HOME >> Expeditions >> Seychelles Home >> Daily Updates >> Science Diary >> 10 Jan 2005

En-route to Ste. Anne's Island

Focus for today Day 1; (Date: 10.01.05): Departing for the outer islands.

Target key stage: Key Stage 4 (Double Award and Applied Science).

Key information:

After 2 days of logistical planning and activities on the main island of Mahe, we have just started the transit to our first destination island (St. Joseph, Amirantes). As such, there are no field-research activities to report on. This first science diary entry will therefore focus only on providing you with an update with regard to the activities since our arrival on the 8th January.

Our primary focus since arriving has been familiarising ourselves with the vessel (Golden Shadow) and crew, and recovering from the travel - 3 of our team have travelled from the USA/Canada (a 9 hour time zone difference). We have also placed a strong emphasis on assessing our equipment and planning our research logistics - this has impacted slightly on our itinerary (see the itinerary for the updated version). Some issues have arisen, including the choice of technique to be used to mount the remote sensing camera equipment (CASI instrumentation) on the sea-plane (Golden Eye). The choice remains between mounting it externally on the fuselage, or expanding a hole in the fuselage to allow the sensor lens to protrude. The decision will be made later today, following discussions with the Golden Eye pilot (Adam Domingo) and remote sensing scientist (Herb Ripley).

Our time has been put to good use with regard to the finer detail of the scientific planning - we have finalised the design of the SCUBA sampling methodology; this will include video transects and ‘ground-truthing’ the CASI imagery (see methodologies section for a fuller description). All equipment for this is now aboard the vessel (excluding one video camera system). The SCUBA team has met today, to familiarise themselves with the SCUBA diving protocol of the vessel. For the Health and Safety of the team, it is crucial to have formal operating and safety protocols in place.

One important issue that is unfortunately out of our control is that of a team member’s baggage - it did not arrive on its scheduled flight and, as such, we will now have to make a special flight of the Golden Eye sea-plane back to the main island of Mahe to collect the baggage upon its arrival in Seychelles (hopefully early this week). The baggage contains important underwater camera equipment required for the research.

We have been testing the electronic communication capabilities of the vessel (via a satellite connection), which is vital for the maintenance of these web-site updates - so far so good! We cannot obtain a broadband signal from the Seychelles (unfortunately the satellite ‘footprint’ does not cover very much off the Indian Ocean). We are however able to operate with a 64k dial-up modem; with satellite communication costs at between $7-15 per minute we have to operate with efficiency!

We have also spent some time exploring potential reef damage (Ste. Anne island) as a result of the tsunami (see the Fact of the Day page - Day 1).

Question for students/food for thought:

Why do you think that the first 2 days after arrival in the Seychelles have been so important for the team? You may want to think about our location, the team members, planning issues and equipment requirements, etc.

Additional information:

One of our team members is suffering from bronchitis, which has worsened significantly since arrival. The team member has been seen by the ship’s nurse, and has been administered anti-biotics. We are hoping that the cold that triggered the bronchitis does not spread between the team; based on the confines of a vessel, there is a chance that this could happen. Hopefully a rapid recovery will be made, although there will be no SCUBA diving for this team member tomorrow - SCUBA diving with any form of illness is dangerous, particularly when it involves the airways/lungs (the pressure changes that occur when descending/ascending in/out of water can cause significant damage if any air gets trapped in the open spaces of the lungs and associated airways - there would be very high chance of this occurring when carrying an illness such as bronchitis).