The first objective of the day was to take a group photo. With various members of the group carrying out their duties it was quite a job mustering everyone. The result is a group photo which all of us will cherish for many years to come.

Today we concluded operations with the deep sea divers. Operations planned for today including placing a retrieval mechanism on a site and aid divers in the retrieval of one important object from the seabed. Operations were delicate but meticulous planning ensured that all went well.

After a few hours at sea we returned to port to safely deposit the object in fresh water. This will ensure that the object will not deteriorate after many centuries in seawater. Once again the Carabinieri did an excellent job in supporting the fieldwork.

Also in the morning, our engineer Jason fixed a mechanical problem on the Carabinieri’s motor launch! This enabled us to proceed with normal operations.

The island of Ventotene is a hive of activity with hundreds of people enjoying the long weekend of the feast of St Peter & St Paul. Our weekend has been equally busy with the project culminating in the operations of today and tomorrow. We set off in the morning to prepare the equipment (needed for today’s operations) and ROV. Once on site, we launched the shot line with specialized equipment attached. Once on the seabed, we launched the ROV and proceeded to inspect whether the equipment landed as planned. The deepsea divers came on board the ISIS to view the situation on the seabed. Following some minor arrangements Roberto & Marco proceeded to kit up and execute their dive. On the seabed, ROV and divers combined to carry out a delicate and important operation. Months of planning were boiling down to these very intensive twenty minutes. Step by step the team, made up of three vessels, 2 trimix divers, four scuba divers and the ROV, carried out the plan to perfection.

Once seabed operations were completed we sent down two Carabinieri divers ensure that operations from 50 metres to the surface continued smoothly. The three vessels mobilized to conclude the day’s operations and the ISIS returned to port in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow we will carry out a similar operation on another site. This will bring a conclusion to this phase of our project. Following Tuesday’s press conference we will visit one other site to gather some last fragments of data and bring to an end the Ventotene 2009 chapter.

Today was the first full blown dive using the ROV after the damage suffered earlier this week. So far, our support for the deep water diving operations has been limited to surface operations. Today we launched the ROV to a depth of over 120 meters so as to accomplish some pending work on one of the sites. It was a stressful operation and the numerous boats navigating at speed between Ponza and Ventotene did not help matters. The Carabinieri did an excellent job of keeping the rogue captains at bay and we were able to complete two successful dives on the site.

We are gearing up for a large presentation of our work which is to be held this coming Tuesday. The results of this first phase of the season have been amazing and we hope to share these with you as soon as possible.

Once again, various duties kept us from posting yesterday’s blog on time – apologies. The morning was dedicated to the third deep water dive of he project and we accompanied Roberto and Marco out to site 3 with the ISIS.

Meanwhile, the much awaited (and traveled) spare part arrived on the 11am ferry thanks to the efforts of the Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanzia and the ferry captain. The part was taken to the Fortaleza where our ROV techs spent the day fitting and connecting it. By late evening, work was complete and we launched the ROV from the Fortaleza for the moment of truth. We watched the ROV enter the water with an understandable degree of apprehension but once underwater the machine performed well and passed all technical tests.

In the galley section, our cook Gejtu was preparing for an onboard dinner hosted in honour of the Carabinieri divers who have been doing a fantastic job supporting this project. Manuela and Roberto, from the Superintendence kindly prepared the first course (spaghetti with calamari) whereas fish and steaks were barbequed for the main. A group photo taken at the end of the evening is posted below.