In 2017, after serving for 20 years at Lester Pearson College, Chris Blondeau has left the staff at the College. The program at Race Rocks was strongly supported by Chris throughout the time he was here, and we will miss him greatly. He started his service at the college as a PADI diving instructor . In that capacity, hundreds of students in the Diving Service benefited from his skilled teaching, leadership and friendship. He also worked closely with Faculty in the Biology, Environmental Systems and Marine Science Subject areas. His expertise in vessel handling was passed on to many students during his time in the Diving Service.
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- Chris with Diving students
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- preparing for a live underwater webcast
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- Helping the diving students
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- Demonstrating the operation of the underwater camera to students,
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- Servicing the underwater camera.
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- Chirs involved in student webcasts
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- Taking underwater footage of activities.
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- Skipper of the vessel Second Nature
Chris soon became the Director of operations for Pearson College and Race Rocks. In 2005-2006 he took on a major responsibility in coordinating the installation of the Tidal Current Generator at RaceRocks
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- Supervising the commercial divers.
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- Installation of the tidal energy equipment in the engine room.
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- Supervising the transfer of 96 deeo storage batteries onto the island
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- Battery room check
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- things can go wrong
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- Diving with students for installationof monitoring equipment
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- communications
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- The tidal current energy project was a major undertaking requiring coordination and management of a large staff of workers onsite.
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- Working with the Pearson College Divers, with equipment deployment. Here they are installing a fouling plate experiment.
Chris has overseen the development of many projects of the Race Rocks program over the years.
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- Maintaining the Davis weather instrument
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- Installation of a new microwave dish at the top of the tower
See also videos with Chris Blondeau in the Archived Video Diver Section