Dispatches from Sea >>
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| March 2007 |  Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH. |
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| April 2007 | |||||||
April 21, 2007
As I woke this morning to the obnoxious bow thruster and the ping, ping of a transducer somewhere, I felt like something was probably happening on deck that I needed to know about. You see, I don’t have a window and night and day get all messed up! So, I quickly donned my clothes and ran upstairs to the main deck to find out just what was going on there.
The Jason II ROV was out of the water and on deck. This meant that the data collecting portion of our trip was complete. Today is the 29th day of our journey and as soon as Jason came out of the water, we headed north to San Diego at 13 knots. It’s the fastest we’ve gone since we arrived at the EPR, four weeks ago. That seems like so long ago to me! It will take us 6 days to transit there.
I spent the morning with a few of the Jason II crew to see exactly how the ROV gets packed away for transit to another ship for another expedition in the near future.
Normally, there are just a few crucial things that begin when the dismantling activities begin, including disconnecting the cable from Medea, taking science instruments and samples off, retrieving cameras from the bars they are mounted on and packing them, and draining fluids that keep the mechanical parts in working order. Jason II is a bit large for it’s packing crate, so the crew takes off the light bar and extra floatation materials as well. Medea also needs to be fully taken apart and packed.
However, before anything gets loaded into the crate, it is important to make sure any parts that aren’t in working order on the ROV get fixed. My two new friends Tito Collasius and Jim Varnum worked diligently to repair the wrist of one of Jason’s arms and it’s spare this morning. It was fun watching their meticulous work and listen to their bantering! These men really seem to enjoy what they do.
It is kind of sad that the trip is nearing the end of the road (water) though. Although I am tired, it has been a remarkable experience that I will never forget. This web log has been only one part of my responsibilities while on this journey. Tomorrow I will share the rest of the story.
 Tito Collasius and Jim Varnum, repair Jason’s wrists while SSSG, Lynne Butler looks on. |
 The gears on the inside of Jason’s wrist. |
 Jim tests the resistance of the wires on the wrist. |
 Scott Hansen, Jason II tech, pauses from pulling equipment from the ROV. |
 The SM2000 sonar (left) and the Doppler system both need to come off the ROV. |
 The Doppler. |
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