Heading back to Juneau

In just two days i'll be headed to Juneau to join Bob, Jennifer and Christian on our third sampling cruise of the year long Tracy Arm coral time-series. Myself and lab technician Christian secured additional funding from National Geographic/Waitt Foundation to join this NOAA funded project to collect more samples for SEM and TEM analysis, as well as look for brooded larvae on live samples. I head out a few days earlier than Christian so will be flying to Alaska on wednesday - equipment gathered and ordered, and the boxes are mostly packed and ready to go.

We won't be able to update this blog during the field days unfortunately, as where we're going there is no internet, no phone, and few people - but in this coming week we'll be getting the boat ready, doing check out dives, preparing chemicals and collecting equipment, and as soon as we get back in range we'll let you know how it went! So stay tuned!

Dr. W.

Off to Tracy Arm Tomorrow

Heading out to Tracy Arm tomorrow to start work. The transit is around 5 hours, so we're leaving at 7am in the hopes of getting at least one dive in tomorrow so we can get a start on things. There is so much to do underwater on this trip - measure corals, tag corals, take samples, take water measurements, take photos, take video, put out instruments - quite ambitious for just 5 days!

We will have no email while out there, and i'm doubting i'll be able to post this time while we're out, so there may not be any updates until we get back on Saturday. I haven't pre-posted anything either this time, so you'll just have to wait in suspense to see how we're doing!

Our home for the next five days, the quite luxurious Alaskan Legend. Not a traditional research vessel, the people who run this boat have worked with Bob before, and since there is no specialized equipment, just SCUBA, we have this charter to work off. This morning we loaded all the gear, and I stowed all my chemicals and set up my microscope for the trip, so we're ready to go bright and early tomorrow!

That meant some sightseeing this afternoon! This is the view down the Gastineau Channel, where we'll be headed tomorrow to get to Tracy Arm.

Looking into Juneau with Auke Bay in the distance, and even further you can make out the snowcapped mountains which are in the Glacier Bay area.

The Mendenhall Glacier.

Bob and Michelle took me on a hike to the Glacier on Saturday, here are Bob and I with the glacier in the background.