COCOS (Feb 18): Underway from Puntarenas

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Leaving port aboard the MV Argo
(Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn

After a sleepless night of unpacking, the ROV crew awoke early to fully assemble and test Hela.  By 11 am all of the major systems had been loosely assembled on both the vehicle and in the topside control room and were ready for a test.  Kevin flipped the main power switch and the screens came to life and glowed with video, sonar and vehicle information just as they should!  This is what we were looking for as the lines were cast off from the dock at noon and the MV Argo turned into the channel and headed out to sea, past the docks and fishing boats, past the mangrove forests, past the mountains and out to the open Pacific Ocean.  The air was warm, sky was clear and the seas were calm as we began the 36 hour passage to Isla del Coco (Cocos Island) and the Gemelas Seamounts.

Styrofoam cups await transit to the deep sea
(Photo credit: K. Joy/NURTEC/UConn)

Cups from a classroom...a side story

When oceanographers prepare for a deepwater dive (using ROVs or occupied submersibles) they often follow the long-running tradition of decorating Styrofoam cups, placing them in a mesh bag affixed to the vehicle, and exposing them to the extreme pressures of the abyssal realm.   The pressure thousands of feet below the surface can reduce an 8oz cup to the size of a thimble, resulting in a nifty souvenir from the seafloor.  Kevin Joy visited his son Sawyer's class before leaving on the expedition and had the students draw on Styrofoam cups – these will be attached to the Hela ROV or submersible during a deep dive, which will turn the coffee cups into shot glass size miniatures from Las Gemelas Seamounts.

This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.