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Day 3: July 19, 2005

We had another successful day on the RV Nancy Foster. The seas remain calm so our dive operations are going off without a hitch.

Air Temperature: 93 °F
Surface Water Temperature: 83 °F
Bottom Water Temperature: 76 °F

 We dove two sites before lunch and two sites after lunch in water depths from 133 to 146 ft deep. We are about 70 miles SSW of Beaufort Inlet ( North Carolina), out on the western edge of the Gulf Stream. This morning the divers experienced considerably more current. Lionfish were observed at every site we visited today which makes a total of 13 sites visited so far. Another exciting occurrence was that some of the live lionfish we collected had spawned overnight in their tanks, releasing egg masses into the surrounding water. Tomorrow we will be visiting two wreck sites where we hope to survey and collect lionfish and retrieve a temperature sensor to examine winter bottom water temperatures.

four lionfish on bottom
Lionfish are found solitary and in groups. This group of four lionfish were spotted on a low relief habitat covered in algae. The larger darker lionfish are probably the oldest and youngest are usually much lighter in color as you can see here.
Courtesy of Doug Kesling.
launch picked up divers and bringing them back to ship
The dive team is picked up by small boats that stay on board the RV Nancy Foster. In the foreground the dive team is returning to the RV Nancy Foster. The second boat in the background also participates in dive operations by serving as surface support while the divers are decompressing from their dives. This team consists of (from right to left) Doug Kesling, Will Wells, Dave Score, Jay Styron, Joe Bishop and Paula Whitfield
Courtesy of Thomas Nassif.
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