2008 Expedition Log
I am the cook aboard the boat and spend most days listening to music on my Ipod. My nickname is ‘Disco Dave’, but more about that later…
It is late afternoon on the last day of the second week of the expedition. Grant and I are on the sun deck of the Explorer pounding a quick-disconnect fitting into a tight, non-collapsible dredge hose.
For the next three hours my entire world is condensed into the size of a dinner plate. Twenty square inches is the size of the lens on my mask and with my face 6 inches away from the worksite
On East Caicos we have relied on a number of high tech and low tech methods to find sites. We started in 2002 with helicopter over-flights.
When we arrived yesterday to East Caicos the large rollers coming in from the east made me shudder as I thought how difficult it was going to maneuver our survey vessel across the face of these waves that could easily deposit us on top of the exposed reef if we weren’t careful. I cringed at the thought
After an uneventful passage from Grand Turk, Tuesday evening we set out to look for a good path past the reef to the wreck site. After several exciting sorties through the waves in the inflatable boats,
The Explorer, tied to the dock on Grand Turk, comes to life about 5:00 AM. Captain Chabot wants to get an early start so we can get to our mooring off East Caicos and get to work as soon as possible. I appreciate his aggressive attitude. One third of our charter time is behind us now
That afternoon, Don swapped places with Toni Carrell, and the two of us picked up where the morning’s work had left off. Upon entering the water, it rapidly became apparent that conditions at the site had deteriorated drastically; the two of us had put over 20 lbs. on our respective weight belts as “insurance” against the surge, to little effect.
The first step towards understanding any historic shipwreck is to document, as accurately as possible, the archaeological material (artifacts, hull structure, etc.) that comprises the site,
An important part of this project is sharing it with you, our friends, colleagues, supporters and interested visitors. The big problem when working offshore is getting internet access. Our live aboard has just about every amenity, but internet access is not one of them.