Freaks come out at night...

The Vampire shift starts at midnight…core thirsty scientist ready to take on the elements to gather mud from the seafloor. Dr. JP Walsh (Chief Scientist), together with Dr. Sid Mitra, lead this band of night walkers. I will be the first to admit that the night shift is tough to adjust to…it's hard to be excited about starting your "day" at midnight. But that hasn't slowed this coven of mud suckers.

The night and early morning hours does provide some different sites to see. I have heard tales of tuna, water spouts, famous drill rigs…impressive indeed! It is interesting to see this crew in the morning…the vampires seem to turn into zombies throughout their 12 hour shift. That said, many still pitch in to help during the shift change. It is always great to see so many people working together for a single goal…the science!

The lead scientists (Walsh, Corbett, Mitra, Xu) often get together between shifts to make sure everyone is up to date on the accomplishments of the previous 12 hours and we all agree on the approach for the next 12 hours. We sometimes make slight modifications to our plan as samples are collected and new information on the sea floor deposits are gathered. Today we are steaming toward the Atchafalaya River delta. Planning on several shore perpendicular transects to the west of the delta.

The fun and excitement continues…