I can't believe the mission is half over already. Day 5 and this is the first real chance I've had to write a journal. Life has been hectic since we arrived, let me give you a summary.

Dean and I arrived in Key Largo a week early to prep the field sites and deal with equipment. Two weeks before the mission we had everything under control, except we were still waiting on oxygen fibers from Ocean Optics and brass models to be cast at Nicholls State University. No problem, OcOps was getting the fibers to me ASAP and my NSU connection was working on the models (or so I thought). The OcOp fibers arrived as promised, and all equipment came online with only minor problems. Our days with the day-boat crew, diving from the surface, were successful. Dean and I were able to collect corals and prep the sites around Aquarius. By the end of the week we were in fine shape for the mission, and the rest of the saturation team arrived on Sunday.

The week of training was spent getting used to the dive rigs and learning how to survive in the eventuality of an emergency. The training was thorough and exhausting (swimming around trying to find things without a mask really wears you out), but well worth it. In our spare time we finished the prep work. Kristi Gardener, Moose and Brian made plaster models for the dissolution experiments. Dean and I were still dealing with equipment. Notably, the brass models did not yet arrive from NSU despite several months of lead time and at least 2 months with the molds. After several rounds of phone calls and unanswered emails we were forced to seek alternate solutions. Where does one find an all night brass casting shop? As it turned out, the Product Realization Lab of Stanford University, where a wonderful human being named Luke Hunt works, is just such a place. Please note the schedule of events. On Friday before the mission we shipped plastic replicas of our needed bronze casts to Luke (we saturated on Monday). Luke thought he could cast the objects we needed, although he has never done this type of work before. We had no guarantees, but are grateful for the effort. Luke spent the weekend learning how to cast bronze figures, and by Tuesday we had pictures on the web of our newly minted models, by Wednesday they are shipped overnight to Key Largo, and by Thursday we were ready to run the heat transfer experiments. Way to go Luke, we owe you big time! Maybe you could fly to Louisiana and teach the art department at NSU how to cast bronze.

The only other near-disaster during the premission work was the scrapping of our calibration system for the O2 sensor. The probe required a two-point calibration, usually a zero point and a high point (100% saturation). The high point is easy, just bubble some air through ambient seawater. The zero point is more interesting. I had decided on a solution of Sodium Hydrosulfite, a chemical that scavenges oxygen from water. Unfortunately, this stuff produces hydrogen sulfide, a potentially toxic and absolutely foul smelling substance. After some debate, the Aquarius managers decided it was too risky to bring that stuff into the habitat. Of course this was four days before the start of the mission. So we scrambled to initiate Plan B, getting a tank of nitrogen delivered to the habitat. Just before heading out to get the tank, Dave Wethey came up with a cost-effective alternative….yeast. If you remember your high school biology, which Dean and I did not, you might recall that yeast cultures quickly use up the oxygen in water, and thus could produce a zero point for our calibrations. We were skeptical, but Dave assured us that this procedure worked for him during his experiments at Eniwitok Atoll ….. in 1974. Several minutes, and a few yeast packets later, we were convinced. Dave saved the day again, problem solved.

We arrived at Aquarius on Monday 11/05/00 and immediately began unpacking. We did a fair job at getting our stuff down here in the days previous to the mission, and the habitat crew took great care to make sure our equipment arrived dry and in working order. All of our equipment seemed to come to life and work as advertised, a successful day. Brian and Moose got wet early in the day to assemble the PVC stand for the S4 current meter (a basketball sized electromagnetic flow meter), while Dean and I were trying to figure out which wire went where. As with our previous mission, I am amazed at and grateful for the professional manner in which the NURC/UNCW crew conducts business. Although there are occasional miscommunications and glitches in the system, when crunch time comes these people do their job - and they do it well. Through our time with the day-boat crew, through training, and now in saturation I don't have to worry about our safety or the potential for disaster. After two long weeks of preparation and training in Florida, and several months of preparation in Louisiana, I went to bed happy to finally be here again.

Day two came and went with no real problems and only one minor catastrophe. Moose and Dean started our plaster dissolution experiments and fielded the Sontek ADV, while Brian and I prepared more equipment inside Aquarius. Brian and I are finally able to splash and spend our time setting up for experiments. Because we were unable to begin our heat transfer experiments, we were working in shifts to maximize our bottom time. There is a brief period of overlap for the two dive teams to see how the oxygen sensor will work at depth. The sensor is a 2.5-m long optical fiber, 0.3-mm in diameter. Not something you can treat roughly and not something you really want to swim around with dangling on the reef. A couple hours into my first dive, here come Moose and Dean as expected with the oxygen rig. We all gather round to see how it will work, anticipation mounts as Dean uncoils the fiber. Hmmm, that's an interesting bend in the fiber. Hmmm, that's not a bend, that's a break. Yes, we managed to bust the fiber on its initial voyage. No sweat we've got two more just like it, although it will be another day before it can be fielded. That night, we spent our time getting the thermistors prepped and the oxygen sensor fitted with a new fiber.

By day 3 I am into a routine of waking up at 6:30 AM to calibrate the thermistors and the oxygen sensor. Nothing beats "seeing" the sunrise from 50 feet below the ocean surface. The rest of the team is also in a routine of getting their tasks accomplished in the morning. For Moose and Dean this means getting suited up for a dive at 8 AM, for Brian this means dealing with the plaster models going out to the reef. Even though I am writing about events only two days old, I am having a hard time recalling them. I think the rest of the day went well. We are really starting to collect data, and have fielded all of our equipment. By day 4 we are in full gear with the oxygen sensor, plaster, PAM fluorometer, ADV, and thermistors. We are able to take a brief break in the middle of day 4 to host a camera crew from the Learning Channel. I hope some of their footage comes out so we can see how bad we look on camera. I should note that this has been a fairly PR (public relations) intensive mission. Prior to coming to Florida I did an interview with our local paper in Louisiana, and upon arriving I was interviewed on National Public Radio's Science Friday. Great experiences, both. Today Brian hosted a chat session with a 3rd grade class on the Internet, Monday we chat again with a 1st grade class and a high school class, and Wednesday with NPR again. We are all happy to do this type of PR work. It is important for NURC to get the recognition they deserve for all of their effort, and it really is cool to live underwater for 10 days and people should know what we do and why it's important.

Anyway that brings us to today. We are really starting to collect data. Thanks to Luke, Dean and Moose we were able to start the heat transfer experiments. Brian and I were able to collect lots of velocity and PAM fluorometry data. We decided not to field the oxygen sensor today because it doesn't seem to hold its calibration well and we haven't been able to correct the problem. All in all, this was our most successful day, and we will hopefully be able to keep up this schedule. Of course, we are running into new problems. The underwater connectors that power our equipment are starting to give out. We knew there was a good chance of this because of the age of the connectors on the habitat, and we are prepared to go to a back-up plan tomorrow. Also, we are all very cold. The habitat itself feels cold because of the air conditioners and dehumidifiers, but the diving is really starting to take its toll. We are making 2 three hour dives per day, and even though the water is 27 C (about 80 F) we are shivering by the end of a dive. We are all trying to stay warm by wearing sweatshirts and sweat pants, and drinking lots of hot chocolate. Who'd a thunk that we would need hot cocoa in the tropics.

Well, that should keep you up to speed on how we are doing on the technical side. On the personal side everything is going well. Our team seems to be working well together, and the habitat technicians (Thor and Hutch) are keeping everything in order. It didn't take long for me to remember how incredible it is down here. Eating your meals overlooking the reef, spending looooooong hours with the fish that are totally unafraid of us, and hearing the snapping shrimp on the roof at night. I am sure I will pay for these pleasures later (I may have to sleep for a couple weeks straight to recover), but it is well worth it. The work is hard but rewarding, and the living is unsurpassed.