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September 3, 2010

Friday, September 03, 2010

BY: wrace

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© OCEANA / Carlos Suárez

 

Oceana Latitude —  The Oceana crew has officially become used to the life aquatic. After a hard day yesterday and being on the boat for a little over a week, heavy-eyed heads hit the pillows hard last night.  Going to sleep everyone thought they had seen everything.

Wrong, this morning we awoke to yet another surprise–still silence. No waves, no wind and no clouds. The crew began work today under a clear sky. It is the first time in this part of the expedition that the seas have been favorable.

Work began with seeking out a mooring. With the given GPS coordinates in hand the crew took to the deck. With eyes on all levels of the ship, the horizon was scanned and scanned, yet nothing. The first buoy of the day was missing. The story was the same at the second mooring site. The some of the crew suspected foul play and others thought it may have been run over by another ship, but only Poseidon will know for certain.

The Oceana Latitude continued its journey out to the next mooring site and success—the buoy was there.  On the first cast of the grappling hook for the buoy line, the hook missed and as it was being dragged through the water, we had the delight of seeing two mahi-mahi swam up to the boat. The colors of the mahi-mahi are absolutely brilliant and radiated with the sunlight overhead. The next hook toss caught the buoy and was brought on board and the hoisting commenced. Two more buoys were spotted and retrieved in similar fashion. On the last buoy, the typical two hours ensued and before the crew knew it, the anchor was hoisted on board right before a giant sun melted into the sea, a great ending to a great day.

Tomorrow we will attempt to pick up the farthest moorings.  Stay tuned!