NOAA Ship Nancy Foster

I was on the NOAA Ship, Nancy Foster today along with a bunch of Virgin Islands Legislative members and NOAA scientists. It was an event to have the USVI government learn more about what NOAA scientists have been doing in the Caribbean Sea. For more detailed information on the Nancy Foster Ship, and the mapping of the seafloor technologies visit

http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/nancyfostermission/

BUT if you try to go there today it will not work. WHY? Because of the Federal Government Shutdown! AND that is also the reason why I am still at work today instead of off on a scientific expedition in the Caribbean Sea for the next 9 days. I boarded the ship this morning for this event with the VI government, and then the plan was to sail off and start doing research with multi-beam sonar and fisheries acoustics. Also, using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that has a camera attached to it to see the different marine environments as well as using it to ground truth the sonar measurements. All of that info and more really cool stuff about the Nancy Foster ship is through that website above, whenever it will work again!!

I am really bummed out that because of this Federal Government Shutdown, I don't get to go out on the research cruise. There is a slight chance if things get resolved in the next day or so that we can continue with the expedition...That would be great, but we all know the pace of this process and I don't imagine getting so lucky, but I will keep my fingers crossed. In the meantime, enjoy some great pictures of the ship, the ROV, and the NOAA scientists and Virgin Islands Legislative Branch. I also got to take a picture with Senator Positive Nelson of St. Croix. He is well known for his famous (here in the VI) slogan "Positive is How I Live" and showed up with a bunch of swag to pass out. It was a pleasure to meet him! He was funny and he told me that his idea of a scientist was a conservative type personality. When he met me just kept smiling and laughing and called me "The Conservative with Piercings", while chuckling. It was hilarious!