Someone should pinch me. I can't believe it. Here I am in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a 270-foot-plus research ship headed for the mid-ocean ridge in the Northeast Pacific and we are off to recover a black smoker. What a trip! What an adventure!

It is truly an amazing undertaking. You talk about biodiversity ... there is an incredible array of skill and talent on board this ship and they are all focused on the same task. The scientists, the engineers, the ROPOS team, the ships crew, the teachers, the folks from NOVA. They are all specialists who bring something to the table. And everyone is filled with all the excitement, anticipation, and a quiet, but ever present tension, knowing that this is a unique undertaking, a first of its kind, and we are working at the edge.

It is Saturday evening and we are just passing Cape Flattery, the last piece of land in Washington before we enter the open ocean. We won't arrive at the site until Sunday morning.. We are a bit behind schedule. The cruise got off to a slow start. Originally we were to be underway at 0800 hours (ship time), but it was 1930 hours (I am trying to be nautical) before we left the dock. ROPOS, the remotely operated vehicle and the workhorse of the operation, arrived in Seattle on the 19th of June and the crew followed. ROPOS had just returned from the Indian Ocean and the vehicle and its garage needed to be reassembled, modified (to the needs of this cruise), and tested before we could head out to sea. Trying to keep the risk and the need to return all the way to Seattle from the site (some 20 hours away) to a minimum, the vehicle and the garage were put through a series of test dunks in the Juan de Fuca Strait today, trying out all systems and equipment. Now the vehicle is sitting snugly in its garage on the fantail of the ship ready to head for the ocean floor tomorrow.

Myles Gordon models the latest in survivalwear

The ROPOS crew is fantastic and a wonder to watch. They have been working 14 to 18 hour days, swarming over, under, and around the vehicle and the garage like worker bees attending to the queen. They are so focused, and working with the crew they seem to be able to fix or build any component they need.

Meetings and briefings took up a large part of the last two days. Subjects include shipboard policies and procedures -- when to do your laundry, meal times (the food is way too good!), how to set up your e-mail, etc.; science -- introductory lectures about the basic science behind the cruise (e.g., fundamentals and the history of the exploration of the mid-ocean ridge); and the data collection and research efforts that will be undertaken during the cruise. This morning we heard from Le Olson on the plan for the recovery of the sulfide chimney. Le is from the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington and exudes a reassuring confidence. Yet, you watch Le and everyone else on board and there is a constant, almost obsessive tinkering and testing of gear and apparatus. You simply can't be too careful. We also heard from Ed Mathez, the co-leader of the expedition and the chair of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Museum. Ed briefed people on plans for the new Hall of Planet Earth and described many of the samples that are being collected -- where they come from (e.g., Pompeii, Mauritania) and the processes that they represent. He then focused on the Black Smoker and its role in the Hall. Ed talked about it as an icon, an icon for the dynamic earth, an icon for the origin and distribution of life, an icon for scientific inquiry.

Myles Gordon, decked out in his marine survival suit, assaults Margaret Carruthers. During the Fire and Abandon-ship drill, everyone tries on his or her survival suit to make sure it fits and that all the accessories (e.g., strobe light) are working. A survival suit would help someone float and stay warm should we have to abandon the ship.

On an equally serious but less scientific front, this afternoon we had a fire and boat drill. At 1600 hours, the alarm was sounded and we all reported to the lab wearing a life jacket and the required hat and carrying our survival suits. As part of this drill, we tried on our orange-red survival suits. This one piece jumpsuit, complete with rubber gloves and feet, with a heavy duty zipper up the front, a hood, and a built-in inflatable pillow behind the head, reminded me of a combination wetsuit and Dr. Dentons . We checked the strobe flashlights on each suit, and then paraded around the lab looking like the clumsiest of lobsters and taking pictures of one another.

Then came another science briefing. At this session each scientist on board briefly described his or her research plans and the roles and tasks that each of the eight teachers might pursue. John Delaney, co-leader of the expedition, chief scientist of the cruise, and professor at the University of Washington School of Oceanography, often talks about the different scales at which this research is operating: global earth processes (plate tectonics), the Juan de Fuca Ridge, the Mothra field of hydrothermal vents (the recovery site) , the individual smoker/chimney, and the life forms that thrive in this extreme environment. Teachers on this cruise will have a chance to work with scientists on nearly every one of these: mapping the ridge and the site, investigating the geochemistry of the water, sampling and identifying species that thrive round the vent.

Also at this session, it became clear that the real work for all of us is about to begin. On Sunday morning we will be helping the researchers prepare their apparatus and set instruments for the ROPOS dives. Teachers will start teaming up with scientists for their research assignments for the next three weeks. And on top of that, we will begin to stand a watch: four hours on, eight hours off. (So for example, if you are on the 12 to 4 shift, you work from midnight to 4 a.m. and from noon to 4 p.m.). While on your shift, you might be responsible for recording the video or grabbing frames from ROPOS, maintaining a real-time log of the images captured, or tracking the path and navigation of ROPOS.

More later.

Myles Gordon