We've just completed day five of my first science mission, and so far everything seems to be going smoothly. My job as "junior" technician, along with monitoring onboard environmental conditions and helping the science crew with safe dive planning, involves a lot of learning. One of the ways that I've found very enjoyable, is cleaning the outside of Aquarius. To keep Aquarius in working condition down here in such a harsh environment, we have to clean barnacles and other encrusting growth from the valves and plumbing. At first, it was a bit tedious, however, I started to really learn just where and how we get our fresh air, emergency oxygen, and potable water into and out of the Aquarius by tracing all the lines while I was doing the cleaning. There's also an added bonus! As I cleaned, a host of beautiful fish - Queen Angel, Spanish Hogfish, and Blue Head Wrasse - gathered to gobble up little tidbits of crustatations as I scrubbed. I found myself working in a rainbow of aggressive and bold fish. I couldn't get the Queen Angels to accept anything from my hand, but the Spanish Hogfish were more than eager. I'm using our fish identification book more and more, just who see who it is that frequents our little corner of the reef.

Dr. Leichter, Hannah, Mike, and Greg, have all been working pretty hard and using almost all of their allowable dive time, spending as much as eight hours in the water a day! They're conducting some interesting and significant experiments on how the reef gets nutrients from the cold water that moves up the reefs from deeper water. Read our mission summary to find out more, or email one of the scientists. They've been really great in explaining what they're doing, and why it's important. I feel lucky to be on board with such a hard working and jovial bunch.