So JC035 has come to an end. The first stage of our investigation of the Whittard Canyon is complete. The detailed charts we have produced will help us identify the sites we want to explore in the next cruise JC036. The last 48 hrs of JC035 were hectic to say the least!

TOBI was recovered after more than 50 hours in the water and brought onboard. In total we have surveyed some 3250 square kilometres of the floor of the Celtic Sea in just under two weeks – an amazing achievement. The quality of imagery and extent of survey coverage of the Whittard canyon has been extremely high and lays the ground-work for the next cruise, when the ROV will visit features of interest.

With TOBI safely on deck we had a three hour passage to the top of the canyon and deployment of the Edgetech sidescan sonar at roughly midnight. This went on for the next 8 hours as the sonar was put through its paces.

 During this time we also used the ships shallow water swath system in conjunction with the deep water system which is capable of operating well at this depth.

The sides can picked up the grooves on the seabed made by trawling and some bright reflections – possibly cold water corals and definitely worth a look when we bring ISIS here next cruise.

As we recovered the sidescan Mike sprayed water on the wire to remove salt deposits – only after an hour of spraying did we realise that the hose had been hooked up to the wrong pipe and that we were actually spraying the winch with salt water not fresh water – it had been a long night!!

The deployment went well and the Edgetech was brought on deck and secured at breakfast time as the smell of cooked breakfast wafted onto the back deck. Then it was time to steam to Brest.

In the evening we let our hair down and celebrated the successful cruise. Veerle as PI was responsible for buying drinks for the scientists and crew! The sunset was amazing – probably the best of the cruise and a large crowd gathered on the aft-deck as the sky went through a million different reds and the sunset on JC036

At 6am I woke as the alarm screamed into life – my neighbours must love me. Yet another busy day was looming. JC035 had finished as the sun set and we headed into Brest. The pilot was brought onboard at 6am and we sailed Eastwards into Brest. The wind was bitterly cold as I stood on the Focsle watching the coastline of Brittany slide by.

The sun fought its way over the horizon – a great glowing ball of flame that rose directly above Brest, highlighting the many cranes that littered the landscape. Here and there were remnants of the German occupation of  France during the WWII. Thick concrete bunkers dotted the coastline – many of the bunkers were semi-covered in bushes as nature tried to reclaim the land. The most impressive legacy of German occupation was the huge U-boat pens. These massive pieces of construction are still fully intact. I’ve read a lot about German u-boats and the pens on the French coast. Now that I’ve finally seen them I can fully understand how tough these structures must have been to try damage – let alone destroy.

As we sailed in I noticed that there was an unusually high number of small patrol boats littering the waters on the way into Brest – only when I turned around did I realise that we were being followed in by what appeared to be a battle fleet with warships from many nations.

We docked at just after 7 o’clock –a stones through away from the French research vessel Thalassa.

At 9 o’clock one of the crew from the Thalassa came to have a look at the ship and due to the short port call and the high level of activity we gave him a shotgun tour of the facilities onboard before the favour was replayed with a tour of the Thalassa which is currently berthed here before her next cruise in a months time. At the moment she only has a caretaker crew of 3! The tour was great – the Thalassa is more a fisheries ship and has a lot of fishing equipment which the James Cook lacks. The tour was great and we saw many features which ould be good to adopt onboard our own ship!

At 10 o’clock our new scientific party arrived at the ship. Many of the science team has sailed with us before on JC010 and there were a lot of familiar faces from that cruise and from around NOCs. Lots of catching up and friendly banter!

Late morning I was given some time to explore Brest – in total I’m going to be on deployment for nearly 80 days and this was probably the only opportunity during that time for a break ashore!

So what do you do when you have 4 hours in a foreign port? Become a power tourist! I went to the French Naval Museum which was housed in an old fort. It contained lots of interesting historical artefacts relating to France’s naval history as well as offering some superb views of Brest.

The next stop was a pub for a glass of local beer. At 6 euros for a pint which had about an inch of foam on top I felt a bit hard done by and eyed the price board which only emphasised that going away in Europe is no longer cheap! A night “up-the-road” would have been expensive.

A quick traditional French meal of Steak and French Fries and back to the ship via a souvenir shop to buy the standard issue tack!

Back onboard I had a delivery from the agent – some essential parts to get one of our systems working. After 2 hours of getting frustrated, I finally got the system up and running much to the delight of our new PI!

With that we were casting off and heading out to start a new adventure!