The expedition will be primarily focussed on oceanographic surveys, with our intrepid team of oceanographers trying to gather more information on the exciting discoveries they have made on previous trips.

Primary activities in South Africa for the oceanography team will be to service the Transkei ADCP moorings at Port Alfred and Port Edward, to conduct CTD and ship-based ADCP survey lines between Port Alfred and Port Edward. The moored instruments must be serviced every three months. Together with the geologists, they will also be conducting a CTD-based survey of the Tugela Bight.

A really important oceanographic survey, trying to unlock the secrets of a complicated series of phenomena will be conducted in the Delagoa Bight, between Zambia Reef in southern Mozambique and Leadsman Canyon south of Sodwana Bay. Long-term temperature recorders will need to be serviced at Zambia Reef and additional recorders deployed at Manta Reef and Bao Paz, also in Mozambique. These temperature recorders are yielding interesting results and, when combined with more detailed CTD surveys, are starting to help us understand this region's complex oceanography. The two additional recorders should provide even more useful data.

Meanwhile, the geologists will be conducting a grab sample survey within the Tugela and Delagoa Bight areas, scooping up sediment from the bottom of the ocean which will allow them to study the marine geological processes in the region. Such samples can answer questions about how the environment has changed over the past; the deeper you go, the further back in history you can see!

The Environmental Education group will be conducting an educational programme in Sodwana Bay, as part of which visits will be made to the ship whilst it is in the area on the 30th.

A full report will be available after the cruise, and we will publish the highlights here.