Our group got an early start this morning so we could finish the last of the science gear preparations. All of our gear and clothing had to be double wrapped in garbage bags before being transferred into the dry pressure chambers that are used to transfer these items into Aquarius (also known as the "habitat"). At 9:00am, we boarded the boat for Aquarius. An hour later we were in the water, laden with equipment, descending down to our new home for the next 10 days. It feels strange to leave a boat and not return to the surface! Also, we are all wondering what it will be like to live with six people for 10 days in tight quarters - COULD THIS DEVELOP INTO THE UNDERWATER VERSION OF "SURVIVOR?"

This morning and afternoon were spent on numerous "assembly" dives. We're setting up several high magnification cameras to film coral feeding. However, since corals feed at night when zooplankton (tiny little crustaceans) are abundant, most of our research will be conducted by night diving, in almost total darkness. The only lights will be infrared or red, so as not to attract unusually high amounts of zooplankton to the area. We also have pumps that will simultaneously sample the zooplankton throughout the water column. Samples will be taken just off the bottom, and at distances of one foot, three feet, and six feet off the bottom. We're also taking samples just beneath the surface with a hose that stretches up (to where we can't go!). Lastly, we will use several different instruments to measure how fast the water is flowing over the corals (two acoustic doppler velocimeters and two S4 flow meters). All of this was carefully set up and tested today. We have been blessed by the toy gods for this mission. We'll see how it all works tonight!

Can't wait for a little sleep after the nighttime work.