Student's Report:
This is the first log entry for the South Broward (Florida) Maritime Magnet High School's "Students at Sea". Our high school mascot is a bulldog and our school is located about a mile or so from the northern most extremity of the Florida Reef Track so we call ourselves the "Reefdogs". We have many more maritime students back in Florida. They would all love to hear from you and would write back to you soon. Their e-mail address is reefdogs@hotmail.com. We now have a brand new web site (that is still being worked on) and if you would like to learn more about our salty reefdogs, you can try http://reefdogs.tripod.com/MarineMagnet/.

Our journey began as we cruised over to Victoria on a ferry after a long flight from Ft. Lauderdale. We were glad that the American Institute of Marine Studies paid for all of our transportation because we would have had to have done a lot of car washes to have afforded this trip. We finally boarded the Ronald Brown on Vancouver Island and were greeted by ENS Cathy Martin. She was really nice and helped us get settled in our berths. Soon Captain Parsons greeted us and he introduced us to his crew. They were all very helpful and soon we were underway. While we were out in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, we stopped to see if all of the scientific equipment was working. We were able to see a trial run of a "casting" of this large array of sampling bottles over the side and down to the bottom of the Straits. Everything seemed to be working fine so we continued on our journey out to the Axial Volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

When we arrived, the Chief Scientist Dr. Ed Baker and his crew released some instruments that were moored to the bottom from last year. They quickly popped up to the surface and the able crew caught them so they could hoist them aboard. Soon the scientists were ready to cast out the rosette of sampling bottles called the CTD. The CTD rosette does a couple of things. First of all, it tells the scientists on the ship what the actual salinity (from conductivity); temperature and depth are so that they can find the hot water plume that comes from the vents. The bottles close at any depth so that water can be brought back up to the lab. So far we have learned that they are testing the water for trace metals like iron, manganese, and helium isotopes.

The Axial Volcano erupted back in 1998 and these tests will be used to detect what the scientists call magmatic activity. We spoke with a scientist named Rachel Shackelford. She is filtering the water to find these tiny polysaccharide specks called TEP's (Transparent Exopolymer Particles). She hopes to discover their origin and the relationship they may have with the abyss as the hot water plume moves out and away from the vents. Last night we were amazed at the marine life that comes up from the depths to see the lights on the ship and what all the action is about. There are so many marine scientists aboard that we had no trouble finding out the names of what we saw. Well it is all very interesting and today we will be with the crew as they search the ocean floor for more vents and moorings. Our next log entry will discuss some of our experiences as members of this team. We will also attempt to provide you with some pictures of the salty Reefdogs on the job as they continue their experience as Students at Sea.