Day 7 AM

Getting up this morning was a real struggle. But after a big cup of coffee, we're off again. We're starting to shift to a later dive schedule. Today's first team splashes at 11:00 AM. The last divers will come out of the water at 1:00 AM tonight (if the plan holds). We're getting good data from the night-time video, so this gives us more time in the dark for those experiments.

The weather up top continues to be fairly nasty, with a fair bit of wave action. Each big wave over the habitat causes a sort of pulse on our ears since the airspace inside here is continuous with the water. That's one phenomenon I won't miss when we leave.

We had a resupply from the NURC boat "Manta" this morning. Fresh towels and a bit more food. We sent up some plaster models that had been out in the water (for drying and weighing up top) and the used batteries from our flow meters. We've been using up batteries at a rate slower than we'd predicted, so we've got ample spare batteries down here.

Last night's dives were a bit strange. There were so many crab larvae in the water that turning on a dive light was an invitation to be pelted. They were so thick that it was a bit tough to work.

The group down here is still getting on (surprisingly) well, particularly for people who didn't all know each other well before the trip. There's little friction. It helps that the gear is working well and data are rolling in, so there's no real reason for grumpiness.

It's 15 minutes to 11:00 AM - time to gear up and head out.