Viii…! Today, Nov,11, 2009, I am going to have a dive with Alvin down to 2000m deep! Amazing! When Anna-Louise told me yesterday that I will get the chance to dive with her, I was immersed in big happiness, really exciting moment! I have not expected to be such lucky as the diving chances is very limited and prestigious in this cruise. I wrote several emails to my friends, teachers in my university to tell them this good news, they were all get excited and asked me to make good document of my memorial dive as I will become the first Chinese Woman Scientist dive so deep! As a scientist, I have stepped into some genetic work using DNA isolated from the deep-sea vent chimneys, but I have never been able to witness the fascinating deep-sea ecosystem myself, I have a long-time wishing that I would be able to. The dream will soon come to true! OK！ Everything is ready, Let’s launch to the deep! We three I, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, and pilot Dave together had the dive 4556. Right at around 750m in depth, I sent a message to the surface that I am the first Chinese Woman Scientist who have ever dived so deep! I got word that everybody in the world now hear my voice! It is super great just sit there watching the fluorescent jellyfish and other small creatures floating in the sea world. I especially loved that moment, it makes me feel peacefully. I love the silence world, it holds so many mystery .After one hour 15 minutes, we were at the bottom of the sea, it didn’t cost us much time to find a tubeworm mountain, they are so densely populated, just like a huge colourful painting placed in the deep dark, attracting us to discover their secrets. This is a very fruitful journey, we saw a lot of things, different animals such as tubeworms, crabs, star fish, clams……, we sampled also what we want: 6 chimney rocks, 2 tube worms, and plenty of clams. It is always a limiting of time to be there, I even didn’t feel the time is flying, we are so unlikely to see bye-bye to these creatures. We have to be back to the surface, leave the massive dark lovely creatures shinning there, bubbling their story. We got back to the surface quite quick, only cost around 1 hour. Nearing the surface, I am wondering how the guys will welcome me, will they prepare the cold water? When I showed up on the deck, I saw our team members all standing there with big applauses. Thanks, guys! I wave my hands to let them take photos like a hero. It’s really cool! Just when I was near the yellow line, Paul welcomed me with pouring cold water on my whole body, it is salty! Then Jason followed.
Wonder when and where would be my next dive! Alvin group is really super excellent group! I hope I could get a chance to dive with them in the future!
Fengping's "Baptism"
Photos taken on Fengping's dive.
