At 1447 today, we deployed the first of six Argo floats for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Weeks ago, I started communicating directly with the project organizers when the first delays due to lifeboat 4 began. It was difficult to send updates informing them of the cancelled ports we all had been looking forward to. As soon as we had a confirmed route from New York Harbor to Tenerife, I sent them those waypoints. Throughout all the changes, the WHOI Argo team always corresponded with understanding and positivity.

The new, more northerly route still put us near one of the areas of greatest need for the floats which was fantastic news. When we changed routes again and finally went over the specific deployment instructions, the WHOI team answered all my questions. It felt great when all this prior planning came together today with the help of 4/C Rodriguez-Perez.  First, we conducted a deployment brief at noon, informing all those interested about the Argo program, the float, process and data usage.  4/C Foran, 4/C Rew and 2/C Kowalski assisted in the deployment in addition to all the crew and students on watch and assisting.

This all feels full circle in a way. In 8^th grade, I visited Maine Maritime Academy and boarded the TSSOM for the first time with the Swan’s Island 6-8 class in order to drop off our “Mini Boat”. Educational Passages provides 3ft long “boats” with a tiny diamond shaped sail and GPS trackers in the hull, and our teacher had gotten one for us. The TSSOM cruises used to drop them off far enough offshore so that they would not just circle back. It was fun to watch it be taken by different ocean currents through the website. Ours landed on the coast of Ireland months later.

I am so grateful to assist the Argo mission.

Posted by: 2/C Cadet 2M Sage Dentremont, MTO Delta Company

https://www2.whoi.edu/site/argo/

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