It's amazing to watch the change in marine life activity as soon as it gets dark. In the twilight, the Spiny Lobsters remain on guard at the entrance to their hiding place with antennae sweeping back and forth to detect intruders. As soon as darkness falls, these guys are wandering all over the place out in the open scavenging for food. Meanwhile the spectacularly colored parrotfish take cover under a convenient coral head and seem to doze off without delay. We watched as a southern sting ray coasted gracefully along the bottom until it ran head on into a huge lobster. Both of them were startled at first, and for a few seconds seemed unsure of what should happen next, then they both darted off in different directions. One of the most alien creatures we saw was this meter-long tentacle-like arm that came out from under a coral head. It was clearly sweeping and grazing the nearby reef with some mouth-like parts at the free end. This strange animal, which looked like a prop from a cheap sci-fi movie (as Jonathan noted), turns out to be tiger tail sea cucumber. The highlight, however, was a showdown between a massive hermit crab and a Scorpion fish, which we captured in-full on video. In fact, we saw two such pairs, and were very surprised by this - why would hermit crabs and Scorpion fish hang out together. Maybe it was just a coincidence? The showdown wasn't too dramatic, because neither of these creatures moves very quickly. But the hermit crab, about the size of a football, pulled his heavy shell over to the scorpion fish, and began to bang on it with one of his arms/antennae. Seemed like he was wondering about this thing - is it a rock, an enemy, alive, or what? The scorpion fish sat motionless (as usual), until the hermit crab decided that it would wedge himself between the scorpion fish and the nearby coral head. This wasn't easy, because his shell seemed much bigger than he knew. So they ended up face-to-face and eye-to-eye with no room to spare. Finally the scorpion fish flinched, but would still not move. And so we left them there with their dilemma, but brought back some awesome footage of the entire comedy act.

Today we had our Private Family Conferences (PFC in NASA lingo), and each of us was able to spend 30 minutes on a videoconference with our loved ones. We have not been gone for all that long compared to a Space Station mission, but I was so happy to see my wife's smile that it really meant the world to me! Email is great, but the chance to look at each other, talk, and smile, is something that would be so important on a long duration flight. During this past year, we have been surviving on phone calls to and from Russia for up to 4 weeks at a time. However, this is different for both the crewmember and family. For the crew, there is the sense of isolation and confinement, which I think is greatly relieved by communication with family and friends. A video call is even more powerful for being able to share your space and theirs. For the families, they have to deal with our absence, but also with the uncertainty about what we're doing, and if we're safe. All of those concerns are washed away, even if briefly, by being able to look into each other's eyes and smile together over the video-link. I would sure want to have this capability when I get to fly on the International Space Station (and we do). For missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, however, the added effect of time-delays would make this a bit more difficult. From Mars, all communication would be like watching a video recording, since there would be an 8 to 20 minutes delay depending on the time of year. That would certainly be more challenging for the crew and their families alike.

We had an enthusiastic young visitor to the Aquarius habitat today. Andy Steadman, an eighth grade student from South Carolina. Andy won a writing contest for his terrific description of why he would want to visit Aquarius. His prize was a diving trip to Florida and a visit to the habitat. We were the lucky ones here to greet him, with his family and science teacher. His essay is on the Aquarius website, and is very impressive for a 14 year old young man. Seeing his eyes light up with the sights and sounds around him was a boost for all of us, who might have started taking this wondrous place somewhat for granted after living here for a week. His essay captures the essence of this place better than any of our journals could, but his main message is something we all strongly believe. And that is, how important it is for human beings to study the Earth, from above and below, in order to understand and preserve the fragile environment, unique forms of life, and precious ecosystems of our home planet. This is what Aquarius and the Space Station are all about!