Seamounts 2007, Day 4-7 : Deep Sea News

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Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.

Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.

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Seamounts 2007, Day 4-7

Category: Expeditions
Posted on: June 24, 2007 8:30 PM, by CR McClain

Weather, O' Weather...you are my fair and fickle lover. On day 4, we sailed on from Davidson to Patton Escarpment, but a 25+ knot wind kept the ROV out of the water. We steamed further south with the intent of diving off the Channel Islands on the sheltered leeward side. However, naval exercises in the area (i.e. if you come near us we will torpedo you out of the water) and a further degradation of the sea state (from Moderate Nausea to I Think I Just Puked Up My Spleen) prevented us again from diving. We steamed back north to take shelter in Monterey Bay, taking a full 2 days as we made only 2-4 knots against a tremendous head wind. Today, we made an impromptu dive within the shelter of the bay to look for corals. Luckily, we also collected two of my sea slugs although they were diminutive compared to those taken from Davidson and Pioneer Seamounts. If you are counting that is 1 dive in 4 days. Scratch off the other seamounts and the escarpment too. At the end of the expedition we will have only visited 2 of the originally planned locations. With all the downtime there has been little to do except snack, read, and watch movies. Being in the bay at least allowed cell phone usage and we were allowed to call ashore to complain to our loved ones how bored we were. The current plan is to sail back to Davidson and wait in rough seas until things calm enough to core and/or deploy the ROV.

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Comments

I'm trying to catch up here. Are you doing research?

I guess it would be boring to be stuck on a boat for a few days but right now that sounds good to me. We just returned from vacationing on Sanibel Island in the Gulf of Mexico. After a week of being as lazy as humans can be, it's tough beginning a new week and getting back to the old grind. As much as my husband loves his work as a marine biologist, he loves fishing and reading and cocktailing on vacation even more.

Here's hoping that the weather cuts you some slack and you get to get in the water instead of just looking at it.

Posted by: pissed off patricia | June 25, 2007 6:47 AM

Just returned from the expedition and the weather did not get better.

Posted by: CR McClain | June 26, 2007 1:30 PM