Sailing for the Sea of Crete

The R/V Endeavor has left port in southern France, and is headed for the Sea of Crete to begin the first leg of the expedition. URI Engineer and ROV Pilot Todd Gregory writes, We started work the minute we stepped on the ship this past Saturday and worked steadily until we shoved off yesterday afternoon.

"The vehicles, winch, crane (etc) are all in place and secure. Over the next few days, we will be busy hooking up and testing the vehicles, setting up deck cameras, radios, computers, and transforming the main-lab into our 'Imaging Van.' We miss our toolvan, but arranged the wet-lab into our floating workshop. The weather is cooperating so far on the transit and the forecast is calling for calm weather."

"The crew are quite friendly and the food has been good (at least until the fresh fruit, baguettes, and french cheese run out)."