By David Schlaphorst
The ship on its way along the Tagus river towards the open Ocean.
Finally, we left the calm waters of the naval base and started our 5-week deployment journey. In the morning, we were busy checking the equipment, especially their communication with the computer. This is important since these ocean bottom seismometer stations will not have a physical link to the sea surface once they are deployed. And while they are still in our reach on the ship we have the chance to find out if any one of them has issues.
Samane, Auggie and Theresa testing the releasers to make sure that they will communicate with the ship at the end of the deployment and release the stations back to the surface.
But then, at 15:00 we started travelling through the estuary of the Tagus, leaving Lisbon behind us and crossing under the Ponte de 25th of Abril (the one that looks a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge). On the port side (left in vessel moving direction) there is Lisbon’s own version of the Christ the Redeemer statue you would normally associate with Rio de Janeiro. On the starboard side, we passed by the Tower of Belém and, fittingly for our scientific expedition, the Explorers’ Monument.
Now, the ship is heading for the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It will, however, take us a few days until we reach the site of our first OBS deployment. Until then, there is more equipment testing to be done and we will also take the time to get used to the movement of the ship in bigger waves.
The Mario Ruivo in front of the 25th of April bridge and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
A look back on Lisbon and the Explorers’ Monument
The team of the first leg on deck right at the point of leaving the port.
