Project Day 8: 6 March 2011
Today's dive was successful; but unfortunately my skills as a fish collector were required, and thus I didn't take the video camera with me to the bottom. The purpose of the dive was to meet up with the Pisces V at a depth of 280 feet (85 meters) to collect fish specimens for several different research projects (one involving DNA analysis to study genetic connectivity with shallow-reef counterparts; one involving tissue samples for carobon and nitrogen isotope ratios to unserstand how enegergy flows through the food chain; and one to study the growth dynamics of certain species). We had five divers on the bottom with the submersible at the same time (myself, Ken Longenecker, Ross Langston, Dave Pence, and CJ Bradley), and the coordination between divers and submersible crew seemed to work perfectly. On the way up, while decompressing at a depth of about 200 feet (60 meters), a large manta ray came down and swam around us for a while. It seemed as though it was trying to eat the tiny bubbles we were producing as we ascended. I was very beautiful and graceful, and stayed with us for about half an hour; but alas, we had no video camera, and thus no images to show. When we got up to shallow water Holly Bolick brought my video camera down for me during the decompression (after our earlier encounters with the whales, I decided I wantedt to at least have the camera during decompression. No whales today, though. One of the things that Holly has done for us on this trip is to make up a series of trivia questions, with multiple-choice answers, printed on waterproof paper. She swims around to each of us during the long decompression, allowing us each to try to answer the questions. At the end, she tallies up the score to see who wins. Today's theme was all about the island of Maui. I think I did reasonably well, but I doubt I won (I haven't won a single game yet). But it sure does make the decompression (nearly threw hours today) much less tedious -- especially when there are no whales around.
Click this link for the day's Video Highlights. Video by R.L. Pyle.
| Images: | Click on the small images below to see the the full-size image file. |
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The Pisces V is launched from the stern of the KoK as the sun rises over Haleakala. Photo: R.L. Pyle. |
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Holly Bolick shows Ken Longenecker one of the trivia questions during the decompression "game". Ken is indicating an answer of "B", using American Sign Language. Photo: R.L. Pyle. |
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A tiny larval Coronetfish (Fistularia commersoni) hides near Ken Longenecker's decompression line. Photo: R.L. Pyle. |