This was the most amazing day yet. As you know, we’ve had several problems on this cruise, but there hasn’t been anything that the crew here couldn’t handle. When something breaks, they fix it. If it breaks again, they fix it again. If that breaks, they fix it in a different way. They don’t give in, they don’t fight amongst themselves, there’s never a sharp word spoken or blame assigned, they just work the problem.

I’ve known this about the crew from the start. I’d always heard that the Atlantis crew was very flexible, helpful, well-trained, and hard workers, but now I’ve seen it in action during this past week. Alvin hadn’t been out of its hangar in 10 weeks, so there was a huge amount of maintenance that needed to be done to get ready for the first dive. The Alvin crew (pilots and techs) worked all week replacing parts, filling up lines with hydraulic solution, inspecting all the windows visually and pulling three of the five windows out to be inspected and greased. They also pulled out 6 penetrators for inspection and greasing as well. There are 23 penetrators on the sub; these allow cables to pass through the sub’s hull and into the sphere while maintaining the structural integrity of the sphere. And, in case all that wasn’t enough, they did the 25 dive and three-month maintenance as well. (There’s a HUGE list of what’s done for those inspections.)

The Alvin crew wasn’t the only one to work hard. The deck and engineering crew have worked ceaselessly to keep the boat running in top shape. But today, I really saw them as the consummate professionals they are when they swung into action to fix the A-frame.

I woke up at 5:45 a.m. and made my way to the stern to see the placement of the transponder. I missed the launch but stuck around to see the Alvin crew make last-minute adjustments to the basket and the sub itself. It was a gloomy morning, rainy and low clouds. It seemed like the sun would never come up. Dreary — it was just dreary, but the mood was high among the scientists and crew. We were going to launch at last! Dr. Cary and Dr. Morgan were scheduled to dive in Alvin with pilot Tony Tarantino at 8:00.

At about 6:45, while firing up the A-frame, a part broke. There are hundreds of moving parts on the A-frame, and they all have to work properly to launch Alvin. At first glance, it seemed that launch would have to be delayed for about two hours while the problem was addressed. Chief Engineer Kevin Fisk, and engineers Jack McGrath and Marcel Viera met with Bruce, Pat, and Mark (Alvin crew) in the "Alvin-Mart" to design a plan of action. (It’s called the Alvin-Mart because it has every conceivable thing you’d need to fix a problem, like Wal-Mart or Home Depot.) However, one problem led to another, which led to another, but soon, with perseverance, there was no more problem.

It was truly amazing to watch these men work so diligently to fix the A-frame. I was riveted watching a super team effort. All knew that there was a time constraint because we wanted to get Alvin into the water as quickly as possible. The sub needs to be back on the surface by around 5:00 in the afternoon, so each hour counts. It takes about 90 minutes to reach the bottom, and another 90 minutes to get back up. With three hours of travel time, they needed to get launched as quickly as possible if there was to be any time to explore the bottom.

The part was fixed about 10:30, and then the sub was rolled out of the hangar for a test run. The crew is very safety-conscious and wanted to do an unmanned test run with Alvin on the A-frame. The sub was hooked up, lifted, and hung over the stern to make sure that all the parts were working smoothly. Everything tested out perfectly, and Dr. Cary and Dr. Morgan got aboard around 11:00. The sub was full away from the ship and diving at 11:25.

When you really think about it, you know that the operation of a deep-submergence vehicle such as Alvin must be complicated. It has to be — the environment is so hostile and extreme that only a few vehicles are equipped to explore it. But, it isn’t until you watch the launch operation for yourself that you can truly appreciate the smoothness of the operation. Everyone has a job; they know what they need to do. They work smoothly and professionally throughout the entire operation. No raised voices, no thoughtless remarks, no worries. It’s smooth. Even with a broken A-frame part, the whole operation went calmly.

Around 3:30 p.m., the sub began its return to the surface, and the science report was phoned up. Even with a short bottom time of three hours and three minutes, they managed to survey about two-thirds of the site. They are returning with a few Alvinella and some sipper samples from two chimneys. We’ll have to wait for Monday’s dive to really get in and explore some if the vents in detail.