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Puerto Rico & Vieques 2008 Cruise, day one: March 26, 2008
at the entrance of San Juan Harbor (Amy V.
Uhrin, CCFHR)
The first order of business this morning was to load one of the small launches back onto the ship. The prior cruise did not use all of the small boats, so this launch was off–loaded and remained "docked" at the Coast Guard Station in Old San Juan. At 10:30am, we cast off our lines and set sail for Isla Vieques under sunny skies. There was a slight chop to the sea as we cruised past El Morro, the antiquated guardian of Puerto San Juan. The flags of Puerto Rico, the United States, and an historic colonial Spanish military flag waved majestically, as if wishing us ¡bien viaje!.
We arrived on station after a seven–hour steam and prepared to launch two small boats for late–afternoon dive operations. Our next task was to conduct "practice" fish and habitat surveys to let all the divers acquaint themselves with our survey methods. We divided the scientific party into "fish specialists" and "habitat specialists" and set off to dive on two small patch reefs.
Our first day was a success. However, the trip to Isla Vieques and subsequent diving has left everyone a bit droopy–eyed. Tomorrow we will begin the actual data collection.
