Connor's letter, answered by Carol DeWitt, Chief Scientist on this Oscar Dyson Cruise, from NOAAs Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle

Dear Connor,

Thank you for the letter. Your class did a wonderful job of writing letters to everyone on the ship. The bridge watch standers have been really enjoying all the snacks that you guys sent.

Last night we tried to head north to our mooring site 4. The bands of ice thwarted our efforts. By the morning it was obvious that we couldn't make it to site 4 and accomplish all the things left to do in the cruise. So we are headed back to site 2. A mooring we deployed last fall was moved. Our mooring technicians were able to find the mooring - which had been moved four or five miles away from the original deployment site. So we will drag for the mooring in hopes that the grapple hook will snag on something on the mooring. Then we have a mooring to deploy and a CTD line to run. Somewhere along the way we will collect samples with our bongo tow for your class (there have been lots of jellyfish at site 2 but we won't include them in your sample) and send the styrofoam heads and cups down on a CTD. I'm looking forward to seeing how the heads shrink.

Are you getting ready for summer vacation yet? Do you haved to go to school extra days because of all the snow that you got this winter?

Best wishes and "hi" to your teacher - Mr Jenkins. I had the pleasure of sailing with Mr Jenkins on the MILLER FREEMAN - he was a great ship mate.

-Carol