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| Coney (C. fulva) |
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| Bigeye (P. arenatus) & turtle |
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| Rock Beauty (H. tricolor) |
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| Queen trigger (H. tricolor) |
Last night while we mapped, we were still working in some pretty heavy current. We knew that this could pose a problem for setting traps. In the morning, we moved the the farthest inshore area that had been mapped in hope of avoiding the gulf stream. We set six traps. From the cameras, we found that 4 of them had moved across the bottom a significant distance. These four traps caught no fish. The two traps that had stayed in place each caught a few fish. One of the traps captured a species of fish I had never seen before, a coney (
Cephelapholus fulva). Watching the videos, this site also held several neat Caribbean species I had never seen on videos before. These included rock beauty
(
Holacanthus tricolor) and queen triggerfish (
Balistes vetula). These videos also produced some bigeye (
Priacanthus arenatus) as well as a fleeting glimps of a sea turtle.
Since most of our traps were moving across the bottom and not much use to us, we started transiting to our next mapping area, 55 miles away. This gave the daytime science crew quite a bit of down time, which we filled in a few fun ways. However, of course, the folks who work on the boat didn't have this time to kick back. The officers on the bridge still had to drive the ship to our destination, watch for other vessel traffic & keep us all safe. The deck crew always has things to fix, maintain & paint. A steel hulled research ship needs a lot of painting and maintenance to stay looking nice. Many, many hours go into keeping her in tip-top shape. The engineers have to make sure that the generators are still functioning and everything is running smoothly. And of course, everyone still has to eat. So, while it was a pretty low-key, relaxing day for a few of us, most people had to work just as hard as always.
One thing I have learned from working on boats is to appreciate the downtime when it comes. You never know when you will get a bit of time off & it's best to make the most of it when it is there. You may be frustrated that you aren't working as much as you could be, but things could just as easily get overwhelming, so its best to take advantage of every minute of relaxing time available.
Since most of our traps were moving across the bottom and not much use to us, we started transiting to our next mapping area, 55 miles away. This gave the daytime science crew quite a bit of down time, which we filled in a few fun ways. However, of course, the folks who work on the boat didn't have this time to kick back. The officers on the bridge still had to drive the ship to our destination, watch for other vessel traffic & keep us all safe. The deck crew always has things to fix, maintain & paint. A steel hulled research ship needs a lot of painting and maintenance to stay looking nice. Many, many hours go into keeping her in tip-top shape. The engineers have to make sure that the generators are still functioning and everything is running smoothly. And of course, everyone still has to eat. So, while it was a pretty low-key, relaxing day for a few of us, most people had to work just as hard as always. 
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