Animated gif by Darin Schwartz (click to play)

Our primary science objectives aboard R/V Atlantis revolve around the human occupied vehicle, Alvin and autonomous underwater vehicle, Sentry. But it takes a lot more things than these two sophisticated machines to make data collection happen aboard the ship. Just how many things I was not fully aware until I stuck a rock hammer under a camera. Read More→

Alvin pilot in-training Danik Forsman (left) explains dive operations to Emmanuel Codillo.

Danik Forsman and Emmanuel Codillo inside Alvin, viewed from the hatch.

Popping Rocks 2 team members Kristen Fauria and Josh Curtice working on the gravity core.

Sunset always brings members of the science and vehicle teams and ship’s crew out on deck.

Josh Curtice (left) reviews organization of the Alvin sample basket to the science party.

Josh Curtice explains the on-board ultra-high-vacuum system to Meghan Jones, Genesee Lucia, Emmanuel Codillo, and Alex Schweitzer.

The Sentry group

The Sentry group (Left to right Justin Fuji, Sean Kelley, Jennifer Vaccaro, Ian Vaughn, and Mike Jakuba) kept busy during the transit.

Ship steward Carl Wood worked his magic with dough in the kitchen.

It seems like just yesterday that we left Bermuda, but we are now on our final day of the six-day transit from Bermuda to the Mid Atlantic Ridge at 14°N latitude. We spent the time getting ready for the first Alvin dive, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning, right after our anticipated arrival on the work site.

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SEA sailing vessel Corwith Cramer tied up at Penno's Wharf, Bermuda.

Adam Soule greets visitors from the Corwith Cramer at the base of R/V Atlantis' gangplank.

Corwith Cramer chief scientist Kerry Whittaker gives a group of Popping Rocks 2 science crew a tour of the ship's lab spaces.

The group from Corwith Cramer tours lab spaces inside Atlantis.

Traveling to beautiful ports-of-call is one of the benefits of conducting scientific research in the deep sea. The port of call for the Popping Rocks 2 cruise was St. George’s, Bermuda, an idyllic tropical oceanside town, but there was a sight waiting for us that made it feel more like home. In addition to the brightly-colored homes and businesses, we found the familiar shape of the Corwith Cramer, a two-masted schooner that about 20 college undergraduates call home for a semester-long experience learning about sailing and oceanography, tied to the same wharf as R/V Atlantis.

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