Week 7 - blur of boats and projects

It seems impossible that it is already Friday. This week has flashed past in a blur of boats and special projects. We began on Monday with a dive at Saturn03 to retrieve an outdated cage of instruments. It was the first surface supplied air dive that I’ve been privy to this summer and it was pretty cool. We could talk to Michael from the surface since his helmet had a microphone in it. Once we retrieved the instruments we had to go back to the shop and prepare all the things we were going to need to do the Oceanography camp on Tuesday and Wednesday. We prepared a CT for them and a Niskin bottle to lower off the boat so that they could collect data and get a water sample.  They wanted to collect data from the incoming salt wedge during the tide so they could compare it to the online model. I’m not sure they got the exact data they were looking for, but I’d say that it was a successful trip, in that the kids at least had fun out on the boat and were able to experience a little hands-on oceanography. On Thursday we took the glider up to Westport and then out to sea. This time she passed all the preliminary tests and we set her free to collect data for the next several weeks. (I’d like to note that while feeling fairly nauseous on this trip I did not succumb to actually feeding the fishes!). Friday, has been the most ‘normal’ day this week. I worked on my project and we went to Saturn03 to replace the pump and clean the instruments. Next week I intend to focus on my project and try to get a jump start on the coming presentation for it.