MORNING OPERATIONS

Each morning at 0730-0745 scientists, dive teams and coxswains (the person in charge of a boat- the literal translation meaning ‘boat servant’; cox- a small boat aboard a larger boat and swain- someone in authority); assemble on the back deck for a morning briefing. During this meeting, objectives for the day’s mission are discussed by the chief scientist Dr.Margaret Miller, and a pre-dive safety check is conducted by the unit diving supervisor Dave McClellan. Each diver/scientist is responsible for making sure their diving and sampling gear gets loaded on their respective boats before they are launched. Once the small boat is launched it is very difficult to come back and retrieve anything left behind. We have coral teams, fish teams, and mixed teams, so getting the correct gear on the correct boat is very important and is predetermined the night before at our science meeting. The small boats are then lifted over the rail by the crew of the Nancy Foster and put into the water. The science divers then go down a ladder and onto the boats. This is a picture of our principal investigator (PI) Margaret Miller taking that last big step.

Joe