Sea Legs

When Chris Wojcik was three years old, his favorite toy was his scuba GI Joe, which came with a wet suit, mask and fins. After sufficient badgering, his mother outfitted him with paper plates, which she cut in half and rubber banded to his feet, and giant seventies aviator sunglasses, which he wore for a scuba mask. Suited up and ready for adventure, little Chris headed off to explore the great deep under his dining room table. Years later, the summer “Jaws” hit theaters, Chris badgered his parents again. It was R rated, as you may recall, so they went to see it first-- as any responsible parents would-- then decided to take him along. He was seven. That infamous summer, when most people ran away from the ocean, Chris ran towards it; secretly chummed for sharks with leftover tuna sandwiches, which he pocketed when his mom wasn’t looking.

Chris eventually graduated with degrees in biology and biological oceanography. But it was all those summers spent working with his dad-- a contractor— which gave him the additional experience and confidence needed to work with all manner of tools and building materials. So it was no surprise to anyone when Chris ended up as a leading environmental education specialist. In other words, he’s the guy who gets paid to travel all over the world, then design and construct exhibits and sculptures for zoos, aquariums and natural history museums.

As the CEO of Ionature, Inc., he’s a busy guy. Because of his intrinsic artistic ability, he can create most anything you need while keeping an eye on its natural oceanic compatibility and organic integrity. Whether building and installing reefs and shipwrecks for the San Diego Zoo and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, or researching peet swamps in Malaysia, Chris has been very successful using his unique combination of knowledge and skills to interpret nature for the public. He knows about water currents, waves and tides and the feeding cycles of all sea creatures known to man. He can spot ill-placed anemone and misappropriated barnacles on the wrong side of a piling sculpture in a museum exhibit a mile a way.

But he’s also drawn to more unusual challenges. Recently Chris was commissioned by the family of a career commercial fisherman who died to design a 12 foot flounder inside which the ashes of the fisherman would be placed, then submerged to become an underwater reef and art installation for eternity. He took on the project, crafting the flounder sculpture with great care and respect, then offered to submerge the tribute reef himself, as he’s also been an accredited scuba diver for twenty-four years.

Which brings me to his sideline career as an underwater cameraman. Chris is the also the guy you hire to shoot footage of historic sunken ships salvaged from the 1800s off of Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey, of which there are many. While doing so a year or so back, he met a guy from the Discovery Channel who needed a shark expert to field and answer the onslaught of live chat questions about sharks that rolled in during Shark Week programming. Being a shark expert, Chris said, sure. So he’s done that, too.

I asked him what he’s excited about lately and his even-keeled manner spiked ever so slightly. “Underwater reef sculpture,” he said, and his eyes lit up. Apparently there are underwater sculpture gardens out there for combo scuba/art enthusiasts. There’s a big one in Mexico, and there’s Touchdown Jesus in Florida, of course, but Chris has plans for us right here in New Jersey. Big plans.

Starting in a few weeks, Chris will begin building a fifty-five foot, thirty-five thousand pound horseshoe crab reef sculpture out of rebar and cement—the only two materials that are 100% sea-friendly. It will take him 4-6 weeks to construct and weld to the top of a steel barge, which will then be towed out to the reef location at which point a special team of guys who get paid to blow things up will detonated the floaties under the barge. That awesome fun will enable the barge to sink to the ocean’s floor off of Mantoloking, with the sculpture in tact, where it will become home to hundreds and possibly thousands of oceanic life forms for eternity—like the fisherman in the flounder-- and art to scuba divers, too.

Chris chose the horseshoe crab because it’s “one of the oldest unchanged animals left on earth,” and because “its natural design and shape allows it to withstand currents and waves.” He built a model in a diorama-- he builds models of every he does beforehand-- of the happy scene he envisions; two scuba divers placidly gliding down into the welcoming depths of the ocean to see a giant Gulliver-esque horseshoe crab, surrounded by its new reef family and friends.

I asked Chris if there was one thing he wanted people to know about the ocean what would it be, and he answered, “Don’t be afraid of the sea.” He said that even thought fish feed at dawn and dusk, that’s when he likes to swim. “It’s like a big undersea day/night shift change and life gets very interesting down there.” Good thinkin’ I thought and filed that away in my summer brain. Wasn’t it Steve Martin who said, “never at dusk”?

You’re welcome to visit www.artasreef.com for more information, or to just get lost in an ocean lover’s dream; one of many born out of a child’s inexplicable and innate passion for the sea, fostered and nurtured by parents who knew well enough to support their son’s intrepid spirit any way they could, then get the heck out of his way. And keep plenty of paper plates and rubber bands on hand.