Mission & Project Info | NOAA’s Aquarius Undersea Laboratory
Mission Blog

Sarah’s thought of the day: One of my favorite things about being in the Aquarius is watching the fish swimming around the viewport as I lie in my bunk. Our bunkroom is on the end of the Aquarius. There are three bunks on each side and a 30 inch viewport at our feet. My bunk is in the middle (Mark sleeps below me and Ashley is in the top bunk). While lying with my head on the pillow, I have a perfect view of the fishes at my feet! Before saturating I went to the bookstore and picked the thickest book I could find Ð figuring I’d have lots of time to read down here. I think I’ve finished about ten pages! Every night when I get in my warm toasty bunk, intending to read, I’m inevitably drawn in to the more interesting story at my feet! What a wonderful way to fall asleep! There is a light on the top of the Aquarius, and so we can watch the fish circling outside. Usually, there are dozens of yellowtail snapper, sergeant majors, chromis, and boga swarming about. And then they all disappear! Within moments the reason for their disappearance is obvious: first a giant shadow blocks the light above, and then a great barracuda slowly, menacingly, swims by… I’ve yet to see the big barracuda put its sharp teeth to use, but there’s still two more nights to go!

Emma: We started the day early, as usual - into the water by 6:30am! Sarah and I swam the northeast line to put bait (catfood) into the fish trap. We were met at the trap by 5 spiny lobsters who had found their way in during the night. They were somewhat reluctant to leave, but we finally got them out and they backed away, down the sand channel, and disappeared under ledges - only leaving their antennae sticking out, feeling for movement. The black grouper James tagged yesterday up the northeast trap has been standing guard over the trap ever since - every time we visit, there he is sitting beside it. Late this afternoon, however, the temptation was too much, and he was back IN the trap. (N.B. I actually don’t know that IT is a HE). The highlight of the day for me was a phone call to Ms. McKnight’s Fourth Grade Class at South Knoll Elementary School in College Station, Texas. My daughter, Sydney is in the class. I called from the Aquarius Undersea Lab, while they watched on the live webcam and talked on a speaker phone in their classroom. They met all the Aquanauts and Dom, our Aquarius guy (Mark was underwater). They had great questions ready for us. I could hear the interest and excitement in their voices - what fun!!! Thanks South Knoll for chatting! This week has flown by - only 2 more hours of diving tomorrow morning to go, then 17 hours of decompression. It sure would be nice if we could stay longer. I’m starting to recognize individual fish, eels, lobster, basket stars, sponges, corals - and thinking as I pass them, “Hey, I know you”.

Ashley: We were in the water as the sun was coming up and James and I were determined to catch a hogfish. We put up the seine net in a little spur and groove coral area near the habitat. I chased a nice big hogfish for quite some time; I could tell I was bothering him as he was trying to eat little critters in the sand. He ditched me easily every time (I looked pretty silly!). Then, I was hot on his tail (literally) and he was headed straight for the net, James swooped in from the left and we closed the net on him just in time! After he was decorated with a lovely tag for his bravery, we tagged two more blue parrotfishes and a small black grouper. It was a good day on the reef - although certain fishes may beg to differ. We’ll be going to the surface in a little over a day - at first it might be a little strange not to have water over my head…