Michelle LaComb - Hydrophone Practice

The hydrophone ready to go!

Caution: Hydrophone in use.

The mic down in the river.

This week, I continued to practice using the hydrophone. On Tuesday around noon I ventured down to a small park on the Halifax River. Armed with a laptop, camera, hydrophone, and a friend to keep me company, I walked out onto the dock and began my research! I unwound the cords of the hydrophone, turned it on, and lowered the microphone down over the railing into the water. I listened to the sloshing sounds of the water through the external speaker for a few moments before plugging the hydrophone into my laptop to start recording the sound. I had practiced recording sounds at home and thought that I had the hang of it. I was mistaken, however, for when I tried to record at the river nothing happened. Before I could figure out what was wrong, my laptop died. Clearly, I suck at being prepared! No worries though! Mistakes are just part of the learning process! Though I was unable to record any sounds, I remained on the river for about an hour moving around to different locations in an attempt to find something to listen to. Sadly, all I heard was water this time!
I had a chat with an older man who was fishing off the dock I was on. He told me that he often sees pods of dolphins swimming by and manatees feasting upon the grass along the shore at that park between 6 and 8AM. Looks like I'll be taking an early morning adventure sometime this week!

View of the river.

My friend James listening to the speaker.