After an evening of rocking and rolling with the waves, we got underway for Washburn, Wisconsin. Enroute to Chequamegon Bay, Apostle Islands, Team 2 sampled all 3 stations along our final transect, Transect 5; lectures today included Dr. Jim Lubner’s “State of Lake Michigan,” including pertinent information on invasive species and their potential to “homogenize ecosystems around the world.” He spoke to the importance of the Great Lakes Compact and its goal of preserving and improving the integrity of these lakes by providing a guide as to when it is appropriate to remove water from them. Dr. Joel Hoffman followed with a lecture on coastal wetlands, which will provide valuable background for us as we see them firsthand from kayaks tomorrow. Rounding out our academic day, Dr. Nancy Auer spoke about the sturgeon, a fish she says has “…along with redwoods and horseshoe crabs, survived for 100-200 million years .” After discussing the issues facing this ancient fish, she concluded by asking both educators and scientists to speak passionately and positively about the sturgeon, in order to ensure its presence into the future.
And finally, at the end of the day, we were able to explore Washburn (land again!) and return to our mother ship for a delicious dinner of steak and shrimp!

Thursday afternoon we arrived at the Rock of Ages just off the shoreline of Isle Royale; the wind was a howling 25 knots, and the waves were building. An attempt to deploy the ROV was unsuccessful, too much current, waves and wind. We headed for the Kewanee Peninsula and the waves were building and the boat was rocking. The scheduled 20:30 Mysis relicta hunt had to be postponed to 00:30 (12:30) and moved to a location on the west side of the Kewanee to get out of the waves. The bed was calling me as my gut churned with the waves. I came back down to the wet lab shortly after midnight where the crew had the tunes cranked and getting ready to go on a Mysis hunt. Only a few of us made it to the event. Once on top of the collection site the Guardian shut off all her deck lights as not to scare the Mysis away, a red light was lit on the fan tail of the boat, and the hunt began. The net was sent to 83 meters, after waiting two minutes, the net was brought to the surface. A successful hunt, we filled a jar with the Mysis relicta. We awoke this morning to the calm waters of the Portage Ship Canal and a sun filled sky.
A most memorable day.

It’s 9:00 PM, and the Lake Guardian is cruising along the Keewenaw Peninsula on the way to Houghton, Michigan. Today’s highlights included working with Michigan Tech professor Marty Auer and his microscope attached to a flat-panel television. We viewed and identified phytoplankton and zooplankton from the Duluth-Superior Harbor compared to some that had been collected farther out in Lake Superior. Marty is an excellent teacher who often uses the technique of storytelling to keep his students focused on the topic at hand. He frequently checks for understanding throughout his lessons making sure no COSEE learner is left behind.

The marine technicians on board deployed two remote control devices into the water. Off Isle Royale, we watched as Steve Delworth steered the ROV. Later in the day, the Triax went for a “swim” sending several kinds of real-time data back to the onboard computers.

Stay tuned for more updates from other members of the expedition (I like the sound of that - sort of makes me think of Jacques Cousteau). TWS

The pace of today is much slower then yesterday. We are all doing our own thing as we increase our depth of understanding and start to digest the information we have received from day 1 and 2. Before lunch Howard had teachers make a concept map out of the words we came up with on day 1. This was interrupted by Matry’s Last lecture, which many of us where sad about. We learned about phytoplankton and zooplankton and he challenged us with the “Paradox of the Plankton.” This left many of use with a lot to ponder and a possible direction for research questions. After Lunch group 3 was “on Station” working transect 3 which has made them better know as the Pelagic group. The rest of use have kept ourselves busy decorating our flags, journaling, identifying plankton and counting diporia. The after noon was also highligted by the deployment of the Triax, collect multiple water quality information in a horizontal direction rather then the vertical. We continue to witness life on see as the Marine Tech run into problems with the equipment.