RV Polaris II: photo diary, part 1

Alex Connolly, an MSc student at University of Otago, shares a photo diary of her first research voyage, on board RV Polaris II.

I had an amazing time! While there was plenty of work over the 16 days, there were also lots of fun moments, including baking on board a boat, card games with the team, and sunbathing on the deck. The best times were in the water (of course!) particularly free diving with seals at Tonga Island and swimming through the kelp forest at Jacksons Head.

It was interesting to see the contrast inside versus outside of marine reserve boundaries. Inside, I saw a wide range of fish species and some large individual fish, whereas outside I saw more common species and in some areas noticeably smaller fish. Although the trip went well we did have problems due to bad weather. The wind prevented us from sampling at some locations, forcing us to change plans but we still managed to get a large number of samples and data.

I hope you enjoy my photo diary - part 1 is Kaikoura and Marlborough Sounds.

Related pages

• RV Polaris II: photo diary, part 2 (news)
• Investigating food webs from Kaikoura to Golden Bay (news)