Day 9

August 27th, 2011 – Day 9 – On watch this morning, we were on Dive 1470 which started at International District to do a survey of the sea floor. We were trying to find a good flat and relatively safe location for the future install of the primary node for RSN. Later in the morning, chief scientist John Delaney woke me up to go on a small boat ride to retrieve a transponder that was cut from the sea floor. The transponder surfaced about 150 meters off the bow and we reeled it in from the small boat. Later on in the evening we had a steel beach picnic and a photo-op. A steel beach picnic is a barbecue on the fantail of the ship for those not familiar with seafaring terminology.