Awe

Yesterday was pretty incredible. It started the same as Saturday--getting the ROV in the water, searching for the bottom, and a gasp of excitement when we made it. We wandered around the bottom, taking pictures, collecting corals, but the real excitement didn't begin until about hour 6. We came upon a completely vertical wall covered--COVERED--in sponges, galatheid shrimp, corals, anemones, etc. The diversity was mind blowing. It was majestic, going on for hundreds and hundred of meters--up, and up, and up. Unfortunately, the arm of the ROV was acting up and we were unable to collect the samples we wanted. So, today, we are headed back to the same spot! The top of the shear cliff was at about 1700m and was covered in corals.

Let me explain something about the arm. It is excruciating to watch. You find a tree-like structure, a branch of which you want to collect. One person tries to maneuver the ROV into place, while another moves the arm (imagine a claw with only two fat fingers). Everyone is crowded around throwing their opinions out like popcorn. I'm very happy I am not an ROV operator! And we have three chief scientist on board--which causes a few alpha male issues... Anyway, the arm is rocking back and forth in the swell, closing frustratingly slowly, and maybe, just maybe, it gets it! If it does, then begins the long process of trying to bring it to the cold box under the ROV. Twisting the branch into the box, placing it gently down...and letting the grip go... That is where the issue starts--yesterday, 4 times in a row, the branch was balanced precariously on the edge of the box and then, slowly, ever so slightly, it would shift, and drift tauntingly off the edge, into the abyss while every one on the ship let out a defeated sigh.

Hopefully, we will have better luck today. Apparently there was something stuck in the claw which limited the grip capability.

The samples we did get were incredible. One bamboo was almost as thick as my finger! That is very big for a bamboo. We only took a small piece of it. When we were cleaning out the cold box on the deck, I was scraping the bottom with my fingers and managed to stick myself all over with glass sponge spicules. Welcome to the life of a deep sea biologist! It was kind of an indoctrination. Who else would ever come into contact with a species that lives 2000 meters below the surface of the ocean? Then, I looked up and saw the most amazing sight. A beautiful streak of light in the sky, illuminated by the sunset, greens and reds and yellows--it was the space launch!!!! We could see it from the ship!! It was incredible. It was a magical moment. You couldn't help looking at that and feeling alright about the world. I had just had a similar moment about 20 minutes earlier when I was watching the sunset on the bow--the moon was a perfect blood red orb, kissing the horizon. It was just an evening for feeling good about the world...I don't think I can ever be unhappy at sea. (I'm sure Poseidon is gonna test that philosophy)

Ok I need to get back to work. I have been taking lots of photos and plan to post them. We'll see if the internet will cooperate :)