News from the Cruise Day 8

Our prayers were heard and we could have a full dive for our last chance to dive during this cruise. The dive started pretty well with several very interesting biological samples, as we were progressing through the dive, we could see more and more signs of hydrothermal activity, but we could still not find the exact venting sites (where the hot water full of sulphur and other minerals comes out of the seafloor). And the main objective of the dive where to find this exact point. As we were progressing towards the top of the volcano, not knowing how shallow Shinkai submersible could go, things started to get more complicated. Indeed, we were getting closer to the vents, but at the same time the Shinkai was caught in the plume of white water, charged with mineral particles, emitted by the vent and it was impossible to see anything further than 3-4 cm. At least we know we were getting closer. Finally with less than one hour remaining (and this is very short for a submersible dive) the Shinkai could get out of the plume and by chance find one of the vents. It was really exciting to see for the first time the hot hydrothermal fluid coming out of the Earth and sulphur "dripping" out of the stone. And what is really exciting for us biologists, is that in this extremely unfriendly environment there is a lot of life going on, with some fishes, crabs and mussels around the place. Probably if we would be swimming around, beside being burned by the hot water and intoxicated by so many poisonous chemicals, we would also get badly burned by the extreme acidity of the water. So it is amazing that so many animals could evolve ways to transform such toxic environments into a source of energy far from the light of the sun.

On a more technical perspective, this dive was was also the record of the shallowest dive of the Shinkai submersible. The Shinkai is made to dive at over 6000 meter depth, so taking it at less than 400 m depth was a challenge, especially with the strong current there was on the site.

Now we are on our way back to Auckland were we will have some outreach activity. And this is our new challenge, summarising all the exciting information we could obtain and transform the frustration of the cancelled dives into motivation to come here again and finish exploring these interesting places.

Shinkai goes in the water for the last time in this cruise

Happy scientists excited to see all the different samples collected

One of the most important thing for a successful cruise is the kitchen. If the food is good, everyhting is easier and the mood is higher. The only issue is that with the little exercise we make, the weight also gets "higher"...