The minute I stepped back on deck, everyone asked me, “So, how was it?”

I have found answering this question to be a bit challenging as I am still somewhat overwhelmed by the adventure that began when I boarded Alvin. How does one describe something so beautiful? How can I possibly articulate what a mind-blowing experience it was? Perhaps the biggest impressions I am left with are the beauty of the environment and the joy of working with wonderful people.

The environment in a hydrothermal vent area is stunning. I had seen so many images of the environment over the years, but it seemed so much different in person. Everything was more vivid and more animated. I was shocked to see how gorgeous the bottom of the ocean was in this area. The bottom was rocky, but these rocks are not like what you might find if you were strolling across a rocky shoreline or on a mountaintop. This was rock made from lava that moved slowly and hardened rapidly. The edges were perfectly round and the surface was glassy. There is a sheen to the rocks that cameras just can’t pick up, so it was a wonderful surprise to see it in person.

The first vent structure we located to took my breath away. I could see it clearly on my video monitor, but eagerly awaited for Bruce, the pilot, to give me the opportunity to see it from his front view port. It was a black smoker, named V vent, and it was spewing dark smoky water straight up into the water column. I couldn’t believe how rapid the flow was and how close the crabs could get. We measured the fluid from this vent and its temperature was 363ºC, yet just a couple centimeters away the water is quite cold. I saw numerous animals throughout the whole trip, and was constantly amused by the crabs, like the one seen in the image on the left crawling over an extinct sulfide structure, or the ones I saw that eagerly swarmed a broken mussel that Bruce had dropped for them, and climbed all over our sampling equipment.

There’s so much more to the dive besides enjoying the view. There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done in a short period of time. We measured the temperature at about eight locations, deployed a long-term temperature probe, collected seven fluid samples, six gas samples, two rock samples, three different species of animals, and relocated an experiment from another scientist that had been displaced.

Bruce was busy navigating the sub, keeping the sub in location despite the current, and skillfully operating all of the sampling equipment via Alvin’s arms. Dr. Lilley and myself manipulated video cameras and recorded data. I feel so lucky that I was able to dive with Bruce and Dr. Lilley (the photo to the right shows Dr. Lilley, Bruce, and Jill inside the sub on their ascent back to the surface). Bruce is an eleven-year veteran and a very talented pilot. He also plays good music in the sub! Dr. Lilley has become a friend to me over these past two weeks and it was such a joy to share the dive experience with him. Most importantly, it’s also important to mention how hard all of the crew of the ship work at deploying and recovering Alvin, and the great lunches carefully packed by the wonderful chefs on the ship. Every person on this ship plays a vital role and takes great pride in their work making sure each dive is top-notch. True teamwork!

In the end I am left quite humbled by the experience, a bit wetter from the bucket of icy water poured over me (image to left) to celebrate my first Alvin dive, and truly grateful for being able to experience an awe-inspiring environment very few will ever see…unless, of course, you should become an oceanographer or deep-sea scientist one day…or a very lucky teacher!