Goodbye Boston, Hello Islamorada!
We are finally in The Keys to begin serving as topside science support for Mission 31. Yesterday was our travel day. We stopped packing and planning (as much as a scientist ever does) and actually got on a plane to Miami.
Scientists don't travel light, though. As much as we planned ahead and shipped a bunch of our gear down, we still arrived with a large amount of luggage. The boxes and bags shown in these pictures are only about 1/3 of all of the scuba gear, science equipment, and clothing that we brought with us.
Scientists don't travel light, though. As much as we planned ahead and shipped a bunch of our gear down, we still arrived with a large amount of luggage. The boxes and bags shown in these pictures are only about 1/3 of all of the scuba gear, science equipment, and clothing that we brought with us.
Our first task upon arrival was to head over to the Aquarius Reef Base to meet the crew in charge and get our bearings. Then, it was off to the production house where we tried on our new Mission 31 wetsuits and got our Team Member T-Shirts. Our last job of the night was to turn our kitchen/living room into a mobile lab where we will be staining plankton and preserving sponge cells.
Last but not least, today was Saturation Day! We went down to the docks to send-off Northeastern's Liz Magee, MIT's Grace Young, Mission 31's Director of Photography Matt Ferraro as they head out to the Aquarius habitat (their home sweet home for next two weeks). We said goodbye, but we know that we'll see Liz, Grace, and Matt out on the reef during our research dives.
I look forward to sharing more experiences with you and can't wait to finally get diving this morning.
- Jessica
- Jessica