Oct 29, 2002

Hi this is Dan. Today we did our first dives at a new site. Turtle Rock is a small island a short ways offshore of Ross Island. It is a favorite place for mother Weddel seals to give birth and raise their pups.

Apparently it is also popular later in the season as a place where male seals to go establish territories and fight over females. This can make it a tricky place to dive at times as these male seals can become aggressive in defense of their territories. Our diving commenced with Oliver and Stacy heading off on underwater scooters to do some reconnaissance and determine the best place for taking samples and setting up the next of our experimental enclosures. Like the other geological features in this area, Turtle Rock is actually a volcanic cinder cone. Underwater its steeply sloping sides drop precipitously into the clear black abyss. White Laternula shells contrast against the black volcanic gravel and, as they fall down the slopes, form rivers of white that stream down into the depths. These steep slopes proved to be a challenge as we had to make use of a small flattish area on a little knoll 70 feet deep for setting up our experiment. I was having somewhat of an off day as I both forgot the lights for the video camera, and I sent the breaker bar (The steel rod we use to break ice our of our holes) through the ice and to the seafloor 130 ft below. We did manage to get our samples collected as well as the 8 buckets of sediment we needed to set up the organic enrichment treatments for the experiment. The day ended late at the lab after we finished preparing the fencing for our starfish exclosure by sewing a skirt of canvas from a destroyed "Scott Tent" to plastic mesh in order to create an impenetrable barrier.