Sampling at last!! It is great to get things going and it is a learning curve for some of us with collecting oxygen, nutrient, chlorophyll a and phytoplankton samples. Currently the stations are far enough apart to complete all the tasks before the next samples are onboard. Must say it is quite interesting doing light microscopy on a ship that is rocking in the swell, as gentle as it may be at this stage. The calm seas we are experiencing are helping a lot to settle us into the rhythm of our six hour shifts. We are still far from the shelf edge (>4,500m of ocean below us) and things are pretty subdued out here. There is very little as far as bird activity that goes on, with only a few wanderers passing by now and then. Only been able to identify one species, Sooty terns. As for marine mammals, there's been no sign that any exist out here, except for Homo sapiens that have passed by and left their mark in the form of litter that floats out here. By tomorrow afternoon, once we are on the shelf, we should have the first fish trawl on deck, can’t wait for that.