Introduction

Participants

 

R/V Pelagia Cruise GLOW
	Diary overview
Wednesday, 4 March
Since our last report, the ship has occasionally fallen eerily quiet punctuated by blasts of intense excitement.  The team continues to work successfully towards our ambitious scientific goals, with results proving savage and dynamic, as predicted.   Our investigation of the north end of the Davie Ridge moved into a new phase as we shot a series of slashing, oblique lines with associated multibeam bathymetric data, zeroing in on several crispy deep sea drilling sites.  Ding!  Having resolved the deep geological character of this sector of the western Indian Ocean, we set our course as Sirius set, casting its reflection over the inky-black ocean.  A pod of four leviathans (species unidentified) sailed majestically alongside the Pelagia, blowing misty spurts high into the air.  "There she blows", cried the Captain.   The day of the celebratory BBQ dawned dreech, dank and clammy.  Beseeching the weather gods from a raised plinth on the stern, like the sailors of old, Dr de Haas prepared his sundance.  Donning a souwester, pink umbrella and sporting an interesting kind of headwear, the incantation began with a rhythmical moaning rising to a pounding climax.  "O yee Gods", he ejaculated, "of the sun.  Please shine on our humble assembly".  Within minutes, shafts of light penetrated the swirling cloud deck while a distant, ocean-going bird (species unidentified) observed the electric blue Pelagia in the spreading afterglow of the maelstrom.  The weather had turned out nice again!  The BBQ was grand, raising and downing our spirits. Time passed, as the pool of scientists and crew drifted in and out of consciousness.   The next day of frenzied activity passed in a blur, as we bowled through 10 activities across 4 stations on a Pleistocene depth transect successfully.  "What a crispy piston corer", exhaled the chief scientist breathlessly as the fruits of the team's labors came suddenly on deck and were bagged eagerly for subsequent analysis by micropaleontologists.  Penetration was consistently over four meters, although some had hoped for more.  We may have been banging hard ground without realizing.  The throbbing, gelatinous fruits of the ocean, microscopically examined, revealed an arena of ferocious combat between planktonic gladiators (species unidentified). The seismic survey has since reconvened, with long oceanic sweeps: tack, tack, woof, woof, tack, woops, yeah!  We will report.   The shipboard party