09 Dec - And now for something completely different...

After a 3rd straight day (and night) of 30+ kt winds which prevented us from deploying our scientific gear at most of our recent stations, I was faced with a difficult decision. We were scheduled to be in the Bransfield Strait for at least 2 more days conducting stations and then heading south to the Gerlache for ~ 3 day of sampling. However, given that we had been unable to deploy the CTD or net at 5 of the last 6 stations and that the weather forecast was calling for more of the same, I decided that we should head to the Gerlache earlier than normal and hope that conditions there were better. We knew we'd at least be in the lee of the peninsula and protected from the strong east winds we'd been experiencing in the Bransfield.

Part of running a scientific research cruise is being able to adapt to changing conditions. By moving to a new spot, we'll be able to continue to conduct science, but we may not be getting the exact samples that we originally thought we would get.  In some cases, the location of samples is critical for a project, in others it's more flexible and this is one of those cases.

It's been a pleasant change to go from 30+ kts of wind to winds that are less than 10 kts. The seas are fairly calm and we've even got to see clear skies and the sun.  We're not catching as many salps and krill here as we were in the Bransfield, however we are catching enough animals to continue our experiments. We're also going to be exploring some bays along the Gerlache that had enormous aggregations of krill in them in May and June (when I was last down here). It'll be interesting to see if these aggregations have grown, shrunk, or disappeared all together.

MT Mereidi prepares the IKMT net for launching on a beautiful sunny, clear, (almost warm) day in the Gerlache Strait. Thanks to ET Mike for the loan of the fisheye lens!

Sometimes the scenery here is really spectacular with mountains, snow caps, glaciers, and icebergs littered throughout the view.

- Joe