. Come to and see Ayla and me present S.O.S, and find out how you can present it, too.

As an Official Explorer, I am excited about learning all I can from the aquarists (scientists who work at the Aquarium doing research and taking care of the animals). I also love educating the public on how to save the oceans and how to eat sustainable seafood by passing out Seafood Watch pocket guides.

February 23-24 was Shark Days at the Aquarium, my first event as an Official Explorer. I was both nervous and excited before the event.

First, we had the passing of the torch (or in this case the vest) ceremony from the 2007 Explorers. We talked about what we were looking forward to as an Official Explorer (which is basically everything). Right after getting the vest, I put it on and got down to business. I had a great time working at the event booth with 2007 explorers Ayla, Sierra and Eduardo, and 2008 explorer Alexa. We had fun helping each other figure out the answers to the Sharks and Rays activity booklet, taking turns helping Aquarium visitors find their way around, and discussing our favorite exhibits.

I had great fun at the sevengill shark feeding where divers held pieces of fish on poles. Sharks swam by and bit off the fish. It was awesome to see these huge sharks prey like they would in the wild. Later, I went with Ayla, Sierra and Alexa to Jellies: Living art and Wild About Otters to pass out Seafood Watch cards and learn more about jellies and freshwater otters.

A couple weekends later I found myself in the new exhibit Splash Zone staring at a wall of eel burrows. Among these strange, but beautiful snakelike fish were snowflake morays, honeycomb morays, white mouth morays and zebra morays. I also had a chance to see leaping blennies (cute little grey fish that actually do jump onto low rocks), and leafy sea dragons (a close but cooler relative to seahorses that camouflages amazingly well by having leaflike green appendages). I saw cuttlefish (a cousin to squid and octopus that, like its relatives, can change its skin to thousands of different colors) and a personal favorite: nudibranchs, which are brightly colored sea slugs that have stinging tentacles.

The next weekend I went to the Palo Alto Baylands with my mom and the organization Save The Bay. I helped plant native vegetation such as common yarrow and common aster to help the indigenous plant population recover and grow. I had a blast learning more about the San Francisco Baylands and their history while helping conserve the oceans.

Stay tuned to learn more about Explorer activities in my next entry. Until then (and always), this is Simon saying: THINK OCEAN!