Teacher Logbook:
Sunday, July 16, 2000 2300 hrs.

Our shrinking heads experiment worked! The elevator surfaced this morning with heads about 1/3 their original size. Last night we successfully deployed four extensometers in the North Rift Zone, just north of Axial, then picked up four larval traps which Anna Metaxas very happy.

A state of urgency set in today. This was our last full day at Axial before our steam to port in Victoria. We planned one more dive to use the vent fluid sampler at a couple vents on the eastern portion of the caldera. The idea was to keep the chemists and microbiologists busy until our return. Unfortunately the winds have picked up and the waves are of enough concern that we are cancelling the last dive. Keith Shepherd, ROPOS team leader, shared that the seas are worse than the sustained 21 knot winds we're experiencing. Could be a rough trip back. Overall, the weather has been very good to us out here. We've had almost 265 hours of dive time during the cruise. It averages out to about 14 hours per day, taking in consideration transit times. Bob Embley seems happy with the cruise calling it very successful.

In the mean time everyone is completing work, packing up equipment and starting to write up their individual research summaries for the annual NeMO Cruise Report. Bob Embley, Verena Tunnicliffe and Kim Juniper have already started discussing next year's NeMO cruise. Overall, the mood is one of anticipation for the shore to see loved ones, grab a bite to eat in a restaurant, and definitely get a decent cup of coffee. The coffee conservation mode only kept us going for so long. I noticed the coffee was totally out at dinner. Good thing we're almost done.

We had our RON BROWN / Vents Program final singles ping pong match between Herb Watson and Chris Kennedy this evening. It was a close match but Herb was able to hold off Chris for the crown. Herb and his partner Jean Marcus were the winners for the doubles championship. Tune in tomorrow for the last sea log.

Jeff

Extensometers in the elevator mooring before ROPOS placed instruments in their final positions.

Spider crab hitching a ride on the larval trap "limo" at Marker 33.