Today was our second full day in saturation. One of the best parts about being down here is the opportunity to see the local wildlife. We spend so much more time out in the water than we could diving from the surface, and we have the chance to really take a look around even when working. During our morning dive, Jim and I came back to the habitat to full up our air tanks. As we were again heading out to the reef, Mike and Ross pointed out an amazing scene unfolding just under the habitat. A ‘ball’ of tiny fish (bait fish) was darting around in a tight school. As we watched, two small nurse sharks, a Southern stingray and hundreds of snapper and grouper were feeding on the bait fish in a frenzy of activity. We had never seen anything like it. As we watched, the fish ball got smaller and smaller as the predators gorged themselves on the freshest of sushi. The sharks and rays were so focused on feeding that we could get really close and touch them!!! We had a camera with us and swam into the middle of the activity to try to capture some of the action (we’ll try to have some of the photos posted in the pictures section). I have never experienced being in the middle of so many fish who completely ignored us – it was phenomenal. We also were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming around the reef later in the day.
As for the science (ah, yes the less interesting but *real* reason we are here!), we had a very productive day. Jim and I were able to deploy current meters in some barrel sponges today. These will be used to see how fast these primitive animals pump water through their bodies. Sponges are incredibly efficient at filtering water, so we will also be sampling the water to see how much food and oxygen the sponges can extract. Kristen and Matt, with help from our amazing surface support team, spent much of their dive time setting up the pumps we are using for the ‘control volume’ experiment. It appears that everything is in working order, but we have to fine tune some of the pumping rates to get the experiment just right. If things go well, we should be able to start collecting data on this part of the project tomorrow. We are still amazed that each dive team could spend six or more hours out on dives. Of course, this still isn’t enough time!!! Yes, we scientists are never satisfied!
It’s good to be back in the Aquarius for the first full science mission of the year. The menace of Hurricane Dennis passed leaving some relatively minor damage to the habitat. It could have been worse. The popular dive site wreck of the Spiegal Grove is about 15 miles north of here and it was turned upright from it’s initial position of being on it’s side. It’s a credit to the original installers of the habitat on the sea floor at Conch Reef that we are underway on this mission and not looking for a wayward habitat! Instead we were able to render repairs, complete Aquanaut training and start the mission only one day late The reef looks like it held it’s own during the passing storm. There was some sand shifting and scouring. Some broken corals, but not too much. The settling silt looks like a dusting of light snow on the reef. Water visibility has been very low, but slowly improving. The bright side of low visibility is that the water is full of plankton, which makes for an interesting show at our viewports at night.
Ross and I are spending time in the water cleaning valves and related equipment. We also tightened down a hold down chain or two that was loosened by the storm. Every now and then we get distracted by the reef community around us. I saw a large nurse shark in a concentrated search pattern on the bottom. Then I spotted it’s prey. There was a dead snapper resting nearby that the shark quickly found and sucked into her mouth with the efficiency of a vacuum cleaner. Then, while scrubbing a valve handle, a curious green moray eel came along and rested his head on my arm for a moment. I said hello and he went about his business.
This group of Aquanauts are spending lots of time on the reef. Keeping busy makes the time fly by. Saturday already!
Well we made it down here, better late than never they say. Hurricane Dennis pushed us back a day, but the whole crew rallied to get us back on schedule. After thoroughly checking out all our systems and redeploying all of the gear we brought up as a precaution with the hurricane, the mission is once again a go.
As Habitat Techs, my partner Mark “Otter” Hulsbeck and I, are responsible for keeping up with the day to day activities of maintaining and running Aquarius, as well as looking out for our scientists and helping to facilitate their science.
At any given time, one of us is inside freeing up the other to go out on “Hookah”, a habitat supplied umbilical that gives us a virtually unlimited air supply, and allows us to clean and check critical systems on the outside of the habitat. Each morning after getting the scientists in the water, we perform a daily check list to make sure all aspects of the Habitat are in good working order.
This is day one of what we hope to be a very productive mission. This project has a diverse group of scientists from all over, including Stanford, the University of North Carolina, UC Berkeley, and the Hebrew University in Israel.
At 1:00 pm this afternoon we looked up at the beautiful Florida sky one last time, then headed down to Aquarius for the next nine days. This experiment literally started four years ago when Greg was a graduate student and wrote a proposal for this project. Our lab has been working towards today since then, with the pace picking up in the past year, and reaching a “whirlwind” (forgive the hurricane pun!) of activity the past couple weeks getting ready. Finally getting in the water this afternoon reminded me of taking a long, sometimes bumpy, airplane flight. Then hopping in the ocean, with the water quickly erasing the stress and worry of the trip, and replaced by the wonder of a new place.
Today was my first time inside Aquarius. If you’re wondering what it’s like, it’s sort of like being in the school bus you always wanted to have when you were in 3rd grade — your friends, a can of Pringles potato chips, and an ocean swimming by in the lights.