After last-minute touches were added and the transmitters secured, the buoys said farewell to land! They survived one of the hardest challenges they are facing- making it to the ship. It took over two hours, a lot of rearranging, and no small effort to figure out how to fit four six-foot-tall buoys into one pickup truck and not fly out after reaching a speed over 20 mph. With the combined effort of myself, Kiley Donaghy, Dr. Andy Ouellette, one rope, and 5pm traffic on the Matthews Bridge, the three JU buoys and the Foundation Academy buoy made it all in one piece to the deck of the OCEARCH vessel (Bolles School was delivered separately by Rad Murphy). Pictured here is Kiley and myself unloading the last buoy from the truck to carry onto the deck- photo credit to Dr. Andy Ouellette.
