• What was your favorite scuba diving trip?

Our favorite scuba diving trip was when we went diving in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, right on the equator. We dove at Caroline Atoll, hundreds of miles from the nearest land and where no one lives. Caroline Atoll is one of the largest atolls on the planet. The water there was warm and surprisingly clear and there were lots of corals and fish to see. (Can you find Caroline Atoll on a map or globe?)

Mrs. Brown: One time a moray eel bit me by accident. It was a tiny moray eel. It bit my finger as I moved my hand by the hole it was hiding in. The moray eel let go as soon as he bit when he realized my finger was not a fish. Even though the moray eel bit into my finger its teeth were so tiny that I didn't need a bandaid for my finger.

Mr. Brown: One time I was hurt when I accidentally brushed my legs up against a fireworm. A fire worm looks like a fuzzy caterpillar. If you touch a fireworm it burns worse than getting burned by fire coral. Where I touched the fireworm on my legs it burned all day and night. After that it was numb on my legs for two weeks.

• Have you ever eaten something underwater?

Mr. Brown: Yes. Sometimes I will eat things underwater to surprise people because most people don't think you can eat underwater. I have eaten some scallops and a banana underwater.

• Do you like to touch fish?

It is fun to touch fish, but most fish don't like to be touched. We also have to be careful not to touch fish too much. Most fish have a thin layer of slime that covers their bodies that helps protect them from infection. If we touch them too much we could rub off their protective coating.

• Do you have any pet fish or other pet animals?

No. We are usually not home, since we are talking to schools or going on research trips. We can't take pets with us when we travel and we are not at home enough to take care of any pets. When we lived in the Caribbean Sea we did have pets there. We went diving in the same place every day and the fish there got to know us. After a while they were like our pets. They would come over to us when we got in the water and want us to feed them.