The past two days have been chocked full of activities. On August 6th, thanks to a significant effort by the RCA and R/V Atlantis team, a shore crane, and -loading more than 40,000 labs of gear onboard the R/V Atlantis on August 6th. Early morning on the 7th, a very excited group of VISIONS students departed from the UW for the ship, arriving at ~ 1330. The Main Lab, where the entire RCA team of engineers, scientists, and VISIONS participants conduct their work, discuss daily operations, and catch up, is filled with computers, testing equipment and a vast stash of various supplies, tools, and equipment. It was a beehive of activity work tables had to be bolted to the deck, all gear squirreled safely away, and most importantly everything secured so that things wouldn’t roll around during the transit. It was a long day-late night for many team members.
The early morning of today saw cool temperatures and the Yaquina channel fog-bound, which cleared prior to our departure). Today, time feels extremely compressed as our first ROV dive with Jason is just about to begin (1330 local). The morning was filled with a thorough safety meeting by the Ship Science Support Group, and the always fun-filled processes for many of donning survival suits for the first time, and a fire and boat drill.
The engineering team has been busy out on deck making sure the two platforms that will be turned on the 200 m Shallow Profiler platform at the Oregon Offshore site are ready to go and many of the students are up in Jason’s control van being mentored on the logging and imaging stations. If feels a bit frenetic, but each member of the team knows their tasks and there are lots of smiles. A couple of whales just graced us with a visit off the port side. It is wonderful to be back out on the water and to begin operations that the RCA team has been preparing for for a year.