Dive 2924 Starboard Observer - Marv Lilley
0919 On bottom. X-5410 Y-6285 Top lab nav does not agree with this fix.
0924 Still adjusting trim. Tapes are running.
0928 Still at landing site. We are on a talus slope. IT is down hill away from me, hdg 157, depth 2167.
0934 Mucking with nav listening for 14.5 khz transponder.
0941 Nav still crappy. Bullshit fix says X-5664, Y-7414 travel times are not consistent. We are 12 m off bottom but probably on the east wall.
0952 Top lab says our target (Dudley) is 500 m at a heading of 250. Off we go.
0954 We are now using the 8.5/7.5 khz pair or transponders and the nav is somewhat believable. Current in sub fix says Dudley 457 m away at heading 240.
0957 Still going down slope driving 245, almost certainly the east wall.
1000 Now at the valley. depth 2190. X-5405, Y-6344
1004:40 In an area of flat sheet flow with some hackley areas and occasional rubble. Our depth is 2225 (wow, thats deep) hdg 275. I see some small basalt pillars about 2 m tall with bathtub rings. Lots of small white sponges and spider crabs. Also a collapse pit with bathtub rings, maybe 2 m of relief with about 20 visable rings.
1008 At an old mooring site where a railroad wheel was left behind. X-5516, Y-6375. Probably a bogus fix. Look at the reconstruceted track lines for reality.
1010 Going upslope, I see lobates, some striated, elongated pillows, depth 2219.
1011 Still going upslope, smaller pillows, lots of toothpaste squirts, looks like some of this has tumbled downslope.
1013:38 Blee is playing with the lights to get different levels for Vero to look at the sit cam video.
1015 Still running toward Dudley, we hope. Still going upslope, many large pillows (1.5 m dia) some lobate, some striated toothpaste squirts of elongated pillows 2 or 3 m long.
1015:28 X-5138, Y-6312, depth 2208, still moving upslope. Big pillows have disappeared, now mostly in low relief lobates.
1017 An 8-10 m deep fissure running 180, our hdg 202, depth 2207. much rubble around here.
1020 X-5081, Y-6240, Flat sheet flow, broken up in spots, a N/S running wall.
1022 Climbing up a broken, rubbley wall, depth2205, going south along the fissure hoping to hit Dudley.
1023 hdg 186, we think we are still north of Hulk. depth 2204, alt 3.
1024 We just now remembered the mesotek and turned it on.
1025 A large fissure out the starboard window, I can't see the other side. hdg 181, depth 2205.
1030 Got a fix that may be reasonable, X-5102, Y-6144. Bottom very broken and fissured, depth 2202, alt 5.
1032 Hell of a lot of relief here, X-5102, Y-6144, depth 2199, alt 7, hdg 210.
1034 The bottom is getting flatter and flatter, depth 2212, alt 3. Fixes unreliable.
1035 We see a sulfide structure. depth 2212, alt 3.
1037:48 We are leaving the sulfide site, it was old and inactive. We see more sulfide ahead at a hdg of 200. Nav no good.
1038 Driving over another inactive sulfide. depth 2207, alt 6, we have it on the mesotek and the sit cam.
1041 Just passed over another relict sulfide about 8 m tall. depth 2209, alt 9. lots of sulfide rubble, we are essentially climbing a talus slope of sulfide.
1042 Still a large pile of sulfide below us, depth 2205, alt 6m.
1043 Top lab says Dudley is 100 m away on a heading of 340. We must have been following a fissure that went east of Dudley and bypassed it completely.
1044 We are still looking at an inactive sulfide, its about 13 m tall.
1048 We are going to follow the top lab's advice and go north. We are lost with no nav.
1049:27 Current hdg 026, see another dead sulfide out the port window. depth 2201, alt 7m.
1050 More dead sulside. There is a shitload of dead sulfide around here.
1050:43 Broken sheet flow out my window, some zones of uplift. hdg 351, depth 2211, alt 3.
1051:42 Small fissure perpendicular to the sub track, hdg 340.
1053:17 See sulfides, bacterial mats, we are at an active structure, looking around for markers.
1055:11 Water is murky, I see sulfide rubble, depth 2202, alt 5. Top lab says Dudley is 45 m away at 300 but we are at something and will look around.
1056:47 We see active sulfide, tube worms, Kim saw a big flange. depth 2195, alt 5, I see a lot of snails on the sulfide. We are in the main field, but are we at Dudley? I think so, the face we just flew over looked like the spot where Dudley used to live before he moved to S&M. I just saw a 2 m wide flange covered with tobe worms.
1107 We are settin up on a black smoker on the putative Dudley. We have not been able to find any of the 91mmarkers. Blee having trouble with currents which he say are from the south.
1108:31 I see 3 small flanges on top of the structure. They are stacked vertically in a pagoda-like arrangement. depth 2192, alt 10.
1122 Blee still fighting the manifold, trying to sample putative Dudley.
1126 Blee now fighting manifold and Jerry.
1139 Jerry spazzed out and dropped the manifold wand. We have to sit down on the deck and pick it up.
1152 We have the manifold wand back under control, now trying to set up on the smoker again but Blee says he will do handhelds.
1201 Taking major 4, gas tight 2. Blee says he may have plugged the gt by poking it into sulfide.
1223 We are hunting a ground that has appeared during sampling.
1225 Deploy marker AA at sampling site.
1229 We are setting down on the deck to hunt the ground. We headed 216 from putative Dudley about 10 m and have found another structure but we can't look it over just yet, we have to find the ground.
1232 We seem to have a problem with both hydraulics and propulsion. We must end the dive.
1311 I see some Sea Cliff dive weights. Those guys have littered the field.
1315 We are moving on a hdg of 287
1317 Flat sheet flow
1321 We have hit the west wall, Blee is still playing with trying to further isolate the ground.
1341 Can't isolate the ground beyond both hydraulics and motor control. Weights away.