The day opened partly cloudy and with good visibility at our anchorage at Bahia de Santa Agueda. Having enjoyed a hearty breakfast, we set about our second evacuation drill before weighing anchor and positioning ourselves to start the first of our ‘sampling’, which involved ‘hoving too’i.e. bringing the ship to a halt whilst at sea.
On the scientific front, we began our sampling today. Using a plankton net we dragged samples up from the depths (200m) hoping to find all sorts of unusual beasties. As the collection cylinder approached the surface all the crew were waiting with baited breath! What an anticlimax when we presented green sludge to them! This green gloop was however exactly what we were looking for and contains important micro-organisms called copepods. These little organisms are part of the same family as lobsters and shrimp and can sometimes look like miniature versions of them. The samples will be preserved in ethanol before being shipped back to Newcastle for analysis. Later this afternoon we will be collecting further samples and will continue throughout the week! Until then Adios amigos!!
Chief Scientist & scientific correspondent – Jimmy and Tom.fwd stbd – Aft port.