BAHAMAS JOURNEY A Quest For Drugs From The Sea MISSION DISPATCH 4 • October 16, 2003 Dispatch by Mark Carroll - @Sea Photo-Journalist Back North The days are settling into a pattern. It's the islands that change, at least by name (from the ship they are beginning to look quite the same). Today, it's Plana and Samana Cays. Yesterday, it was both Little and Great Inagua. That was as far south as we got on our compass-spinning course through the islands of the Bahamas. It's north(ish) from here on out. The submersible is always in the water by 08:30, and two waves of scuba teams splashdown on the fringing reef du jour shortly thereafter. By noon everyone is back aboard ship and the lab erupts into a flurry of activity - sorting samples, cataloging, photographing, revving up the high-performance liquid chromatography machine (the big thing in the corner that analyzes the chemical makeup of, well, whatever you want). Then, it's back in the water for both the researchers and the sub for another dive. Repeat as above until done. This is field science. Tedious in its repetition? Arguably at times. But, as offices go, the Bahamas ain't too shabby. And no one here is complaining. Of course, away from the tropical sun and sea, away from the "steel beach" on the ship's top deck are the on board wet and dry labs. Here the only rays are fluorescent (save a small porthole or two) and microscopes and petri dishes, along with all the trappings of a good lab, dominate the counters. The labs are a transition zone of sorts where the field science ends and the long process of analytical research begins. Much of the work begun here will continue for months and years once back on the mainland. ADDITIONAL DISPATCH IMAGES [ IMAGE 01 ] [ IMAGE 02 ] [ IMAGE 03 ] [ IMAGE 04 ]

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