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MISSION DISPATCH 5 August 21, 2007 Mark Schrope - @SEA Correspondent aboard the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON Location: Near Gouldings Cay 
Octopus Camouflage No Match For Pilot Edie Widder's first task on today's morning dive was to deploy the Eye-in-the-Sea at the shallower, 1,600-foot site. After that was done they commenced exploring down to 1,900 feet. She and Harbor Branch sub pilot Phil Santos spotted and collected several fish, including one known as a green eye. On an earlier Deep Scope cruise, Misha Matz found a green eye species in the Gulf of Mexico with brilliantly green fluorescent eyes and sides. Interestingly, the green eye collected here had only fluorescent eyes. Edie was also able to collect a beautiful, small octopus. "It was nothing more than a postage stamp in the field-of-view," she says, and credits the well-trained eyes of pilot Phil Santos for the spotting. For that matter, Phil and the other pilots are of course also the ones responsible for the actual collecting, and watching them perform their maneuvering feats is truly impressive. Hard to Leave A final objective for the dive was to collect measurements of how much light is making it to various depths, data that aid a variety of projects on board aimed at determining what various deep-sea species can see. Edie says it was hard to move out into open water away from the cliffs to take the measurements, because every time they got ready to leave they would spot something else interesting. But, they did finally get their numbers. 
Tomorrow should be our last day in this area, and EITS is scheduled for pickup during a midday dive. In the mean time, Edie and Erika Raymond are still processing data from the first EITS deployment. Yesterday Erika sent a short video clip from EITS of a large fish that no one on board could identify to Harbor Branch fish expert Tracey Sutton. Today she heard back from him that the fish in question was most likely an American Sackfish (Neopinnula americana). If so, it looks like this would be the first time it's ever been seen in this region. In the past it's only been identified in the Gulf of Mexico and on around through Central and South America. Tammy Frank also had a productive dive between 2,100 and 1,700 feet. She and Phil found a great ledge for another trap deployment, though Tammy says the area below it is so steep that if they roll this time it really will be the end of them. The duo also collected several shrimp into the BioBoxes using the suction sampler, and experiments with them are going well so far. In the aft chamber on the dive was Holly Hoier, the expedition's Teacher@Sea. For more about her experience, see below. 
Into the Black
The day ended with a night dive to one of the reefs near shore. It was a perfect night for such a thing with glassy seas, clear skies, and a bright moon. It's amazing how clear the water is here. Watching from the surface the divers below were a fantastical sight. Though down 50 feet, their bright and different-colored lights could easily be seen illuminating bits of the ship wreckage. The team was able to collect a number of interesting samples on the reef including a couple of octopuses. Tomorrow the dives will be shortened so we can squeeze in three. Once those are done, we'll be on our way southeast toward more remote Bahamian islands. Our first stop will likely be just south of Eleuthra. From there we may make it as far as San Salvador, assuming the weather holds. There's a storm system approaching now that doesn't seem to pose much of a threat, but there is at least the potential for it to turn a little nastier. We shall see. Holly Hoier - Teacher @Sea aboard the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON First Submersible Dive and What Comes Next First and foremost, I must thank Tammy Frank for selecting me for this opportunity to immerse myself in the joy of discovery and the wonderful ripples of new knowledge that are endless for all of us here on the R/V Seward Johnson. I can't commend her, the other scientists, and the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration enough for recognizing the importance of sharing what they do with and through professional educators. I have been asked to share my impression of the submersible experience I was blessed to partake in today. It took me quite a while to process all the wonder into a worthy set of thoughts. The dive ranks as one of my top three totally awesome/memorable experiences of all time, the other two being the home births of my sons. This experience will likely be the screen saver on my deathbed. We went down about 2,400 feet. The bottomscape was basically like a desert or dune but for a few bizarre oasis clusters of structure and scatterings of fan-like crinoids. We then did up-downs sampling between that depth and 1,800 feet until beginning final ascent. 
We deployed Tammy's traps, and then went hunting for shrimp under red light (to
avoid blinding them as we captured them). I was in back with headphones on,
connected to Tammy so that I could record data and at times assist with
locating potential samples to collect. Maybe the best of all the sub time was
the ascent at 100 feet per minute. My rear chamber sub crew partner, Frank,
turned off all lights and even sounds for a bit so I could watch the
bioluminescence as we traveled upward. It was gorgeous, like backing into the
Milky Way! Apparently we hit some good luck because we went through a thick
layer of bioluminescent jellyfish, not to mention the ongoing plankton flashing
about in my face and everywhere. As the surface neared, we began running into
our own bubbles and that was really like hallucinating. All the way to the late
dusk surface it was just plain magical. I've been quite speechless until now,
although my cheeks are still cramping from all the goofy smiling upon our
return.
To share all the valuable information gained on this expedition with the greatest number of other people I will be producing education products that I will field test on my own students and others at Sebastian River High School, then distribute more widely. I'll be using my daily journal, data and visual materials, personal interviews, and memories, as well as my students' feedback. It's all very timely, because we are starting this school year with a unit on "The Nature of Science." Again, I'm thankful that I'm been given this opportunity to share the joy of this experience for this humble educator. 
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