Oceana Latitude—Despite sore muscles and burnt faces reflecting three days of major mooring deployment, the Oceana team was on deck at 6:30 in the morning and ready for more. This morning brought at sense of relief, knowing that today would be the last day of mooring deployment and raised the spirits of all.
After the last mooring was dropped, it was time start the CTD scan. The process was slow and steady, taking a total of two hours for one drop and retrieve. The information was sent directly to our computer on board and will be analyzed upon the team’s return to port.
Later in the day we headed back to where we first deployed moorings to retrieve test strips. Excitement struck when our first buoy was spotted! The first was set in a shallow area around 100 meters and made for a good test run of retrieving. After 30 minutes of repositioning the boat, the buoy was brought on board, and test strips retrieved.
The plan for tomorrow is to do another CTD scan and begin to retrieve additional moorings, time allowing. Stay tuned!