Day 3

(Written on day 4. Internet access is spotty at best.)

Busy, busy, busy – A morning sub dive, a snorkeling trip, a MOCNESS, and an afternoon sub dive made for a full day of work. In the morning and the afternoon dives, a large number of the sea urchin Stylocidaris lineata were collected and they were subsequently spawned. Because the temperatures at depth are a little cool (about 52 degrees F), they fertilized eggs were just beginning to divide when I went to bed at midnight.

The students of the “Deep-Sea Biology” course (U. Oregon) are beginning their projects. For some it will be quite amusing when they describe how they spent their time in the Bahamas working in a cold room (52 degrees inside; 85 degrees outside) wearing long pants and a sweat shirt. Sometimes life simply is not fair.

The processing of the MOCNESS (Multiple Opening/Closing Environmental Sampling System) samples began at 4:30 and continued until after midnight. The first few hours were filled with the laughter of happy, working students….it was pretty quiet when I finally headed down to my cabin at 12 AM. Personally, I like to sort plankton, but after working for that long a period of time, my bottom becomes more that a little sore.

Annie Pollard (U. Oregon) a cheerful graduate student (is there any other kind?) and I are working to explore the flow of dissolved organic materials into the bodies of larval and juvenile sea cucumbers. Our first experiment begins later today.

The food aboard the R/V Seward Johnson has been splendid. No major culinary discoveries this trip (although I do appreciate an automatic coffee bean grinder and an automatic coffee maker that operate 24/7). I have, however, located a secret cache of ice cream bars! I’m diving soon so I need to be mindful of my fluid intake as there are no restrooms at 2000 feet.

I’m a day behind in writing and I’m due to start the hunt for more starfish…

Dr. Michelle Wood (U. Oregon) prepared to begin a dive off of New Providence Island.

The sub is at the mercy of the surface waves when it returns to the surface.

Craig Brauer sorted the MOCNESS plankton samples deep into the night.