I signed off my last report on Saturday around 16:00 as we were testing the box corer, which was unsuccessful, at the -2,450m level. The rain squalls were homing in on us and the waves were increasing. I had never been in gale force conditions, and it was a frightening experience. The least of our problems was that we would be having cold sandwiches as it was too dangerous to cook anything hot. Most of us took to our cabins and beds, as it was almost impossible to stand up without getting slammed into something. During the late evening and night the winds were reaching speeds of 60 knots, and the waves were between 3-5 meters. Cabins seemed to take on another life with all manner of banging, creaking, slamming or vibrating. Aliens seemed to want to be liberated from the closets. Around 3 in the morning my two sturdy arm chairs toppled over, and became projectiles careening toward my bunk, followed by an unsecured drawer that raced to the port side of my cabin. Just trying to secure it was a huge effort as the force of gravity could instantly switch directions. The storm continued throughout the night and into Sunday. The winds had dropped to 50 knots in the morning, but the waves were still ferocious. My cabin is on one of the higher levels of the ship and when it listed left toward the porthole I could see the waves then the sky and they seemed to almost meet. Any kind of scientific testing was abandoned at around 8 AM Sunday as the equipment was not able to function in this kind of sea conditions. This weather continued all Sunday and there seemed to be no end of this gale force 8-9 storm. All one could do was to lie in the bed and feel like a jellyfish. A decision was made to return to Messina.

By the end of the day there was some good news, we were going to get a break from the waves and stop over at Favignana, one of the Egadi Islands, on the western side of Sicily. We had stopped there on our way out from Messina, due to the stormy sea conditions. One side of Favignana offers a sheltered place to moor the ship and we all got good nights sleep. Thankfully we reached that destination around 21:00. Hot dinner service was once again on the menu, although several times we had to catch the silverware, sugar, or wine if we hit a rough spot. There was some movie entertainment, and a cake in honour of Daniela Zappilli, who was celebrating her 25th birthday. Early Monday we picked up our anchor and headed towards Messina, the sun shinning and not a storm cloud in sight. Around 9 AM a group of deck hands headed by Pietro were getting the box corer up and ready to test at the 300 meter level at station E12. Several attempts were made then finally “eureka”: sediment that could be sampled came up, making Gian Marco Luna a happy man. Giovanna Maimone is delighted as she got all the water samples she needed to complete her mission. Mohamed Sahabi, our scientist from Morocco, is pleased as well because he had not used the high frequency echo sounder paper mapping technique previously and he has now learned how to interpret it. That is all for now, I am Siri Campbell reporting from R/V Urania

A happy Gian Marco Luna and Daniela Zeppilli with Box Corer Samples