At about nine o'clock (ship's time), the ROVs finished the last dive of this mission to Lost City. Now we are on our way to port in the Azores, a group of Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Immersion Presents team, and most of the scientists will be getting off there, and heading for home. Most of the ROV group will be staying on for another cruise where they will help a new group of scientists study deep sea corals on seamounts.
The NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown left Woods Hole, Massachusetts in the evening on July 17. We're on our way to the Lost City hydrothermal field. We'll be posting detailed updates starting on July 23rd. In the meantime, check out the latest 
We've been at sea for over five days, but somehow it doesn't seem that long. Everyone aboard has been incredibly busy getting ready for tomorrow, our first day on site. The scientists have assembled their instruments and sampling gear. The ROV team has been preparing the vehicles. All of the equipment in the control van has been set up and tested. Meanwhile, the production team has been setting up and practicing for the live broadcasts.
This evening, we finished the first dive with the ROVs. The vehicles were brought back to the surface and lifted back up on deck.
This is the first time that the chief scientist of an oceanographic expedition is leading the mission from shore, using technology to see what the team on the ship is seeing. Dr. Deborah Kelley is at the Science Control Center at the University of Washington (UW). From there, she and her team can see all of the video coming from the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) cameras. They can tell the team on the ship where to drive the ROVs and which rock samples to collect. The two teams are constantly communicating using our satellite and Internet 2 link.