If I thought JC035 had been busy then JC036 is hectic! Our first day of science started at around midday when we arrived back at Whittard canyon. My day started before that as we got all the swath systems online as we started to approach the worksite and the area in which we had clearance to operate. We also have our SBP (sub bottom Profiler) working – this system emits sound that penetrates the seabed allowing us to sea the density of the seabed and have a good guess at whether it’s rock or sediment

The first nightmare of the day was when the non-toxic system turned on. One of our systems was under maintenance and water was sprayed over some other equipment – which didn’t like water. Luckily Alan – also known as the Ice Man for his incredible cool nature swung into action and got everything fixed in no time.

Most of the morning was spent getting the scientists onto the internet! It’s amazing how dependant people have become on the internet especially facebook and the BBC!

A few of the scientists have been adjusting to life onboard. Some have been feeling the effects of sea sickness but today everyone is looking a lot better as their bodies adjust to the peculiarities of a world where everything is moving!

Once again I have been placed on the bar committee as “el Presidente”. However, on the previous cruise we only had 7 scientists – this time we have about 30 so it becomes a bit of a task stocking the bar and using the unit allocation to cater for everyone!

When we arrived on station ISIS was prepared for her first dive of JC036  and dive 98 of ISIS’s career. The dive would include deployment of a ADCP – a device that monitors the speed of currents. This would be left of the seabed in the middle of the canyon system and then recovered in a few days. Once the ADCP is on deck we will download the data and see how the currents behave this deep in the canyon.

Once the ADCP had been deployed the ROV started a video transect to various points of interest that the scientists had identified. However, during the survey a fault became apparent with the ROV’s tool tray and after a number of unsuccessful attempts to retract the tool tray it was decided to recover ISIS and fix the problem instead of continuing with the basket obscuring the view of the video cameras.

Meanwhile Jezz prepared the mega corer and I helped setup the USBL to track the mega corer as it headed to the seabed to get mud samples.

The ROV was recovered in the evening. During the recovery it was noticed that there was a twist in the wire. It was Ben’s first go at recovering the ROV and Dave, Ben and the deck team worked closely with the control room and got the twist out of the wire in no-time. It was a good recovery by any standard – and a superb recovery for Ben’s first go!

During the night one of the GPS systems went a “bit funny” and I got a call in the early hours to fix it. Luckily we have a number of redundant systems! Anyway, the old saying “have you tried turning it on and off” worked