These past few days have been jam-packed with science during night shift between the fine-scale acoustic studies, bongo and IKMT net tows, Brandyn Lucca’s target strength science and Cassie Fries’s g-measurements, that y’all learned about during her blog post. So much science!

We are currently in our 11th day of the trip, and we’re running against the clock to do as much as we can before 35-40 kt winds and 11-16 ft seas hit us on Tuesday. Our luck hasn’t been too great today, as some squalls have inserted themselves right into the middle of our lander recovery process, preventing us from contacting the sunken instrument. I know, how rude! We delayed, and after a hearty breakfast we were able to contact the lander and bring it up into the surface world.

I am writing this at midnight, the end of my shift. I am unusual in that instead of having a 6-6 shift, I work noon to midnight, while today’s other blogger works midnight to noon. This means that I am fortunate enough to experience both night and day shift activities! However, I love carrying out hand-on oceanographic work, which means I find it very difficult to go to bed, at the end of a shift, when everyone around me gets to keep going with the exciting work.

Phyllosoma are larval lobsters, but at this stage they resemble almost nothing like the lobsters you eat. With a translucent, thin body, and very long appendages, it’s hard to be able to see how these grow into the lobsters we know and love.

Eight days have flown by aboard the RV Endeavor, and we are almost at the halfway point of this cruise.  Many highlights stand out from the four sites we have been to so far.  The number one highlight was seeing a pilot whale while on marine mammal watch.

HUGE shout out to Mike Duffy and James Bennet (the Chief Steward and Mess Attendant on the RV Endeavor) who made the best brussel sprouts for dinner tonight. They were delicious. Having good food on the ship makes everything else on this ship work more smoothly so we really appreciate them keeping us well fed.

The recovered lander had been sitting on the bottom of the ocean recording data for the past 6 months.  The largest lander dataset is being recorded by an array (or coordinated set of) hydrophones.

Today we had a seabird escort – a northern gannet who flew alongside us for about half an hour, diving down now and then to grab flying fish as they leapt out of the way of the bow.

I am Rachel Eckley, a current MS student at Nova Southeastern University, and I am assisting with fish identification on this ADEON cruise. This cruise marks my first time out at sea, and I am happy to report that I have not yet had to battle any seasickness *hears the faint sound of Bri Cahill knocking on wood in the distance.*