Mission Journal 8 — Brock Woodson: Mission Day 4: Thursday, November 11th, 2004
Cabin fever set in yesterday afternoon. We had been cooped up in the habitat due to unkindly seas all day, but finally decided to try out the hookah system and check out the wonderful life that has decided to call the Aquarius home. After politely consuming an adequate amount of rations, we spent time with the techs, Jay and Thor, learning the intricacies of hookah diving and then were released into the great unknown, but tethered to the mother-ship and limited to 75-100 feet.
On my personal voyage, the sun had set, and the experience of seeing the moon and its rays strike the sea surface from below was awe-inspiring. Equally as inspiring, but on a different plane was the enormous school of barracuda that did their best to mimic the moon by staying just at the edge of darkness and reflecting its rays, eerie! Little starships hovering just above the earth waiting to attack…hmmmm. Luckily, I was protected by an even larger school of fearsome schoolmasters, those insurmountable guardians of the Aquarius. All in all, it was an amazing experience, and since the weather is supposed to be fearsome again tomorrow, a welcome break.
This morning, at Chez Aquarius, Deron insisted that we have some fresh-brewed coffee, then lured us out of bed with hints of a warm breakfast. As visions of crispy bacon, and fried eggs danced in our heads, we, with mouths watering, sprang from our beds, only to find that it was time again to put on our wetsuits for a 5 hour swim. Alas, the gods were not with us this yonder morn, and again we had to wait out their playful toying until noon, and finally, yes finally, we got back to our site.
Alex and I quickly discovered that some little elves had run off with our tools, and so John and Alex were sent on a reconnaissance mission whilst Deron and I began patching cages and prepping the new condos for our soon-to-be clients (parrotfishes). Somehow, our tools ended up missing, but we found new tool bags with hair bands and pliers; it’s beginning to feel a lot like (someone else’s) Christmas. A long, wonderfully productive day at the site ended as the sun went down and we drifted back to the habitat hoping to catch a glimpse of our new visitor, a lemon shark. Alas, tonight it was not to be!
We took our group photo today, and I must say that although I am darn good-looking, next to the rest of these guys, I look even better, even without my beauty sleep. Anyway, tomorrow, the gods look to smile on us again, so its up at 5 am and out for a swim at 6 am.
Until next time, keep the bacon on the griddle. - Brock