Day 4 is dawning and the residents of R/V NANCY FOSTER are already scurrying about. Scientists up for the plankton tow (looking for lionfish larvae) search for the sun too, as it allegedly rises at 0617.

A buoy drop is next on the agenda.

In this part of the Atlantic lionfish reside on the coral reefs, rocky ledges, shipwrecks and other man-made artifacts along the Gulf Stream. Buoy drops are crucial; as Chief Scientist Paula Whitfield attempts to place the marks at the exact spot where prior research has taken place - so the team can compare ‘apples to apples’.

Nighttime multi-beaming gives Paula the precise outline of the ledges and reefs - armed with this, the latitude and longitude, and real-time echolocation - Christine Addison and Jennifer Dorton prepare to fling the anchor and buoy into the sea.

R/V NANCY FOSTER is a huge ship and the currents strong.

It takes a lot of effort to get this 187-foot behemoth to the exact location. Missing a buoy drop by a few beats might seem slight to the ship, but to a diver underwater it is critical, to maximize the brief 30-minute window they have to spy on the lionfish undersea.
 

There are two dives each in the morning and the afternoon, with the separate purposes of surveying, and collecting lionfish.

 Today’s collection nets nearly 30 lionfish, and they are literally ‘stuffed to the gills’ with food.

As tiny fish after fish is pulled from the stomach of the lionfish, the team gets excited over the valuable input this provides on feeding habits; and clues as to what species the lionfish might impact via consumption, or competition for food.

Today is my last day with the lionfish team. Tomorrow Curtis Callaway, cinematographer, and I will be transferred off the R/V NANCY FOSTER and shipped home. Our other cinematographer Norbert Wu will stay aboard to capture more underwater high definition film.

My emotions are mixed. I'm anxious to get home to my family and home in California - but I’ve grown fond of my shipmates, and of life on an expansive sea. And I’ve finally gotten used to the rolling motion of R/V NANCY FOSTER; the strange rumbles and groans of a ship underway; and even the famed ‘Foster shudder’ that reverberates through the ship from the mast when the bow hits a wave. I’ve even learned to sleep through it.

[Editor's note: Christine Addison is a NOAA scientist & diver; Jennifer Dorton is the Outreach & Education Coordinator of the Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Photographs by Curtis Callaway]