We begin Part 2 of the survey after a very brief night in port. It is still beautifully sunny and warm here, so the weather gods are being kind. I hear the vessels we'll be on this week tend to bounce around a bit, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. We end Week 1 with the following stats. After having noted more than 1100 potential targets, we have narrowed them down (a target can be as simple as a lone boulder on the seabed) and prioritized them according to grades, just like in school. There are 8 "A" targets, 22 "B" targets, and 45 "C" targets. I do a lot of expectation management, because people tend to get excited thinking that one of the "A" targets has got to be BHR. But it's all relative, and the "A"s mean that these were the best out of all of the targets, but still may not shout "Shipwreck". For example, here's an "A". The horizontal lines, the size, and the object near the bottom are unusual features of the seabed in this area.
Here's a "C" target that's likely a couple of boulders, but still is different than the surrounding seabed. The blue lines are 10 meters apart and we use them for measuring.
We'll head out this morning to our two ships, have a meeting to get everyone on the same page, and then the crews will be eager to get to work. The ship we used last week has already been in contact and is handing over data to these two who will carry on the mission, so once again it is great to see the communication and organization of the folks involved. I'll post again next weekend and hopefully will have some interesting news from our divers and AUV team.
