Back to Sea again

It has been a hectic couple of days and I apologize for not posting more often. We arrived back in Honolulu on October 12 for a four day turn-around between cruises. Yes, four days to offload everything from a month-long expedition from one ship ... and load it all again for another month-long expedition on a different ship. Needless to say it was verging on the brink of madness. We managed to get it done, but I can't say it was exactly a ball.

We headed out from Pearl Harbor again on the 16th, this time abroad the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette, the sister ship to the Hi'ialakai. We were bound for Maui and the southern part of the Hawaiian Archipelago known as the Main Eight Hawaiian Islands. These are the largest in the chain, and the only ones with a sizable human population. I will be continuing on as one of the fish biologists and this time also serving as divemaster for the expedition. Shortly after leaving Pearl Harbor I realized that I couldn't find the O2 analyzers which are required so that we can determine the amount of oxygen in our air tanks before diving. This would have been a major show stopper. I was able to make a few phone calls to find out the O2 analyzers had never made it off the Hi'ialakai. I guess that's what happens with such a quick turn-around with no one in charge of the procedure. A colleague was able to rush down to the ship, pick up the analyzers, and rush them across to the other side of Oahu where we sent in a small boat to pick them up.

It was then on to he windward side of Maui, a beautiful but blustery place. On our first morning of operations we awoke to winds blowing at nearly 20 knots (23 mph) and waves nearly 6 feet high. We manage to launch our small boat anyway and get in a full days worth of operations, but it wasn't pretty. We got out butts whopped. The next day we moved east but conditions were even worse with small craft warning all over the area we were tow work. The chief scientists and I decided it was no use getting pounded for a second day, so we moved south to the leeward side of Maui where conditions were much more favorable. It was nice.

Today we are off the southeast coast of the island of Lanai, sitting under sea cliffs several hundred feet high, and are getting ready to head back out on the water. Lanai has some of the highest coral cover we have found in this section of the Hawaiian Archipelago, but does not always have the best visibility. I guess we'll have to see what today brings. Off to breakfast.