Last Day

It is the last day for me in Aquarius! i'm going to miss this lab, and I am so glad I got to experience the amazing things I did while under the sea. Today we going over the decompression procedures and processes. At the end of our mission we undergo 15-17 hours of decompression, where the pressure inside of Aquarius is slowly reduced from the pressure we have been used to living in for the past ten days, to the pressure at the surface. At the end of decompression, we exit Aquarius and dive back to surface.

This is a representation of the time intervals and the journey that is taken wile we reach the top. 

I am so excited to document my adventure with you guys!!! tomorrow I descend into the depths of the Florida coast to swim with the fishes. I will be living in the research lab called Aquarius. Aquarius is located 6 feet below the surface of the water, 30 feet off the coast of the Florida keys National Marine Sanctuary. On the surface of the water there is the life support buoy. It houses power generators, air compressors and data connections. The mission control center is located in Islamorada, Florida. one month doing Aquarius research is equivalent to 3 years of research up on the surface!

Day 6!!!!! today we did not do much, today was m,mainly gathering and separating data. we reviewed all of the data we collected. using the high speed cameras. today we also decided that we would Skype our families back at home, I even Skyped with a 5th grade class room back in Texas. I showed them the really cool photos we took of the fish, and showed them out living quarters. I showed them the bunk beds we had to sleep on, and the port holes going to the outside. they were all very fascinated.

This is the wet porch from underneath the vessel.  The pocket of air underneath the vessel allows there to be a pool like structure going into the lab. Some of the researchers call this either the moon pool, or the wet porch. I personally like the name moon pool because it describes exactly what it is, a pool. 

Day 5!!!!! we are half way there. I can not bealive I have already spent 5 days down here. It is an amazing experience and I wish I could stay longer. Although, I am getting a little home sick. I went diving today for a little more than 5 hours and I spent 3 of those hours swimming with the fishes. I met a Manta Ray name Lilly. I kept my distance from her, but I was close enough to get to interact with her. While returning to the lab I went through the little pocket of air underneath the vessel called  the wet porch.

Day 4!!! Today was the first diving day. Dave let me explore the ocean floor with him, while he collected data. as a diver, I am allowed to be out side of the research vessel for up to nine hours, but I decided to spend only 4 so I could Skype with my friends and family back home.

Day3!!! today i learned all about the Aquarius system and how it is run. I have been diving since i was a little girl, but it still baffles me how i can stay at the bottom of the ocean for so long. well, turns out that type of diving we do allows us to stays under the water longer. saturation diving is a key part to out survival down here. saturation diving is is based on the principle that the pressure of the dissolved gas in the blood and tissues is the same as that of the gas in the lungs. Basically, a diver goes down to a depth, perhaps 300 feet, and remains there until no more gas can dissolve in the tissues -- the tissues are saturated with nitrogen. Once the saturation point has been reached, the time required for decompression will be the same no matter how much longer the diver stays at that depth, whether it be a minute, an hour, a day or a week.The disadvantages of saturation diving however, are pain or expanding and or contracting trapped gases, potentially leading to damage. Gas toxic ides are also a huge side effect,and the risk of getting "the bends".