June 5: Coming Home

June 5, 2013: Day 6 of work- The weather continued to deteriorate overnight, but we only had 1 more regular site to go, so we stayed overnight to see if we could sneak in the work at that site before heading home. Unfortunately, the site that was left was very shallow & on the ocean side of a fringing reef.  The captain was able to anchor the boat, but with waves crashing over the reef, there was no way the work was going to get done. Sometimes you have to let safety win out over getting the data. We dropped off the park ranger that had been with us at Ft. Jefferson. Both the science & deck crews worked hard to secure all of the loose gear for rough seas.  Around 10 am, we headed out of the Dry Tortugas & back toward the dock in Ft. Myers Beach. It was a pretty rough ride with 5-6 foot waves crashing into the starboard side of the boat throughout most of the trip. Most of the scientists slept the whole way home, while some of us sat in the salon & watched 2 seasons of The Big Bang Theory on DVD.  There’s not a whole lot to do on a 12-hour transit in rough seas…

We arrived at the dock around 11 pm, by which time the weather that had been plaguing us for days had finally gotten a name. Andrea was the first named storm of the 2013 hurricane season.  We loaded up our pick-up trucks in the rain & headed for St. Pete, 6 people in an extended-cab truck. The crew dropped me off at home around 1:30 am & I promptly feel asleep, exhausted from extensive diving & rough seas.