Source: Oceanographic Magazine
Author: Diva Amon
MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO THE DEEP SEA WAS A BIT SERENDIPITOUS.
I had finished my first degree at the University of Southampton in the UK and headed back to my home country of Trinidad and Tobago to fulfil a scholarship obligation. After six months at home, I received an email from my dissertation supervisor and leading deep-sea biologist, Professor Paul Tyler, asking whether I wanted to join a research cruise onboard the RRS James Cookto search for hydrothermal vents (a fissure on the ocean floor that issues geothermal-heated water) in the Cayman Trench, which was mobilising in Trinidad and Tobago. It was a no-brainer – I remember running around my house screaming with joy. So, in March 2010, we set sail for more than a month at sea, working with a suite of deep-sea tools to hunt for hydrothermal vents. Deep-sea science is perhaps three parts skill and two parts luck and fortunately, we had all of it.
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