First official day

Today is the first official day of the mission. We are on hurricane watch. We proceeded as best we could under the circumstances. We had a morning staff meeting to decide what our courses of action will be. Based on the weather report and the probability that the hurricane would not hit until about Friday, we decided to proceed with the activities for the day, listen for the weather report and make a determination of our course of action after the evening weather report.

I did a food run for James Cameron. I left at around 10 a.m. and did not get back until sometime after noon. Someone went ahead and got a sandwich from the Hideaway restaurant on the premises for Mr. Cameron. The stores were packed with people getting hurricane supplies, which caused the delay. When I got back to MRDF Karen sent the groceries to go down in the dry box and left the rest in the refrigerator for a later drop.

The kids and teachers from the Indiana School for the Deaf did activities in the afternoon with James Cameron. At mid-afternoon it was determined that we would prepare for possible evacuation. I prepared the packages for the crew participants so that the ones who participated thus far can get their packages before they headed off.

Crew and station teams prepared for Cameron, Dennis and Claudia coming out of the Station that afternoon. Christopher Roosa and Linda Conrad took pictures of Cameron's ascent to the surface. Cameron, Dennis and Claudia were taken to the outgassing area where they had to rest for 90 minutes. Crew, station and staff support teams gathered around the three aquanauts as they were resting and a dialogue ensued between James Cameron and the staff. Questions were asked of him about particular aspects of his movies and some dialogue occurred about Life Sciences aspects. We all learned that Mr. Cameron has always had an interest in NASA and the things we do. He is very interested in future involvements with NASA.

While the aquanauts were still underwater, the Support and Station teams prepared for evacuation. Robin and Gayle prepared to secure the equipment from the dock in a safe place. Karen and I waterproofed the computer and other equipment, and Bonnie and Jennifer waterproofed the boxes of paper products from the press room. MRDF personnel were bagging their equipment and preparing to evacuate. The staff staying at Ocean Reef Club strategized contingency plans for Thursday's potential evacuation over dinner. We decided that we would meet at 9 a.m. the next morning and get a reading on whether we need to evacuate. Tourists were being encouraged to evacuate on Wednesday, but we would wait and see what the hotel decided in the morning.