Swell

Last night was pretty rough--thankfully, I'm not feeling sick at all, but other people are. This morning we got up, had some breakfast and then found out that the swell was too big to deploy the ROV. It may be that way for a few days, which would mean lots of free time. Thank goodness for the internet! And books--glorious books. I should be studying or writing my dissertation proposal... but---

OK, new development. Swell died down and we have deployed the ROV. It took a long time to get everything together, and about two hours ago, it started on it's journey into the abyss. The excitement on the ship was palpable...but now, after two hours, 2000 meters, and not reaching the bottom yet, it's turned into kind of a nervous energy. I had to get some coffee twice to make sure I didn't fall asleep at the monitor. All the lights are off in here so we can see if there is anything to see...

So far, we have mostly seen marine snow, plankton, a couple of shrimp and some jellyfish in the water column. It was very exciting! But, most of the people on this cruise are looking at benthic organisms (animals that actually live on the bottom substrates). Ooo, we just saw another ctenophore looking thing, but when we put the thrusters on, it disintegrated. Don't tell PETA.

I'm not sure how long this is going to last. Apparently we try to have dives last at least 6 hours, so we have 4 more hours of this--hopefully ending in the bottom :) I'm enjoying it and it seems most of the other science members are as well.

oop, just lost video... ok, back :) interesting--there seem to be a lot of troubleshooting things happening, but I suppose that is par for the first dive.

Well, I am going to get back to work. Being on this ship is wonderful, though. Last night, I stood out on deck and watched the sun set, no land in sight, just blue water and fading sun and me. Today, while watching the ROV get deployed, there were clumps of sargassum floating by, no doubt harboring hundreds of zooea and amphipods and other exciting microfauna. Apparently whales come by here often, so that is another thing to look forward to. Science makes me so happy--we're just a bunch of nerds on a ship excited by invertebrates...