The Cave

Today (Wednesday) we began exploring a cave at St. George's Bay in St. Julian's. It was huge! It is this large, deep pool of water contained completely in this cave. We had a bit of a trek to get to the entrance, and when we got there, we had to walk down a staircase which led to the water. We set up our equipment up near the entrance so we had some light to work in, and Andy and Brig practiced their driving skills for the first time since we've been here in Malta.

Unfortunately, like yesterday, we had a lot of technical problems with the sonar communication (a relatively new problem since Chris showed up...impeccable timing). We ended up deciding to not dedicate too much time initially to troubleshooting the problem, and get on with exploring the cave. We took a lot of video and really just wanted to get a feel for the size and environment of the cave. With 3 days to explore, we wanted the first day to be dedicated to getting a grasp on the cave as a whole.

Around lunchtime, we decided to pull the ROV out, and attempt to do some debugging on the sonar connection. We narrowed the problem down to the actual connection between the ROV and the tether, but were not able to come up with a solution on site.

Deciding to continue with just video, we put the ROV back in the water and I took control of the control box for awhile. My goal was to get as deep into the cave as possible, given the limited amount of cable we had.

After exploring for awhile, I hit a maximum depth of about 35 meters (114 feet!). I went into the cave as far as I could, and when I was pretty sure I had run out of cable, we decided to turn around. Upon trying to surface, I realized that there was a bit of a problem: I had created some significant snags in the tether while driving around. This was probably one of the worst tangles that the ROV had experienced thus far, according Chris, so as one could guess, there was a bit of stress around the cave site. Half of the team was down in the cave, waiting to wrap up the cable as it became untangled, while the other half watched the video feed and attempted to strategize a plan to untangle the ROV. Chris ran back and forth between the computer and the cave to try and quickly solve the problem so we didn't end up becoming completely stuck in this massive cave. It took quite awhile to remedy, but after some careful driving, we were free and to the surface. Getting stuck allowed us to more closely see some of the natural formations of the lower parts of the cave, which were super interesting!

With the significant technical problems of today, we have decided that it would be best to stay home and troubleshoot tomorrow instead of trying to explore the cave with non-functioning equipment. We hope that by Friday, we will be able to have the sonar connected so we can create some maps of the cave (not an easy task), and maybe even connect our second tether so we can explore even deeper!

Good day!

After a long and hard battle with camera controls in the visualization of our 3D map of Malta, I have finally got them working. My version of Malta is still looking a little orange, but at least I can see how orange it is from all angles.

On another high note, we had the unique privilege of exploring a cave near St. George's bay. This is the one site I was looking forward to the most prior to the trip. I actually had a great conversation about this with a girl on the plane to San Francisco (and in the off-chance that you're actually reading this, Katie, I'd like to get in touch :).

The cave definitely did not disappoint. As we descended into it I was hit both by surprising warmth and overwhelming darkness. My small flashlight did little to illuminate our way and we almost ended up walking straight into the crystalline water because of how hard it was to tell where the dry ground ended. Once we got the ROV in the water and turned on we got a beautiful view of the rocky underwater. There were a lot of technical issues so data collection was at a minimum, but the trip was well worth it and I can't wait to go back on Friday.

The Most Interesting Man in the World

Timmy Gambin - "The Most Interesting Man in the World"

From the start we all loved Timmy. Tyler said "from the moment I laid eyes on him I knew he was amazing." We have all continued to be amazed by this incredible man. From his seemingly endless knowledge to his striking resemblance to "the most interesting man in the world" in the Dos Equis commercials often seen in CA, Timmy Gambin may actually BE the most interesting man in the world.

Today we went to the hardware store a few blocks up from the street we are staying on, Howard's Hardware Shop looking for more plug converters (we have been battling over the handful we have - we are trying to avoid resorting to violence), an extension cord (sometimes 20 meters isn't enough), a surge protector (we blew up the one we brought from the US - our power learning curve has been slow), a large trashcan (to help test the depth sensors for the ROV), a hair dryer (apparently it is more expensive to buy a transformer than a new hairdryer), and an exacto knife (to avoid toxic fumes from melting apoxy).

It was at this hardware store we discovered Timmy's expansive amazingness - the two men in the hardware store both knew him well. An even more amazing discovery: one of the men in the hardware store was the original author of the first paper published about the cave we will be exploring next week. Timmy really must be incredible to have these connections everywhere we go.

It didn't take long for the complements to start:
"Timmy created Chuck Norris jokes for the attention to be takin off of him"
"Timmy doesn't need a bow-flex, so he gave it to Chuck Norris"
"Timmy touched me today and my spider bite was instantly healed - he is that amazing"
"Timmy doesn't need to do laundry - he just blows on his clothes and they are instantly sterile"
"Timmy doesn't need to trim his perfect beard because he efficiently re-directs the proteins to other parts of himself"
"Timmy knows everything"
"Timmy didn't just write down history - he IS history"

As you can see, we are very impressed with our archeological and spiritual guide here in Malta. He has been wonderfully accommodating, providing guidance, history, and insight into the culture of Malta. We are looking forward to spending more time with him over the course of the next 3 weeks. We love you Timmy!