NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in port on Ford Island, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in port on Ford Island, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 1011 Hohonu Moana. Download larger version (jpg. 4.5 MB).

Underway!
July 31, 2015

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer departed Pearl Harbor, Oahu, this morning at approximately 0930 and got underway to commence Leg 2 of the Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deep Waters off Hawaiʻi Expedition. Onboard personnel spent the day preparing, training, and familiarizing personnel with shipboard systems, while many of the shore-based scientists became familiar with telepresence tools and the new University of Hawaii at Manoa Exploration Command Center. Due to Navy weapons testing in the vicinity of our first planned remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive site and long transit times, the first ROV dive of the expedition has been cancelled and we will instead start with the second planned ROV dive at East Necker, or Keoea, Seamount. The sonar systems were turned on after we departed port, and the ship is currently conducting mapping transit operations en route to the first ROV dive site, planned for August 2. Due to a problem with the satellite connection, we are functioning on reduced bandwidth and as a result will only stream two video feeds to shore during this leg.