We left port shortly after midnight to catch a weather window that was closing fast. The next ten days are earmarked for a return visit to a vent field surveyed once before, this time with better thermal instrumentation than we had on the first pass.
Vessel and crew are both smaller than most people picture when they hear “research expedition” — six people, one ship, no film crew. That’s deliberate. It’s most of why we can afford to run as many dives per year as we do.