Notes from Key Largo

Today we had our first break day for this mission, after 5 straight days of diving. For a putative (my new word of the week...) break day, we sure did a lot. Woke up at 5.30am to accompany Wai as she sent Joe to the Miami airport, then went around Miami Beach a little. Came back feeling a little hammered, since I spent 3 hours the night before plugging away for my Stats final, and had a beer at Sharkey's to unwind afterwards. The rest wanted to go to Key West so grabbed my camera and headed out again, except for Tim who wanted to stay back and write. Felt a smidgen of guilt thinking about my climate change paper...but hey, it's Key West. So it's 10.35pm, and I feel like going to bed already. So much for a productive Sunday.

It's going to be a big day tomorrow! Pulling in my Mycale fragments to see if any of them have been eaten. Fed a persistent Grey Angelfish some cut Mycale during the last dive so feeling vaguely optimistic about things. Rather miraculously, with the exception of Monday, we have had good weather so far, and 3-4 dives each day. This leaves me with one more survey, a couple of collections, a mapping dive, and maybe an Alizarin staining day left for the mission. Super duper. Haven't really been taking photos, mostly just concentrating on work. Well, and my housing leaked during the last dive too! Am upset, but camera still appears to work. Shall try again tomorrow. Now, to sleep!

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