|
06/18/04 - George's first dive & fire drill |
| Time: | 9:13 pm | |
| Lat: | 31° 40.7 min N | |
| Long: | 77° 52.0 min W |
We
steamed through the night to get to our dive locations due east
of Savannah, Georgia. It was such a long way that we did not put
the sub in the water until about 9:30 am (rather than our usual
launch time of 8:00 am). Steve Ross was in the bow and George
Yeargin with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was
in the stern. George built many of the submerisble's traps, nets,
rakes, and other collection devices. This was his first dive and
he had a wonderful time watching his gear at work. They collected
a good assortment of invertebrates including sea
urchins, crabs, and
a glass sponge.
After
lunch we had a fire drill. When we first got on board the ship
we received a safety briefing, so we knew the science team needed
to gather on the rear deck with our life jackets and immersion
suits. The chief scientists took a head count to make sure
we were all present and we waited for the all-clear signal from
the captain. The ship's crew acted as if a fire did exist: they
put on their fire gear and took out all of the hoses and fire
extinguishers. They didn't spray any water, but they were able
to make certain everything is in working order. This kind of practice
helps us if there ever is a problem.
For
the afternoon dive, Tara Casazza sat in the bow and Liz Baird
in the stern. They visited an area with ample coral rubble and
patches of live coral and were surprised to find that the black
coral polyps exhibited several color variations. As the sub
moved past them, the polyps appeared to be yellow, orange, pink,
and white. Tara and Liz also saw several coral
hakes, rattails and some long eels.
We continue our journey south this evening and hope to be off the coast of northern Florida by morning.
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