In Search of Giant Squid

To read the journals, simply click on the date listed below.

January:15-18-20-25-28-30
February:1-6-7-11-12-13-14-16-19-26-27-28
March:1-2-6-7-9-10-12-14-15

February 16, 1997 - Jim

Had some good runs today. We took the vehicle to 500 m, which is the deepest we've gone since our operations over the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Tomorrow we will probably descend to 750 meters. The Crittercam showed an incredible amount of life below 50-100 meters. Clyde and Malcolm expressed amazement at the shear numbers of creatures. However, our vehicle speed is so fast (greater than 3 knots) that everything zips right by. It is a little like a continuous version of the 'jump to light speed' in Star Wars. Tomorrow we will slow the vehicle down, and maybe bring it to a complete stop to try to get a better view of interesting creatures. Overall the vehicle is working great.

We are finally getting the hang of operating off the Tanekaha. While very well set up for fishing, it is a challenging platform from which to run small vehicles. The power is highly variable, the A-frame doesn't articulate, and the bulwarks are too high for us to work over the side.

Bob has to climb into a little zodiac which we tie along side to work on the vehicle, . Between wrestling the vehicle and fending off getting smashed up by the boat, he has his hands full. Today, deployments went fairly smoothly, despite some rather heavy swells.



A great description of the Odyssey, including wonderful photographs and graphics, is available on the National Geographic Society's Kaikoura Web Site. Look for the Odyssey's entry in the Crew section.

Smithsonian Giant Squid Overview Page

gene carl feldman / gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov