Ship and Mission personnel at the aft control station monitor the final ROV and camera sled recovery of the Galapagos Expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Galápagos Rift Expedition 2011. Download larger version (jpg, 871 KB).
At 1700, the tandem of the Institute for Exploration's Little Hercules ROV and NOAA's Seirios camera sled were again resting on the fantail of the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. The ship is headed east to map along the Ecuador Rift before turning north to continue along the Ecuador Fracture Zone. After today's recovery - the last of the Galápagos Expedition - we now have 12 safe and successful deep-water ROV dives in 12 consecutive days. That is a pretty good run particularly when you consider all of the potential problems that can and do occur.
