Saturday Rock Fest!!
Posted by: Rory Wilson
Sunday, June 24, 2007
6:00 AM Indian Ocean
Recovering from a great day yesterday. Science at sea. We even had a dance on deck yesterday when the ROCKS came in.... All right, so maybe it was not a big dance! OK, just one person was dancing, ok? but, it was kind of fun, REALLY!
The day just started out well.
It was a great sunrise, winds calm now, clear skies, cruising south along the ridge. Could life get better?
The off-shift was either on the front deck watching the glassy clear waters, on watch for birds and flying fish, or getting in a work-out...
Just daydreaming while we cruised along... waiting to dredge...
Then, we reached a really good-looking slope. Everyone clustered again around the plotter, imagining the ROCKS that we could collect along the slopes of our undersea ridge.. The word went out - this was it.
The dredge is going in!
We lifted the gear out onto the deck and carefully checked all the chain mesh, the cable... We brought out the pinger that we would attach so that we could know how close our cable was to the rocky slope... Closer to position, then we deploy, launch the gear over the side...
Once out, the group gathers around the instruments in the computer room... Going from steamy tropical hot to the chilled world of computer controlled instruments.
Carefully guiding the dredge in 2700 meters of ocean depth.. We watch carefully to keep the cable above the rocks.
UNTIL...
YES!! More on this whole process later.
For now, just know that it was great fun!
JULY
7/30 - Final day at sea: on the way into Singapore
7/26 - A Day in the Life of a Teacher at Sea
7/18 - Checking our Position (Latitude) with a Sextant
7/16 - Monsoon Blues in the Indian Ocean
7/15 - WAVES, Rough Weather, but an exciting day... WHALES
7/11 - Not the Best Day for Science at Sea
7/9 - Discoveries on the 90 East Ridge
7/5 - Closer to Home, Life Here Onboard
7/2 - Ocean Careers: Texas to Russia
JUNE
6/30 - Easy Cruising Day: Now in the Southeast Trade Winds
6/27 - We Crossed the Equator Today, Heading South.
6/21 - Night Time Fun in the Indian Ocean
6/20 - Transit Gale in the Indian Ocean
6/17 - Arrived in Phuket, Thailand (finally)
