Since we anchored at Cojo Anchorage at Point Conception last night, we were without internet, and uploaded the post as soon as we were back within range of civilization.
"Since it was dark, I cant find the hole," "Bonnie forever changed my life," "DAMNIT YOU SWELLS" and "I’M DONE BEING A MARINE BIOLOGIST" were few things that could be heard on the deck by the end of today. As we left the comfort of the dead-flat harbor of Santa Barbara at 5:30am with much energy and naive optimism, we were totally unaware of what Mother Ocean had in store for us. The first two trawls, all over 450 meters deep, were just a piece of sea-star cake for the crew containing low numbers of cat sharks, brisaster, orange brittle stars, rockfish and flat fish. The water was so, SO tame at first that we even had a long enough break to throw around quotes from The Spy who Shagged Me (guess which series) as we cracked up to the movie in the galley. Mother Ocean must have deemed her challenges no match for the hard-working crew, and she immediately corrected that starting with the third trawl. Armies of 5-6 foot swells backed up by roaring wind kept slamming the Yellowfin. The crew was getting tossed and turned sifting through our catch and our own vomit. The catch, though disgustingly dirty, turned out to be quite interesting. We caught some bodacious cat sharks, tubular hag fish, and a fluffy dumbo octopus. Beaten down by the swell the crew was swept and burnt out, but mustard up the energy to make it a nice and productive day.
P/S: Dana gave up typing halfway as hagfish’s slime kept pouring out from underneath her fingernails.
-Dana Michels '16, Sam Akiyama '15 and Binh Vuong '14
To keep you interested until we post tonight, take a tour of the RV Yellowfin with Sam Akiyama: