Ricardo Cisneros and I joined Hector Guzman’s science team over at the Sea Hunter ship just in time to see them pull up the collected specimens from the morning science exploration dive. Collected by a manipulator arm around 200 meters depth, Hector placed the specimens into white trays for further analysis. There were corals, tube worms, black coral, a sea pen, bryozoans, pink stylaster coral, a brittle star, and a black solitary cup coral. 

After sub dive training and a review of a 3-d terrain model of Hannibal Bank, where Hector pointed out what we’d next be first exploring ever, Ricardo and I donned our jumpsuits and prepared to get in the sub. Ricardo was filled with great enthusiasm, as it was his first sub dive ever and he never thought he’d get to be a real aquanaut!…