The Final Log: At Home Again

After four layovers in different airports and a few stomach-clenching moments of airline turbulence, we’ve made it home.  Returning from a trip like this is bittersweet.   I miss the warm weather and the warm ocean of the Bahamas, but I felt so happy when I saw the verdant green of home through the airplane window as we flew into North Bend.   I’m finding it a little hard to get into the swing of things here.  The three-hour time change is hard to adjust to—I find myself ravenously hungry at 2:30 pm, just when dinner would have been served on the boat.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go on this research trip.  It was amazing to explore new places and to learn so many new things.  I have come back even more excited about marine science than I was when I left.  There are so many things still to discover!  I must say that I’m so impressed with all of the great questions you students sent us while we were at sea.  You have great scientific minds!  You challenged us to look even more closely at the animals and processes of the deep sea.   I know we’re all looking forward to returning to the classroom to share more of our experiences with all of you.

Take care!

Katie Bennett

As professor Paul Tyler says, it was “another baking hot day in Paradise!”  The R/V Seward Johnson stayed close to New Providence Island today.  While the sub was down in the morning, the rest of us worked feverishly on our research projects.  Miss K and I have been studying the tiny animals like worms and anemones and snails that live on the spines of deep sea urchins.  Some of the spines are literally covered with little animals.  It makes us wonder how these little animals ever find their moving urchin homes in the first place.  Life is amazing, isn’t it?

I was just thinking today that I had no idea what day of the week it is anymore.  Here at sea, far away from clocks and schedules and calendars, the days seem to run together into one.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Every day is different and interesting.  We’re doing amazing things and seeing things that few people (if anyone) have ever seen before!  But the routine of ship life makes it very hard to not find yourself suddenly unaware of what the date is or even what day of the week it is.  If I didn’t have my watch, I’d have no idea what time of day it was, except for where the sun is in the sky.  It’s a different sort of life here, and I really like it.  I’ll miss these sunny, timeless days in baking hot paradise.

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Oh Boy, let me tell you diving down to the cold, dark ocean floor was amazing! It was like Christmas day times ten! I was so anxious last night I could hardly sleep. I tossed and turned as images of strange and mysterious creatures danced in my head. Just between you and me, when the time for my dive finally arrived I squealed with excitement. Don’t tell anyone, I’d be embarrassed. We dove all the way down to 2100 feet! It is so dark in the briny deep we had to turn the sub lights on. WOW! When the light came on a nudibranch started doing the cha cha cha, a dark red shrimp with glowing orbs for eyes scurried about, and a two-foot spotted shark glided lazily along the muddy seafloor. My face was pressed so hard against the porthole I left a face print on the glass. I didn’t think it could get any better but I was wrong. As a full red moon was rising overhead, a party was about to begin below. Poof! Zing! Bursts of light whirled and twirled around the sub. Brilliant green bioluminescence shimmered everywhere in the dark. Animals use this light to communicate. As we ascended I realized I was a part of one of the greatest wonders on Earth. This was truly an amazing experience. read more »

Ms. Matthews

This morning, after we launched the morning sub, we went on a snorkeling trip to a coral reef. Some of our favorite sightings were elkhorn coral, cuttlefish, triggerfish, and a sea turtle. When we were back on the ship we saw the sub surface and get picked up by the ship. We put the animals from the sub in the cold room so they stay at the same cold temperature from where they were collected.

After lunch, we let the CTD out and it began to rain (our first rain since we’ve been here!). We could actually see the storm moving closer across the water. The storm didn’t last long, and it was sunny again within the next hour.

In the afternoon, I went down to 1853 feet in the submersible. We left at 4:00 and surfaced at 7:30. It took almost 30 minutes to get that far down! We collected sea urchins, sand dollars, and a piece of coral. I was able to see what was on the video in the front and had a window on each side in the back. My job was to record what, where, and when we collected animals. I had an amazing time! read more »

All is well at sea. No pirates, no scurvy and no one has yet gone overboard…

It’s 10:30 at night, and the lab is still bustling as people tend to their various experiments and get things organized for tomorrow. We just finished our evening lecture—given outside on the bow of the boat in the muggy, Bahamanian heat. The lecture was on the effects of pressure on deep-sea animals—it’s so cool to learn about animals and processes that we are seeing every day! Today is our sixth day at sea, and things are settling into a routine. It’s crazy that the routine involves submersible launches and snorkeling trips and seeing animals that most people don’t know exist! We do so many cool things, but do you know what we don’t do much? SLEEP! I was on the late shift last night for the CTD cast. We didn’t start the cast until just before 9pm. For the CTD cast, an apparatus with 24 bottles is lowered down to the deep ocean. I think you’ve probably heard about it in some of the other ship logs that we’ve sent to you. Do you remember that the CTD allows us to collect water from specific depths of the ocean? Well last night the CTD went deeper than any of our sub dives! It went deeper than 4,000 meters! And guess what went with it… Dozens of Styrofoam cups decorated by the amazing students of the southern Oregon coast! The cups are back on the boat. What do you think they look like now? read more »

Paradise Island, Bahamas 5-15-08

by Mr. Miller

Today was an exciting day. It was the first day for the sub to take samples in the deep. Everyone got up around 6:30 to get ready and wish the scientists and pilots luck. As the sub went down everyone jumped and cheered. While the sub is below, those of us on the ship needed to prepare for their return. Gathering cold water, preparing and labeling buckets, and setting up aquariums where just a few of the many tasks needed to be done before the sub returned to the surface. We worked so hard we earned some down time so many of us gathered our snorkeling gear and headed to Paradise Island. The ride on the boat was amazing. The waves were high and the mini boat kept leaping in the air and crashing into the waves below. It was like riding on a fast loop-to-loop rollercoaster! The water was warm and a great retreat from the hot Bahamian sun. So many creatures live in the sand and eel grass bed around the island. Deep red sea biscuits slowly cruised the bottom looking for algae, silvery sand dollars swayed in the tide, and helmet conchs lurked in the shadows waiting for the next tasty meal of urchin tartar. read more »

May 13, 2008

Day 2

We left Fort Pierce and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at 6:00am this morning. As we crossed the Gulf Stream, the waves were up to 8 feet high and made some people seasick. My bunk is near the bow (or front) of the ship so I hear and feel the waves as they crash into the hull (or bottom) of the ship. The constant rocking lulls me to sleep.

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