We have had two days of strong currents and lower visibility. Things on the surface are picking up too, with a bit of weather and bigger waves. When inside the habitat, we can feel pressure changes in our ears as big waves pass overhead. It really hasn't been too bad on the bottom, but our surface support team has had to endure rocking boats and hard swims to and from our sites. Actually, the higher flows are helpful because we are interested in how the higher flows will affect the coral feeding process. In laboratory studies, we have found that in higher flows the zooplankton behaviors (like swimming) become less important, and they act more like neutrally buoyant particles.

Coral feeding abilities are strongly dependent on tentacle morphology. If the coral has long tentacles, they become deflected during higher flow and they are less able to capture prey. However, corals with branching shapes and small tentacles have higher feeding rates in faster flows because the prey get entrained in the eddies behind the branches and captured. So, different corals seem to have different "flow optima" for feeding. These differences in zooplankton feeding abilities help explain coral distribution on reefs. Some corals are generally found in deeper areas (where flows are lower), while other coral morphologies are often found in the highest flow areas.

Today is the last full day of research. We have a full plate of research activities to accomplish before "lock-down" in the habitat (where the doors are sealed and we start decompression). It is sad to think about having to return to the real world. Our stay in the habitat has been a fantastic experience. We have been away from all news, politics, and office work. Our free time was spent watching ocean life through the Aquarius porthole windows. Although we put in a formal request to extend the mission by two days, it looks like we will start with decompression as scheduled.

We have already started to "pot up" non-essential equipment, supplies and clothing to get ready for the 17 hour decompression process, starting on Tuesday. We use pressure pots that allow us to transfer equipment and supplies so they remain dry between Aquarius and the surface. Included in our recent pot transfers was all of Brad's clothing - except one pair of shorts. He was out on the reef while we were packing! Luckily, Brad has a great sense of humor and deals with this type of adversity well.