WOW!!! That pretty much sums it up. We've been out of contact for the last couple of days - in "Porto Albernus - on an island in the Pacific" today for a crew change. Will miss our crew as they have been amazing - engaged, interested, and so wonderful to work with! For those of you interested in seeing where we've been/are - go to MarineTraffic.com and then search for the CGGS Vector!!
We've been focused on Tofino Inlet the last couple of days - both Tranquil Inlet and Deer Bay (at the head of the inlet) and I've got to say that this is probably the most interesting 'stuff' I've ever seen. We've been taking "freeze cores" - in essence we have two long rectangular 'tubes' - they are filled with a mixture of crushed dry ice and ethanol (and lead weights), then lowered into the ocean and sunk into the sediments. After 1/2 an hour they are brought back aboard with frozen sediment - thus the name "freeze cores". By analyzing the sediments, the scientists are able to 'see' past events - tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, etc. They are also doing "CTD"s - conductivity, temperature, depth tests - which measure the salinity of the water at various levels. We've done 'surface grabs' where a machine takes a bit of surface sediment to analyze, and net tows - where a net is deployed to gather plankton, etc. In addition, multi beaming continues to happen to 'map the ocean floor' and sub bottom profiling. And all data gets logged and backed up of course. Lat night was an amazing sunset as we headed southwest past Chesterman and Long Beach. Whales were spouting in the distance .... Weather continues to be fantastic with full sunshine, calm seas and no rain. Although we did have some waves come over the rail of the ship last night watching the sunset. Everyone seems to have their sea legs however. Tonight we head towards Effingham Inlet where we will spend the next couple of days.
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