Mission Journal 4 — Howard Mendolovitz: Mission Day 4: Thursday, August 18th, 2005
Well, things are going really well. I can’t believe we have already been down here for four days. Along with our daily routines we have been gearing up for an intensive one day experiment. It entails placing sensors spaced out from the sea surface to ocean floor along a single line, also known as a vertical array. In addition we will be taking water samples throughout the day using a neat little system Niels built. It uses the pressure differential from the surface to create a vacuum allowing us to sample from many different spots but collecting at a single point source.
In the evening, I spend many an hour just staring out the view port. The light attracts fish near and far. A juvenile Goliath Grouper, Noah I call him, comes by every night. I would guess the “little” guy weighs forty pounds and is a couple of years old. He saunters around trying to blend in. At times Noah looks like he is pretending to be one of the yellowtail snappers, swimming with the school. Except he occasionally makes a quick stab at a slow swimmer. He has not hit one yet that we have seen, but you don’t get to be forty pounds by missing all the time. Mmmmmm, sushi! Go Noah!!