The weather was not on our side for the first day of Leg 2, and we had to delay launching the ROV until morning. After leaving Newport, OR at noon, we spent the day transiting to primary node 1A, which is located at the slope base. We are hopeful the weather will calm down enough for an early morning ROV launch. In the meantime we are spending the night conducting CTD casts – led by students Brendan Philip and Rick Berg – over methane bubble plume sites at Southern Hydrate Ridge to collect samples for methane analysis. Additionally, we will be mapping with the ship’s EM302 multibeam sonar system.