Tom Coad - Day 3 We continue south across Bass Straight, making slow progress as weather conditions refuse to ease. In fact the seas have become somewhat more unforgiving with Bass straight truly living up to its name. Weather has forced a number of voyagers out of action but those of us that could stomach it were greeted by a majestic welcoming party of albatross observed off the trawl deck, inviting us as we neared our island home. Only one station was sampled today at around 2pm due to us not having enough slack time up our sleeve, although we are now travelling at a comfortable 10 knots and should be able to make a number of stops tomorrow around Maria Island. These stops will be important for collecting carbon chemistry samples to calibrate the CO2 sensing instruments at the Maria IMOS station. CTD and XBT deployments were successful in yielding data although the plankton net tow has been sacrificed temporarily due to our need for speed. In absence of these stations, the day was spent analysing CTD chlorophyll samples via the on board turner fluorometer. Chlorophyll a analysis is a vital method used for estimated phytoplankton abundance and sometimes growth. Aspiring scientist have also been given invaluable tutorials regarding the processing of oxygen samples also collected from CTD casts by Southern Surveyor hydrochemist Mark Rayner. By now all students have had the opportunity to man the operation room communications while under the guidance of experienced voyager Lindsay Pender, during the deployment and retrieval of the CTD and XBTs. The CPR was scheduled for a cassette change having completed around two thirds of its 450 nautical mile tow range before being redeployed as we near the Tasman coast.